[procrj]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Fact is, its just a 1.5 km long shopping area, originally a residential area, forcefully converted into a commercial hub.

This is true even of Malleswaram. Never find parking on sampige road or margosa road irrespective of time/day. During festival season, its just a nightmare.

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Damn !! This road was a mess on Saturday in the evening

Most days its a mess. Sometimes when I need to go to BEL road, I end up parking in the bylanes near 80 feet road and walk up to where ever I need to go. Added worry is cars/cabs/auto damaging your vehicle. I had parked on 80 feet road last month and ended up with a small dent on the front right panel and peeled paint on the front bumper. Last few visits, Uber/Ola has been the mode of transport to New BEL road.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

....That said after the Saturday fiasco , I learnt my lesson coz its a lot easier to take the BMTC bus to New BEL Road and return home.

True. One thing I forgot to add was the tiny parking lots of Nandhini, KFC, Croma etc. You have a high chance of getting a decent scratch on the car in these lots. I got my first scratch here. It's due to the total lack of discipline people follow while parking. Leaving the car at any angle and direction is the trend here.

[satan's_valet]

Originally Posted by shajufx

True. One thing I forgot to add was the tiny parking lots of Nandhini, KFC, Croma etc. You have a high chance of getting a decent scratch on the car in these lots. I got my first scratch here. It's due to the total lack of discipline people follow while parking. Leaving the car at any angle and direction is the trend here.

KFC has a better parking there compared to other shops/pubs. The gatekeeper there allows you park his car even if you don't go to KFC for a comparatively nominal amount of Rs.50.

The other irritating there is the valet service provided by the restaurants and pubs. The drivers there randomly park the cars in any of the by-lanes thereby inconveniencing the people who live there. I live behind KFC and it is a nightmare to navigate through the parked cars to reach home every evening. It gets way worse on Weekends.

[Dieseldunk]

Hi For all of being a true Bengaluru guy my heart weeps seeing the New BEL road totally in a bad shape as to what it originally was in the 90s. Most of the areas of the garden city have lost their beauty to the beast of corporate expansion. Sad but true

[dark.knight]

Same for Indiranagar, Jayanagar, Koramangala heck even Langford Town where my office used to be and Lavelle Road were all peaceful earlier.. they all had just the right amount of shopping and facilities and a good balance with peaceful living. Today the biggest fault is that demand and consumption in all sorts of business is on a high, I've seen the crappiest restaurants do booming business.. so much that I feel food business and anything related is the easiest path to becoming a billionaire in the city. The delivery business is also booming with hundreds of millions of bikes flying around to deliver anything from a single toothpick to a 50 inch tv, criticize me all you want for dumping on the delivery business but this is playing a key role in the destruction of roads.

Next comes UBER and OLA, another pair of companies that have flooded the Bangalore roads with cabs we really do not need, I've spoken with cabbies and they say most trips at night are to pubs and bars and they use it to shuttle to and fro from home and hey, without the 30k+ cabs moving around 24 hours a day won't our own driving around become much more easier?

I do miss the Bangalore of even a decade ago, it was paradise even then. The city had a distinct colonial/British imperialistic flavor to it, from the Bangalore Palace which was built by the British & the olde buildings of M.G Road and Brigade road which were gothic/English architecture. This is the key reason that this place was more international in appearance than any other city in India by a mile. Today all these heritage shops and buildings are now replaced or overshadowed by boxy structures with a glass facade.

Newcomers will never understand the magic of Bangalore, all I've seen them do is criticize the city, blame the ruling party or just, simply say that other metros are better. The long-term residents have lost their home, I included.

[TorqueyTechie]

Its more a rant than anything else. Today on my way to office near christ college I was riding behind few cars and the traffic was as usual slow. But after sometime I noticed that the lane I was in which is the right most lane was moving at a snail pace while other lanes was moving along fairly fine. No it was not Murphy's law as I got to know later. Eventually I managed to switch lanes and when I went to see the source of this slowness it was because of a cab guy who was on phone and driving slowly causing a build up of traffic and all this being on the right most lane. This is what frustrates me the most about the cabbies. Talking on phone while driving/riding is not permitted and infact many times I have seen people being fined for it. How come cops are lenient towards the cabbies over this rule? I have had this question from the time the rule came into force. How can the Ola's, Uber's continue to work is what I thought?

I had asked a SI in the traffic department about this and he said they do fine them but not on the spot but by registering it against their car numbers. But he said until they are caught they do not know or pay the fine.

[mazda4life]

Today I had the opportunity to ride the much awaited green line metro from Majestic to Jayanagar. It was a fabulous experience to savor in one's own city. The access from Railway station to the metro station surely needs to be rectified as entering the subway is not a pleasant experience. Also, you need to exit the subway on get unto to the thotadappa road to enter the metro station. The staff were courteous and the travel was very pleasant and took around 15 mins or so. Bonus is the view of Lalbagh and the Laxman rao park ( South end road). A big thumbs up to the metro , hope the small improvements will be done and spare us from dreading those journeys to railway station and majestic area.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by mazda4life

The access from Railway station to the metro station surely needs to be rectified as entering the subway is not a pleasant experience.

The highlighted part is what is needed in almost all the subway places in Bangalore. Its either scary or nasty to enter one for anyone. No wonder many of the subways are closed off by the BBMP/police instead of correcting it.

[shajufx]

As a response to all the posts above : I have been living in this city since 1993, that's with an exception of 5 years out to the middle east. I have seen the real glory of the pensioner's paradise by being in Christ college and frequenting Jayanagar, Koramangala, Indiranagar and few other exclusive residential zones that had a charm of its own. Outer ring roads were isolated and scary areas after evening ! Even the diary circle to bannerghatta direction was eerie after 8pm, not to mention the super scary Kanakapura road after 7pm. New comers to the city might find it as exaggeration but I never took these routes alone after the mentioned timings I think those were the years land mafia and the corrupted govt babus plotted the destruction of this city over the next 20 years.

There is no point rethinking about those days and cursing oneself to the situation we are in right now. I can find only some rays of hope ahead which needs a fully awake administration :

1. Faster execution of the entire Metro Phase 1 and Phase 2 as in a war situation. There is never lack of funds here, but its looted !
2. More elevated roads and clean exit points without creating bottle necks.
3. Stricter enforcement methods and fines for traffic violations.
4. Public participation when it comes to tenders and works on public property including accountability and stricter timelines visible to all.

We don't have any politician in India who is not smart enough to know what is required for the people and the area. Our issue is a 'forceful waiting' for 5 years when someone is not doing anything for his people ! Worst is getting someone who just wants to sleep 5 years and finish his term. I met the man few times at different weddings and occasions, he is a harmless guy, but thats not what the city needs now

[dark.knight]

I have no hopes for the metro to create a positive change for the city's roads either.. to me it shall remain a disaster project, something done to copy Delhi (mooted by H.D.Kumaraswamy?).

Reality is Delhi and Bangalore are vastly different cities, the planning done in Delhi is impeccable and I find their trains also to be vastly superior. Delhi needed it in the sense that it was expanding out to areas like Gurgaon and Noida, and connectivity to both extreme ends improved and pushed the population into these so called NCR satellites.. also I found their route choices incredibly useful.. Dwarka for example has thousands upon thousands of flats and is quite far from the city centre say Karol Bagh which is 30 kms away.. all it takes is about Rs.40/- and hardly 45-60 minutes to cover that portion. It has reduced congestion quite substantially also in the city might I add.

Bangalore's choice of metro routes.. is just illogical to put in very politely, I mean the first few years it was out the only route that existed was Byapanahalli (Bya what? even its own residents didn't know such an area existed lol) to M.G Road.. one a relatively low populated nearly-unknown residential area of the city and the other seen as a roaming area for time-passers and heavy-drunks, most of the shopping of the areas have moved out into suburbs. I mean what the?

Even the green line to me is useless, I've been here all my life and I haven't been to Peenya or Sandal Soap factory or any of the areas mentioned in the upper half of the green line.. If I'm not wrong the biggest users of the metro are the white collar consultants or coders.. where is an intelligently thought out metro line such as one looping via the borders of Electronic City behind Phase 2, connecting from the inside bordering Bommasandra to ORR and then Whitefield and then letting a line run from the other loop over NICE, Silk Board and then into Residency Road and THEN M.G Road station one line straight. Granted that it's hard to acquire land here and space is simply not there but if at all one line would've been useful, its this one.. Silk Board after all has the dubious reputation of being the most clogged signal in the State.

This is just my point of view.. I'm sure most of those who're living in the metro line areas do find the facilities useful and a fair few of them getting connected to their offices by luck will find it incredibly convenient. Will it solve the city's problems though? Not by a long shot. I may be the only one saying it, but the city was better off without one.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Not by a long shot. I may be the only one saying it, but the city was better off without one.

Some positives which I can hope for:

- A possibility to de-congest Majestic. But that it wont be a resident driven requirement
- Possible solution for office goers to commute to whitefield (either via current system or via the proposed South Bangalore-ORR corridor.
- We still need one more section on the North side (Hebbal-KR Puram)

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by mazda4life

Also, you need to exit the subway on get unto to the thotadappa road to enter the metro station.

Does'nt the Metro have a station which is more closer to the Platform #9 at SBC? I remember some body mentioning that if people catch the Metro to goto SBC, then it is better to get down at the Metro station which is at the far end (when looking from Majestic side) and then enter the station premises near Platform #9. Then take the foot over bridge to reach other platforms. Thotadappa road, I understand is that barricaded road which is between Majestic bus stand and SBC.

Originally Posted by shajufx

Even the diary circle to bannerghatta direction was eerie after 8pm, not to mention the super scary Kanakapura road after 7pm

That was true even till around 2002-2003 time frame. I had a couple of friends who worked for Sobha's carpentry shop which was close to Gottigere. When I visited them in the evenings, they insisted that I stay back with them than going back towards the city. Places like Hulimavu had lots of "mugging" cases. The road was a narrow one, but with lot more greenery around. This road at that time also had an interesting case of a local strutting around as a police man and forcing people to part with their money. Chap even had a white police helmet (with the police logo on it) and perhaps may have been on a Royal Enfield bullet.

I met the man few times at different weddings and occasions, he is a harmless guy, but thats not what the city needs now

You meant the SM in charge of the City affairs? . May not be as "harmless" as you think. But what I could notice is that there is a disconnect between what the city's new comers want v/s the old timers. For the non-IT crowd, especially the folks who have been born and brought up here, or are real old time mannine magas may prefer the city to go back to its retiree's paradise days.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Bangalore's choice of metro routes.. is just illogical to put in very politely, I mean the first few years it was out the only route that existed was Byapanahalli (Bya what? even its own residents didn't know such an area existed lol) to M.G Road.

One thing the Phase 1 of the Metro was thought of during the early 2000 (or before) when the city was not the mess it was. The Phase 1's route actually suited the city at that time. Magadi/Mysore Rd, Peenya, Bayyapannahalli, JP Nagar etc. were really the outskirts of the city then. But then what hit was the poor implementation, and by the time Phase 1 is ready the city's boundaries had all changed. Also in other places a good location like M.G Road may have a metro which goes underground, but here it just runs above the road level which also kind of messed up with the beauty of the road & area. At times the whole Phase 1 gave me a feeling of "proving the point" (every city in the world has a Metro, we also want one; how ever useless the routes are going to be).

An area where I felt the state government and city planners missed (or just plain ignored) was not recognising the fact that the city's biggest breadwinning area is now on the Eastern and South Eastern part of the city. That is where a huge population from the city goes to work these days.

[sdp1975]

From whatever little that I've seen of the metro/urban transit systems in New York and Milan - people spend 3-4 hours in travel. There are similar stories from China.

My take is that areas with good connectivity probably pushed up the real estate prices , forcing people to stay farther away , and negating the benefits that good connectivity was supposed to bring along. Eventually , people will spend the same or more time in travel , although they won't have to do the driving themselves.

Here's a BBC article on long commute hours in Beijing. Sometimes I feel that we're far better off in Bangalore.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201...ijings-workers

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I have no hopes for the metro to create a positive change for the city's

I have a contradictory opinion.
I have used the metro on a couple of occasions and the most recent one blew my mind.

I had to travel to west of chord road from Vignan nagar to attend a reception with my mom on a Sunday evening. It was raining that evening and the dread of driving 22 KMs one way was evident in my demeanor. I checked the map after my evening nap only to find a metro station at Hosahalli. Delighted with my discovery I hatched a plan to use the metro.

We drove to Byappanahalli (All the residents in my ares are and were aware of Byappanahalli since decades now. Nothing new) and parked in the metro station. There was ample parking space for Rs.30. Took the metro to Hosahalli. The ticket fare was a measly 32 and only 27.2 after discount on my smart card - no waiting ot the ticket counter queue if you have the card. Journey time to Majestic Ryl station was 24 minutes and 27 minutes to Hosahalli! Station to station equivalent driving distance of 17KM in 27mins was not bad at all. We got off and walked 1KM to the reception hall leisurely since we had the time. Got back by metro again and drove home.

It was a pleasant experience indeed. For those who do not use the metro it is worth pointing out that it gets pretty crowded during the evenings. It is a good feeling to see the facility getting used. The Green line is expected to get used by the large number of workers in the Peenya/Yeshwanthpur industrial area.

Sure the Gov could have done a better job with route planning and timelines etc but on that Sunday I was glad I could use its services.

[mustang_shelby]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Bangalore's choice of metro routes.. is just illogical to put in very politely

Completely agreed to that. The very first metro line should have connected E-City to Bangalore given that there were more than 1 lakh people travelling to E-City every day. Instead, the first metro connected one end of MG Road to the other end of MG Road. I believe the metro routes were planned with an eye on political gains and not really to solve the city's traffic issues.

I agree that the Metro itself is great and a convenient and comfortable mode of transport. But I must agree with dark.knight that it won't relieve the congestion on the roads in any significant manner.

To reduce congestion on the roads, you need to take off cars from the road. But in the current state of things, I do not foresee any significant number of car owners giving up their cars for the Metro. And the 2 big reasons for this are: last mile connectivity and pedestrian infrastructure.

To reach from home to Metro station and from Metro station to office, you are still dependent on public transport. Sheltered bus stops don't exist at many places so you are standing by the side of the road enjoying the dust and pollution (or getting wet if it rains) until an overcrowded bus shows up. Taking Uber/Ola everyday to the metro station doesn't make any economic sense, and doesn't reduce cars on the road either. And who wants to depend on auto-rickshaws everyday. And you can't take your car to the Metro station either since most of them have no parking for cars. The ones that do, have so few parking spaces that you got to be among the first few dozen to reach the station in the morning to get a space. Also, last mile connectivity to office after getting down from the Metro would still need other means of transport.

Pedestrian infrastructure in Bangalore is unimaginably bad. There are no facilities for pedestrians to cross the roads. On the entire ORR stretch from Silk Board to KR Puram (~20 km), there is only one skywalk: at Ecospace. I recently tried to cross the ORR at Marathalli in peak hours and I spent 15 min waiting for a gap in traffic to cross. I am not exaggerating, 15 min by the watch, during which time I saw so many other people just jumping into the traffic and risking their lives to cross the road. Eventually I had to do the same. This one single reason is enough to discourage me from being a pedestrian. Footpaths don't exist in many places, and are either encroached or broken down in places where they exist. In slight rains, our roads turn into pools of slush, where you would need special mud boots on top of your formal shoes. In this state, how practical would it be to walk down 1 km to the nearest bus stop everyday?

I imagine a lot of people already using other modes of transport like buses, moving over to Metro. But the only car owners moving over to Metro would be ones who happen to live near a Metro station and are lucky enough to have their workplace also near a Metro station. Until the time both the above issues are solved. The difference in commuting by car and commuting by public transport is really stark for a car owner.

Just to set the context, I am not one of those people who like to go everywhere in their car. I lived in US and Europe and used public transport everyday (summer and winter) to commute to my workplace. In Europe, I actually did not even own a car during the 1 year I lived there. Never felt the need for it. And I am not asking for an overnight transformation of Bangalore into Europe before I start using public transport. But asking for safe pedestrian crossings, proper sheltered bus stops and proper footpaths is not too much to ask for? Or is it ?