[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by audioholic

TWhat will they do if the companies decide to dump some drivers? They will be left with a swanky new car and loads of EMIs to pay.

What they ARE doing is letting the cars be repossessed by the lessor. I have heard at least 4 such cases from drivers looking for work in my neighborhood. They all used to either own or contract-drive a new dZire or suchlike for Ola/Uber only to realize that they are not making any 'profit' even after slogging 14+ hours/day.

I imagine lessors are not at all amused. Here in India there is very little practical or legal recourse to go after a loan-taker who chooses repossession!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

The underlined part seems to be the most important factor. And the cabbies are trying to do away with all the three aspects you correctly mentioned. In other words make the "aggregation system" become another scheme for swindling people out of their money. Make it an online version of the "Auto rickshaw culture" which existed in Bangalore.

Wonder how the auto-matised Uber/auto-driver-turned-Uber-driver experience will be like, I imagined and came up with a few scenarios. The driver will accept the ride and call up : "saar where to go? Give Rs.50 extra over met..er phone saar otherwise cancel/ too far saar we won't get savari from the destination, please cancel. We'll be flagging down cyber-cabs via phone and getting rejected instead of doing the same outside.

During the trip he'll take the longest route if extra isn't agreed upon or the shortest possible route when extra is fixed. As far as driving goes, well 60-70% cabbies presently drive like rickshaws anyway.

After trip they'll make us show the rating to them and they'll ensure it's 5 stars all the way. Hey maybe the protesting public transport providers can come up with their own Indianized app KUBER - aka lord of wealth. They can make each trip into a bidding system, highest bidder wins the trip.

If weren't for American policies in a few industries, we'd all be out of our mind by now. Yes they do tend to screw all the parties over in due course, but quite silently and secretively.

[binand]

Steel flyover plan scrapped:

http://www.firstpost.com/india/karna...s-3310678.html

That must have hurt.

[john.gt]

Bengaluru has a superhero...he’s ‘Pothole Raja’

If you spot a pothole and dread its impact on motorists using that road, what do you do?
One option is to click a picture, ‘WhatsApp’ it to 814POTHOLE (the letters correspond with the numbers 7684653) and wait for ‘Pothole Raja’ to come to your rescue.
The special powers of this new superhero are to make the pothole a thing of the past in less than five days.

I really hope this venture picks up and at least few of the stairways to hell gets covered.

[vinay kamath]

Team BHPians troubled with Bangalore's traffic situation may please join our CfB 100% non-political citizen / resident / activist event named "Bus Bhagya Beku ( Bus conveniences wanted)" on Saturday morning at 11am in large numbers. This is to enhance public transport and thereby reduce motor cars on our streets.

Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) and Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara (BBPV) have initiated a public campaign - #BusBhagyaBeku - seeking ‘Half the Fares and Double the Fleet’. CfB and BBPV met with various organisations and conducted commuter surveys at garment factories on Mysore Road and at Shivaji Nagar, Jayanagar TTMCs and at Majestic to understand their concerns and to seek their support for #BusBhagyaBeku. CfB and BBPV, call upon all citizens of Bengaluru to take a bus to Shantinagar TTMC on Saturday 4th March at 11AM (incidentally, the monthly Bus Day) in an expression of support for public transport and ‘#BusBhagyaBeku’ to increase buses and reduce fares. We request all civic and environmental groups, RWAs, corporators, MLAs, distinguished citizens of our city to join this movement and take a bus on Saturday. While the population of Bengaluru doubled, the number of buses remained same. In fact, the number reduced from 6431 (2012-13) to 6141 (2016-17) which is a stunning 5% decrease. Bus travel used to be 55% of all traffic in 2005, by 2015 it became 47%. The number of private vehicles increased by 50% (41 L in 2012 to 63 L in 2016) This led to significant decrease in air quality putting our children at high risk and the city is heading towards disaster unless we act now. More buses and more people using the bus is extremely critical to save our trees and environment. We must expand bus service to outer areas, deploy smaller buses in local areas and improve connectivity & frequency thereby encouraging more people to shed private vehicles and take the bus. Unlike other cities BMTC does not get any tax breaks on diesel or Motor vehicle tax, Road tax from the state government. BMTC does not get any operational support either, in Chennai, the Government of Tamilnadu, pays for employee salaries. As a result, BMTC has become the most expensive public transport in the country after seven fare hikes in the past three years making it unaffordable and a luxury mode of travel for daily wage earners. Lakhs of fellow citizens are unable to use the bus to access education, livelihood, health care or for leisure even. BMTC is the backbone of Bengaluru and yet out of reach for the common man and woman. We demand the State Government to declare ‘Bus Bhagya’ in the upcoming budget, and grant financial support to BMTC to procure more buses and reduce fares. We believe every rupee allocated to strengthening public transport is a worthwhile investment in public health and leads to traffic decongestion and helps negate the destruction of Bengaluru. Studies show a single bus can replace 50 cars and 200 two wheelers and increasing the buses and reducing fares will encourage more people to take the bus instead of private vehicles. Our transport system must focus on moving people, not vehicles.
-------------------------------------------


MAJOR CITIZEN VICTORY !
"Steel flyover beda, bad name beda": Karnataka shelves project opposed by public
By Express News Service | Published: 02nd March 2017 03:21 PM |
The controversial steel flyover project in Bengaluru was called off by the government on Tuesday. Bengaluru development minister K J George said the reason for the cancellation was that the controversy over the Steel Bridge brought a “bad name” to the state government. "The BJP is accusing us of taking kickbacks to push the project. If they prove that I have taken even a single rupee for the project, I will resign from my post," he said.

The cancellation of Steel Flyover project has come as a major victory for Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), a civil society group that spearheaded the #steelflyoverbeda campaign.

However, it did not come easy for the protesting citizens who sustained their protest for two to three months since the approval of the project by the cabinet in September 2016. From protests, representations to government agencies and the governor to a complaint filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), this project has seen opposition from all quarters.

The 6.72-km long, six-lane Steel Flyover was aimed at decongesting the roads of North Bengaluru. Environmentalists and local people opposed the project as it required cutting down 800 trees, and was to cost Rs 1, 791 crore.

There was criticism from various experts on the detailed project report (DPR) presented by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and also the measures adopted by the government in seeking public feedback. The CfB said a massive project like the Steel Flyover would only push traffic jams from one signal to the another.

The first outpouring of people’s frustration happened on October 16, 2016 when over 2000 people came out to protest by forming a human chain from the Chalukya Circle to the Mekri Circle expressing their opposition to the project.

Further, CfB volunteers visited various localities and collected votes on the project. On October 23, about 41,848 citizens voted down the steel bridge. In a public consultation held on the same day, noted personalities like Ramachandra Guha trashed the government and que3stioned the haste in executing the Steel Flyover. Meanwhile, the NGT stayed the project. While there was opposition to the project, there was also a section of people who demanded implementation of the project.

[yajaman99]

There is a massive traffic jam from Hebbal towards Hennur on the OOR.
I was returning back home towards Hebbal.
Accident is on the Lumbinii Garden Flyover. No idea how it happened
This 45mins back.
.

[NPV]

Bangalore Traffic cops will now equip themselves with body cameras (a Pilot project) to that they can get video evidence of offenders/violators.

Link (Source:Indian Express Bangalore 3 Mar 2017)

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by vinay kamath

MAJOR CITIZEN VICTORY !
"Steel flyover beda, bad name beda": Karnataka shelves project opposed by public
By Express News Service | Published: 02nd March 2017 03:21 PM |
The controversial steel flyover project in Bengaluru was called off by the government on Tuesday. Bengaluru development minister K J George said the reason for the cancellation was that the controversy over the Steel Bridge brought a “bad name” to the state government. "The BJP is accusing us of taking kickbacks to push the project. If they prove that I have taken even a single rupee for the project, I will resign from my post," he said.

The cancellation of Steel Flyover project has come as a major victory for Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), a civil society group that spearheaded the #steelflyoverbeda campaign.

Further, CfB volunteers visited various localities and collected votes on the project. On October 23, about 41,848 citizens voted down the steel bridge. In a public consultation held on the same day, noted personalities like Ramachandra Guha trashed the government and que3stioned the haste in executing the Steel Flyover. Meanwhile, the NGT stayed the project. While there was opposition to the project, there was also a section of people who demanded implementation of the project.

It indeed is a great victory for CfB, before I thought this as a rare phenomenon of paper(diary) saving trees, , another shocker, the GOK is planning to construct an elevated road on this stretch.
http://kannada.oneindia.com/news/ban...er-114118.html

[GrammarNazi]

I understand the govt has substantially increased penalties for traffic violations.

Hope they take off posters of political parties that block traffic signal poles.
Example, they've covered the bottom green light here.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

I understand the govt has substantially increased penalties for traffic violations.

I have been getting WhatsApp forwards from various people. My understanding is that in the last Winter session of Parliament the amendments to MV Act 1988 were passed. The amendments were all to increase the penalty figures. But this amendment bill is still lying with the President. He has NOT formally signed it. Only after him giving ascent can this new bill become the law.

[binand]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

My understanding is that in the last Winter session of Parliament the amendments to MV Act 1988 were passed. The amendments were all to increase the penalty figures. But this amendment bill is still lying with the President. He has NOT formally signed it. Only after him giving ascent can this new bill become the law.

The bill was approved by the cabinet and was presented in the Lok Sabha last year in August, but our opposition, sworn to oppose anything, opposed to it on procedural aspects[1]. So from there it went to the parliamentary standing committee and there the bill is now slowly dying.

I don't think it was reintroduced in the winter session. That session was a washout, remember? It wasn't introduced in the budget session either.

The bill is not just about increasing the fines. It rewrites large parts of the MV Act, after both MoRTH and the Supreme Court took a lot of initiative in bringing the law up to date. You can read the bill and track its status here: http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/th...ill-2016-4366/

[1] The opposition to the bill was that it was not circulated beforehand. The speaker then told the MPs that it indeed was, probably they didn't check their parliamentary papers that morning.

[vinay kamath]

We citizens must persevere for the change we seek. Decongestion of Bangalore's streets. Better public transport by Doubling of the number of buses and new routes, and Halving of the ticket prices. Guys, pls do attend this event this morning on Double road, thanks!

[Sree73]

Originally Posted by vinay kamath

We citizens must persevere for the change we seek. Decongestion of Bangalore's streets.

+1.
One small contribution, most of us can do is car pooling. The number of cars running with single occupant is huge. Everyone of these cannot do carpool. But, a good percentage definitely can. I have started with some of the car pooling App.

[adi_gt]

What is the latest status on Uber and Ola strikes ? I have to leave for Airport tomorrow around 5 a.m. What do you suggest folks ?

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

I have to leave for Airport tomorrow around 5 a.m. What do you suggest folks ?

I flew out of and back to Bangalore a few days ago. I chose to book a Meru cab online the previous day, since it gave me the confidence of an advance booking, rather than waking up and hoping for the best with Uber/Ola early in the morning. When I returned I picked an Uber from the airport back home.

The Meru experience was as pleasant and professional as Uber, however, the Meru cab at 4 am cost me ~840 rupees from Kammanahalli to BIAL (via Bellary Road), the Uber at 11 pm cost exactly 500 rupees (again via Bellary Road).