[WindRide]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

There is a huge protest organized by the people who live and work in Whitefield for tomorrow....

No use. They probably will apply some tar on a couple of roads as an eye-wash to appease the whitefield intelligentsia.

As someone said earlier, you can wake up a sleeping person, not someone pretending to be dozing. No use protesting about deteriorating road conditions and lack of responsibility across govt machinery.

This must be tackled at a much higher level - bring in strict population control mechanisms, spread out development by diverting investment/FDI to smaller towns, and adopt scientific urban development according to the geological factors of the land around.

No quick-fix/silver bullet to sort out the urban chawl/mess that is BENGALURU (replace with any other tier-1 metro here).

Btw, looking at monstrous volume of cars/buses running on our city roads, I wonder what kind of infrastructure can withstand this level of vehicle density? Even developed nations may not be able to cope up with this kind of a burden on tarmac.

Decongest, decongest and decongest even further. Whole of India cannot live in Bangalore,Chennai,Mumbai and Delhi.

[poloman]

If there was metro connectivity from South and West Bangalore to the Whitefield via outer ring road, I am sure atleast 30% traffic load would have gone from these areas. Only in Bangalore you will see a fragmented and disjoint metro which is not helping any one. This will be the metro in the whole of world with least ridership currently.

[naveenroy]

Aarrgh, went to office after 12 days! And man, did I feel like crying at Madiwala market. They've closed off one lane too - hopefully to tar the lane. But aargh, it is irritating.

[etrast75]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I have suggestion. Need your feedback as to if this idea will work. While travelling from Bommanahalli towards HSR, one can go via Mangamanapalya road to reach HSR while the return is not possible.

I highly doubt if it will solve any problems. In fact it has the potential to create more bottlenecks.What you propose involves breaking the median under the BETL flyover. This is what will happen if you do that

The traffic from mangammapalya towards silkboard will block the main carriageway of hosur road especially at peak hours. Remember that the traffic coming from electronic city towards silk board is always backed up at bommanahalli signal. No one on that side is going to give way for the traffic coming through the gap in median. Just imagine the chaos it will cause.

There is a simple problem to deal with the mess that 2 way service roads have created. Make the service roads one way along the stretch. Give gaps in median between two junctions for people to merge from service lanes to main carriageway. So from mangammapalya road one would take a left and then merge into the main road and take a U-turn at garvepalya signal if you need to go towards silk board.

[RANT ALERT]
Right now every junction on that stretch is a mess. The permutations and combinations are beyond the scope of normal human mind. You have vehicles from left most service lane trying to join the main carriageway when signal turns green thereby impeding the traffic on main carriageway. You have people trying to cross the junction from all possible directions on any signal.
I cross the hosa road junction fairly frequently and take a right onto hosa road. When I take the right I have no idea where a vehicle will come from. Will it be the one going straight on service road? Will it be the one take a left from service road? Will it be the guy from the opposite side of service road? It is a game of chance and you can only hope you get out unscathed.

The brains that decided that it is a good idea to have 2 way service roads inside city limits need to raked under coals. Are the people designing roads that dumb that they cannot envision the chaos currently in place? And we still keep using the same design everywhere.. You are better off not having service roads and having just a 8 lane highway. The left 2 lanes will be used for parking anyway but at least the number of possibilities at junctions reduce.

[END RANT]

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Aarrgh, went to office after 12 days! And man, did I feel like crying at Madiwala market. They've closed off one lane too - hopefully to tar the lane. But aargh, it is irritating.

...........and blocked most of the Krupanadhi junction as a result

[NPV]

Couple of updates:
The Vasanthnagar main road (Kodava Samaj, etc) from the Millers Road junction all the way till the Embassy Heights apartment entry is dug up - looks like a war zone and they've dug up one half of the road , only solace is that the road has been made 1 way for now.

On Friday last week I noticed that the entry to Devasandra road was blocked using traffic barricades so one can't enter from Old Madras road! Not sure if this was a temporary or long-term measure. I saw this on the way back from Hoodi to Old Madras road.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by etrast75

I highly doubt if it will solve any problems. In fact it has the potential to create more bottlenecks.What you propose involves breaking the median under the BETL flyover. This is what will happen if you do that

The traffic from mangammapalya towards silkboard will block the main carriageway of hosur road especially at peak hours. Remember that the traffic coming from electronic city towards silk board is always backed up at bommanahalli signal. No one on that side is going to give way for the traffic coming through the gap in median. Just imagine the chaos it will cause.

Once the gap in the median is created, the signal should be installed here. The signal from Bommanahalli junction should be shifted to the new point I am suggesting.To begin with a traffic cop should regulate the flow of vehicles from E city and Mangamanapalya accordingly.
Here is the enclosed image

[akhil_007]

Had a pleasant(surprising) ride today. Passed via Hosmat Hospital->Command Hospital-> Domlur-> prestige tech park. No jam anywhere. Infact the traffic was also very light. This was at 9:30 today morning.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by poloman

Only in Bangalore you will see a fragmented and disjoint metro which is not helping any one.

Exactly.

I often wondered who thought of the implementation plan for the Metro.

Had they brought the Metro to areas like Whitefield, KR Puram in the first stage, traffic to these areas would have definitely reduced and the Metro project will start bringing in considerable revenue as well which could be used to fund some part of the project further. Can you imagine travelling to Whitefield from MG Road in around 15 minutes? Seems like dreamland for now and will probably continue to be so for a while to come.

For now, the Metro is used sparingly by people who are fascinated by the Metro and a few others.

[KevinP]

I honestly do not think that road widening is a 100% solution.

In my opinion, a major portion of our traffic is caused by unruly and impatient drivers, the other being the condition of the road. For example take Ejipura junction, from Indiranagar towards Koramangala. It is 3 lanes which are made into 4 and sometimes 5 by the famous “lane creators”. There is no right turn into Ejipura yet people stop to turn blocking the right most lane. They resort onto coming onto the left most lane to join the cross traffic blocking the left most lane. That leaves the middle lane, with all vehicles from the right and left lanes trying to get into the middle lane all at once, the traffic crawls. Let us not forget the guys jumping signals as well as ones making an illegal U turn. No amount of road widening will solve this.

Another perfect examples are railway crossings. If everyone just stuck to their lanes we would not have a stand still after a train has passed. Everyone wants to get through first and in the mayhem none ends up moving!

Education is the key – Lane discipline and patience is all that is required. – One rule, if someone can over take you from the left you in the wrong lane!

Cutting into lines is a major problem where people who wait patiently in line get frustrated cause everyone is cutting in from the front and then eventually break queue and make it worse.

Busses – They need to be educated on driving on the left most lane ALWAYS and stopping to left most and at designated areas ONLY. They tend to pile up over each other trying to leave the bus stop first. I have seen 4 busses side by side blocking the whole road just before the Iblur Flyover. UNACCEPTABLE

Cabs – They need to also drive on the left most lane if they are driving slow, which is few and far between. And not zig zag through the traffic

Autos – They need to be on the left most lane at all times regardless how fast they think they are they will always be slower than other traffic.

Water Tankers – They all need to be checked for licence and understanding of rules, they drive down one ways, full beams and with SHRILL AIR horns for Kilometers without thinking. They are by far the most unruly lot on our roads. And since they are delivering water 24/7 they do not think that people do sleep and keep the horn going for no apparent reason.

Bikes – They need to understand that their safety is paramount and they need to stay on the left lane, like autos they will be slow no matter what they think and hamper vehicular movement.

Private Cars - Need to understand that they should be on the left lane not the center lane! If they are slow they need to move left.

Another major bottle neck problem is the way we decide that roads need to be wide! Not necessarily, if we can have an entire road wide it would help with lane discipline. But where we cannot widen because a bottle neck as the traffic has to funnel through less lanes. We need to gradually funnel the vehicles into less lanes not abruptly.

We need to focus on the smallest rules which are easier to implement. For instance wearing a helmet and talking on the phone while driving. If a person ignores that rule they are more likely to ignore other rules and be more of a threat to other road users as they feel they can get away with it.

I’m sure most of you would disagree but it’s just my opinion on what I face every day.
BTW – I wanted to apply for Traffic Warden till I came to question 14 – Give reference of any two eminent personalities in the city (Name, full address and telephone numbers).

Now where am I supposed to get these from??

END OF RANT

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

Had they brought the Metro to areas like Whitefield, KR Puram in the first stage, traffic to these areas would have definitely reduced and the Metro project will start bringing in considerable revenue as well which could be used to fund some part of the project further

From what I read in another forum (which has Metro & Railway related discussions) is that even the Phase 1 would only be fully functional by 2017. A chap who kind of tracks the metro building all across India, states the challenge. The tunneling in Majestic area is still not complete. In Reach 1 (Nayandahalli to Bayyappanahalli), there are two tubes/tunnels required - for the up and down lines. Currently only one tunnel boring is complete, and the TBM has just started work on the next one. Going by the time the first tunelling took, it would be another year and a couple of months the second one would be complete. Only then can a rain "run through" between Nayandahalli and Bayyappanahalli.

The Bangalore Metro chose the most busiest area to build the Phase 1. Instead of that focus could have been on acquiring land (may be at cheaper prices) in the outskirts and lie the metro lines there - out in the open. Those metro lines themselves would bring business and industries to the immediate surroundings. Some how I now get a feeling that every scheme in Bangalore is launched with one thought process in mind - a few rich and powerful people should get some good revenue out of it. Come to think of it, even the ORR may have been built only after these groups purchases the adjacent land. And the whole idea was to allow huge buildings to come up there. And then these same worthies (and their side kicks), would think about another ring road which they would say is the best thing to happen after sliced bread. And the same story of ORR repeats there itself.

Originally Posted by KevinP

I wanted to apply for Traffic Warden till I came to question 14 – Give reference of any two eminent personalities in the city (Name, full address and telephone numbers)

If you are really interested in becoming a traffic warden, I know a few chaps who can be of help to you. Drop me a PM, if you are still interested. They are veterans in this field and could be of help (and guidance).

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by poloman

If there was metro connectivity from South and West Bangalore to the Whitefield via outer ring road, I am sure atleast 30% traffic load would have gone from these areas. Only in Bangalore you will see a fragmented and disjoint metro which is not helping any one. This will be the metro in the whole of world with least ridership currently.

Phase 1 plan was finalized in May 2003. Probably the metro folks didn't know the growth plan of SEZs & IT parks in ORR, EPIP areas then.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Phase 1 plan was finalized in May 2003. Probably the metro folks didn't know the growth plan of SEZs & IT parks in ORR, EPIP areas then.

Hmm.. can't say. But BMRCL is not working in isolation. They would have got inputs from the government. For example, how did they decide that Bayyappanahalli would be one end point. In 2003 itself I guess Whitefield (and ITPL) was considered to be an "IT destination" (just like E.City was in the South East side). So laying a metro line to either out-lying areas could have been thought off. Land acquisition would have been easier.

When HAL's helicopter division was really out side the Bangalore city (and when Indira Nagar was a far flung outpost, with 100 feet road being the last stop for buses), the visionaries at that time had laid a single line railway track to HAL!. Based on shift timings of HAL, a train used to run between HAL and Bangalore City RS (via Cantt.) *. Some thing similar could have been done in the case of Metro as well.

*: Remains of this railway line still exists. Today a single line can be seen crossing Old Madras Road and ending at the BEML depot. This line used to go further (through what is today a small park right next to Suranjan Das Road) till HAL market. The HAL railway station used to be there.

[ampere]

Certain things which I can think off which can ease the pain:

- Was in Ahmedabad recently. Was impressed by the bus corridor. That pretty much reduces the big chunk of traffic.
- Metro definitely yes. Whitfield should have been in the initial plan. If they had started early, land-acquisition would have been easier. The more its delayed, the more it becomes difficult.
- My earlier point of finding more viable and practical exit routes is another option. They should be able to make Varthur road a rapid corridor all the way way up to Dommasandra and extend that up to ORR Sarjapur road signal. That would take out the load on ORR in a big way.
- I frankly dont know how to manage this exit routing policy for large commercial/residential establishments. Some thing needs to done on that front. That is a big choke point. Ecospace, Shantiniketan, Total mall etc to name a few.
- Finally they at least should maintain what they have. (Current infrastructure)

[gadadhar]

This happened today at NICE exit towards Hosur road around 9 am on Monday 30th Nov. Last 2 weeks, like all other roads is Bangalore, traffic pileup has become a routine stuff on NICE exit and used to easily take 20 to 30 mts to come out. Monday morning was no exception and I was stuck on my way to office on the exit road. There are few idiots who avoid all this by taking the entry road from the wrong direction and drive against the incoming traffic to get on to service road towards Hosur. This I always thought as height of stupidity and is close to attempt to murder. Today I could see from some distance that 2 Traffic cops stationed near the exit, one was a high ranking officer (CI I guess) and the other was a duty constable. It was a Tech Mahindra BUS that broke the rule today, I could see the officer recording this in his camera from some distance. Next part was little tough to believe, I am not sure it was a GUN he pulled out, or was it only his mobile. Whatever it was, he was pointing that device like a GUN towards the driver while flagging the bus to stop (let me repeat – I was not sure it was a GUN though it looked like one from a distance). A young chap stepped down from the driver seat and suddenly both the police folks started slapping him on the face and kicking him with their boots. That was totals unexpected and there would have been more than 100 people watching the whole drama from various vehicles on the road. By then traffic started moving and I could not witness what followed.

It is true that the Driver was at fault, but does that give reason for the traffic police to man handle him in broad day light in middle of the road?