[chakri400]

Originally Posted by gopikb

One of my worst days in Bangalore traffic. Office cab started from Prestige tech park, ORR at 5.30PM. Reached RRNagar at 9.30PM. Traffic gridlocks all along with no remorse. Even though, I was not driving, the 4 hour drive back from work is a killer. I was watching google traffic all along and it was very accurate. I guess google updates traffic by tracking each android phone user and their movement patterns.

Wow, yesterday probably was real bad throughout Bangalore.
In case of gridlocks and when you are not driving, do you attempt to get down and try to guide traffic? I do that all the time and helps save my time and also get a lot of gratifying gestures from fellow commuters. One thing I ensure is, I take an unbiased look at the gridlock. I am not bent on moving my side of the traffic alone.

[Sangre]

I had to catch a flight from KIAL at 10.15 PM. Being a domestic flight, and having done my web check-in, it was sufficient for me to reach the airport by 9.30.

From 6-6.30 PM I tried unsuccessfully to get a cab. UberGo/ UberX was hovering around 4X and I didn't feel it was worth taking it. Other operators simply did not have any cabs in the area.

Finally decided to take a bus from HAL and took my car out at 6.45PM with my wife. I was not yet aware of the traffic situation and was thinking that even if the bus takes 1.5 hrs, I can reach the airport by 8.45. Then my wife can come back with the car after I catch the bus.

It's hardly a 5 minute drive from my house till HAL bus stop from where the Volvo buses to the airport start. Imagine my horror when it took 30 mins to reach there. It was jam-packed bumper to bumper all the way from Diamond District (close to where I live) to HAL. It was already ~7.20 and there wasn't any bus in sight. I figured that if the bus takes even two hours to reach the airport (which was a conservative estimate given the traffic!), I'm running a very real risk of missing the flight.
Then I decided to drive to the airport itself from there via Suranjan Das Road-Old Madras Road-ORR-Hebbal. And I had to do it in less than 2 hrs!

I think I spent 45 minutes trying to get to Old Madras Road. Then another 40 minutes on ORR to Hebbal. I'd given up all hope by this time and I was exploring options of taking another flight

That's when the Elevated Expressway came to my rescue. When I started on the expressway, it was almost 8.50PM and raining heavily. Still, I somehow managed to reach the airport by 9.10 and thanked my lucky stars and my wife. She drove back alone from the airport and reached Indiranagar around 10.45 PM.

First time I ever drove on the Suranjan Das -Old Madras road route and I was appalled at the state of the roads and the bottlenecks on this stretch. Of course Google played a helpful part on this stretch when it suggested a parallel, internal road to avoid some congested traffic and saved me a valuable 10 minutes!

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by audioholic

A huge crater has opened up bang in the middle of the road in front of ABB when coming from KR Puram

It appears as if some maintenance work took place last night leading to that huge pit. I passed this point around 7am and it was bumper to bumper a little after decathalon. This pit was once a nasty rut in the road which they had filled up. When I saw it today, it appears as if they dug it for some reason. They were filling it when I reached the spot. With a couple of heavy vehicles in front of me, I could see them manoeuvre to the right to avoid the pit. However; I could see them literally fall into the pit and that got me worked up. I drive a low slung sedan. When I reached the point where the pit was, I was faced with a maintenance board and could see the depth of the pit. Following the truck in front of me was not an option as the car would not have made it across. Luckily, the pit was not running across the full width of the road. It was possible to manoeuvre left where the road had some rubble and get past this point.

[pramodpk]

The ITPL road from Hope Farm to Bigbazaar has become a mess again. Lot of potholes have surfaced due to the recent rains. Also, there is a pit dug up right at the junction blocking one lane of traffic. This junction is becoming a night mare. The lane of Vehicles extended till Vydehi yesterday at 5:20 PM.

[sidzz]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

The ITPL road from Hope Farm to Bigbazaar has become a mess again. Lot of potholes have surfaced due to the recent rains. Also, there is a pit dug up right at the junction blocking one lane of traffic. This junction is becoming a night mare. The lane of Vehicles extended till Vydehi yesterday at 5:20 PM.

I was a part of the traffic pile up yesterday.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by Sangre

...
From 6-6.30 PM I tried unsuccessfully to get a cab. UberGo/ UberX was hovering around 4X and I didn't feel it was worth taking it. Other operators simply did not have any cabs in the area.
...

You wouldn't have got a cab simply because all cabs were, like everyone else, sitting in traffic! A colleague managed to get a cab from office (Bommanahalli) yesterday evening to go to New BEL Road. Took him 3.5 hours. He said he watched a full Hindi movie on the way home!

[paragsachania]

As expected, lot of rants for yesterday. I was just about lucky to escape this mayhem and how?

I had given my Ertiga for the 70K Service at Surakshaa in EC and I got a call that the car was ready around 1750. I walked around 1.4 kms from my EC Office to this ASC and by the time the billing was done, it was 1820. Of course a horrible time to even think of leaving and driving back to North Bangalore area.

So what do I do?

I sit at the customer lounge, read magazines and newspapers, check my Whastapp and in between ensure to see how traffic is faring on BETL and Sankey roads and as usual the traffic was thick. In fact BETL was showing me thick maroon for almost all the 9 kms!!

I wait at the ASC till 2030, take the service road and reach NICE Gate in 3 mins (As I approached NICE from PES College side), spend around 5 minutes at the toll itself to pay, drive 30 minutes on NICE, spend around 10 minutes on NBTL till Goreguntepalya, and reach home exactly in 1 hour's time around 2130 without any sweat, in peace.

This affair cost me 155+20 as toll and a loss of 20 as I had bought Day pass on BETL yesterday morning but nevertheless, It was such a peaceful drive back home and an apt decision to sit at the ASC and wait for another 2 hours.

I read news papers today and this thread and realised what I had just escaped, successfully!!

[ankan.m.blr]

New Traffic Police Station for Bellandur to HSR

Traffic station for hotspots in city's southeast
Bengaluru:
TNN


For motorists having to criss-cross areas like HSR Layout junction, Varthur and Bellandur in southeast Bengaluru, driving is an endless nightmare. But now there appears to be some hope of a smother journey . Bengaluru traffic police have established their 43rd traffic police station at HSR Layout to tackle the sea of vehicles that clogs these areas every day .
HSR Layout police station, which started its operations on Sunday , has in its jurisdiction major traffic bottlenecks like Bellandur, Agara, Sarjapura Road, Kaikondarahalli, Iblur and Varthur, apart from Sectors 4 to 7 of HSR Layout. It also covers Hosur Road.

“Many of these areas were earlier part of Madiwala and Whitfield traffic police stations. Having a designated station will draw attention to the needs of these areas,“ said MA Saleem, additional commissioner of police (traffic).

Though the station has a sanctioned strength of 81 cop, so far, only 33 have been posted. Manpower has been drawn from Madiwala and other stations .

Decongesting Bellandur, especially the flyover and areas surrounding Eco-Space, Iblur and Sarjapur Road, will be the focus of cops at the newly formed station.

source: ToI

[FuelInjector]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

source: ToI

While i pray this helps the traffic situation, i seriously doubt. Years ago when the rumble had just begun, used to drive 5 kms from indira nagar to EGL, not too much of a distance in under 15 mins. With companies coming in, population increasing, everyone buying a motor vehicle, losing patience etc the domlur traffic police strength was increase. However, since the cooperation from fellow drivers did not exist, the police folks work was becoming even tougher. Sometimes the junction just goes unmanned - especially during rainy conditions. The day before i moved out of Bangalore, this distance took me 1 hour (with ~30 minutes to get into EGL from intermediate ring road)
The solution lies in tacking the number of motor vehicles on the road, rather than adding more bodies on the road.. in my humble opinion.

[sdp1975]

It's raining very,very heavy from my office window at Marathalli, and the skies are completely overcast . Today may be more miserable than yesterday.

Planning to leave a bit early to avoid the traffic mess.

[Ikoner_03]

I came across this article on The Hindu, was thinking about this situation since a long time.

Quote by MA Saleem: “The situation is worsening. Unless we do something in the next one year, areas in the south-east will have no space left for vehicles to move,”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle7819475.ece

Its high time people start sharing rides or use public transport.

[freedom]

Completely off topic, but couldn't help chipping in.

I am seeing a lot of news coverage on the horrible state of roads in Bangalore. Are those seriously so bad? or is the the usual case of media hyping it up?

I mean, I have pretty low standards when it comes to public roads. Pune roads are nothing much to be proud about in the first place!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

It's raining very,very heavy from my office window at Marathalli, and the skies are completely overcast . Today may be more miserable than yesterday.

Planning to leave a bit early to avoid the traffic mess.

Same here. Looks like its gonna be a worse situation today. Rains have started much earlier. Should refer to Google anna and then leave today

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by freedom

Completely off topic, but couldn't help chipping in.

I am seeing a lot of news coverage on the horrible state of roads in Bangalore. Are those seriously so bad? or is the the usual case of media hyping it up?

I mean, I have pretty low standards when it comes to public roads. Pune roads are nothing much to be proud about in the first place!

That is not hype, my friend. That is the true status of Bangalore roads. The indiscipline of our motorists notwithstanding, it is the bad state of roads that add to our misery.

Arterial roads are jammed and in bad shape, thinking of taking alternate routes scares us even more because they are in far worse shape! Couple this with residents closing off public roads from access to outsiders and you have a harrowing experience on Bangalore roads.

Every. Single. Day.

A little note from me,

Back when I was in school, the rains were something I loved looking at through the window. Even during my PU and B.E, the sight of the rains outside the window and gauging how heavy it is gave me this calm, soothing feeling.

But ever since I started working at Whitefield, I look at the rain through the window and it sends this uneasy feeling down my spine. Why? I know the 18km journey that takes 1 hour, 15 minutes by motorcycle will now take even longer. As a two wheeler, I need to be scared of being pushed into deep puddles by cab drivers and ruthless bus drivers. And also having to tolerate increased indiscipline from our motorists. What do I say about our roads? The potholes get wider and the motorable portions of the road get narrower. Not the least bit helped by the flooded road shoulders that just pile on the misery on what is going to be a terrible, chaotic, patience-testing Tuesday evening. Couple this with my dreadful office hours of 10:30AM to 7:30PM and I am sure to be heading to the hospital much earlier than I should be!

Also,
While descending the Marathahalli Bridge and going towards Old Airport Road, there are imbeciles taking a U-Turn on top of the divider right after the ORR and Marathahalli Junction and blocking traffic. Wish I had a tank that I could use to run over these morons!

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by freedom

Completely off topic, but couldn't help chipping in.

I am seeing a lot of news coverage on the horrible state of roads in Bangalore. Are those seriously so bad? or is the the usual case of media hyping it up?

I mean, I have pretty low standards when it comes to public roads. Pune roads are nothing much to be proud about in the first place!

I am from Pune and have been staying in Bangalore from the past three years. Traffic is really bad and being from Pune , we can never experience Bangalore like traffic there. To add to it the roads are bad and then many people drive have left common sense at home. So it aggravates.
Stay in Pune and be happy and hope you don't get ideas of moving here for a job

On the flip side , one does develop amazing skill to squeeze your car through really tight spaces if you drive. Even if you don't then you still develop lots of patience , a penchant for music since you sit in one place for long hours.