[shatananda.k]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

To top that, Embassy is building more tech parks inside Embassy Tech village!! Disaster waiting to happen!!

Once all the tech parks are functional, we are in for the real treat.

Instead, can work from home be encouraged ?
I don't think everyone needs to travel to work everyday unless there is a HW dependency. A laptop with good internet should be enough.
Not really sure if something of this nature can be implemented. If not, the amount of time wasted in traffic is only going to increase exponentially

[airbus]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Off late, traffic is very heavy right from Kadubeesanahalli underpass till ecospace. Is it because of the new rules enforced for entering ecospace via service roads?

In fact, traffic is backed up till Marathahalli. These days I am spending close to 30 minutes from Marathahalli to ETV. If I travel by public transport/Quick Ride up to Marathahalli bridge and then walk to ETV may reduce my travel time. It seems walking is the fastest mode of transport in this stretch

Originally Posted by shatananda.k

If not, the amount of time wasted in traffic is only going to increase exponentially

Add to that extra pollution due to these jams.

[srishiva]

Think about not just pollution but waste of fuel. My Vento TDI gives me around 6-7 km per litre on ORR. This is even after turning off the engine at lights !
Criminal waste of resources.

[vnidta]

Originally Posted by srishiva

My Vento TDI gives me around 6-7 km per litre on ORR...Criminal waste of resources.

Hmmm... That's a relief! I was thinking that my Getz CRDi has some sort of problem as it's giving me around 10 to 11 KMPL on ORR. I can rule out any technical issues in it now.


Joke's apart. I have been noticing the changing trend in these stretches since last January. I am only mentioning about the drastic changes, not the gradual ones which happen as people add more vehicles. Earlier, it used to take me around 50 minutes on a good day to an hour and ten minutes on a bad day. Let's ignore the worst days for the time being.

I travel from Chamarajpete to Prestige Tech Park in ORR. Today, if I leave anytime later than 7:40AM on a very good day, I am sure I will get stuck in traffic for over 1.5 hours. I am sedate.., doesn't mean I block others.., stick to my lane. I have left-lane phobia and lane-change phobia. I stick to the right lane as much as possible. On a bad day though, it's ending up anywhere between 2 to 2.5 hours one-way. I spent nearly 5 hours in traffic over the last one and a half month. Starting this week, I'm sacrificing sleep and moving out by 6:45AM to 7AM. Still takes me one hour! Reason: Moon-Crater Filled Roads - advertised as roads of International Standard on billboards near all the bus shelters by our Hon. CM.

Evenings are even worse. Earlier, a start at 3:30PM from office would have made me reach home by around 4:10 to 4:15 on a good day and by 4:30 on a bad day. 5PM at max even on a worst day. But, today, a stat at 3:30 to 3:45 takes me no less than 5:10PM. Reason: Moon-Craters again and also, Saint John's Signal. Not sure what's gotten into the BTP cops out there.., they manage the signal manually. They let the Hosur Road to City and City to Hosur Road sides for way too long and keep our side's signal in red for 8 to 10 minutes or more. With this, some get frustrated, move over the lane and towards the main junction. Only then the cops turn this side to green. It's a total chaos.

All I can say is that it just keeps getting worse. I don't even have an alternative as I am not comfortable with our office Cabbies. They drive horribly and I am not used to being driven that way. I just hope things change for the better. Just hope...

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by vnidta

Hmmm... That's a relief! I was thinking that my Getz CRDi has some sort of problem as it's giving me around 10 to 11 KMPL on ORR. I can rule out any technical issues in it now.

Evenings are even worse. Earlier, a start at 3:30PM from office would have made me reach home by around 4:10 to 4:15 on a good day and by 4:30 on a bad day. 5PM at max even on a worst day. But, today, a stat at 3:30 to 3:45 takes me no less than 5:10PM. Reason: Moon-Craters again and also, Saint John's Signal. Not sure what's gotten into the BTP cops out there.., they manage the signal manually. They let the Hosur Road to City and City to Hosur Road sides for way too long and keep our side's signal in red for 8 to 10 minutes or more. With this, some get frustrated, move over the lane and towards the main junction. Only then the cops turn this side to green. It's a total chaos.

I was in the same boat as you wondering why my palio is giving me only 10 kmph. Then I realized its because of this traffic. By the by I heard a quote sometime back, "Don't crib about traffic. You are the traffic".

My commute to office matches almost 80% of your route and I agree with your assessment. Traffic starts piling up all the way from Lalbagh and is choc a bloc by the time one enters the Nimhans flyover. It ceases after ST Johns only to again increase after Jakkasandra. The commute time was close to 1.5 hours on avg. It started irritating me so much that I stopped carpooling and started to commute by bike and now I changed the route until Jakkasandra so that atleast it reduces my commute time by 20-30 mins.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Off late, traffic is very heavy right from Kadubeesanahalli underpass till ecospace. Is it because of the new rules enforced for entering ecospace via service roads? Even the service roads are jammed!! Its taking close to 25 to 30 mins during peak hours to just exit the service road from new Wells Fargo building to the main road!! To top that, Embassy is building more tech parks inside Embassy Tech village!! Disaster waiting to happen!!

I think it is just that more and more people are being crammed into the already bursting Marathahalli- Iblur Stretch. As you said, more buildings are coming up and we regularly see reports of some company or the other taking up more office space in this stretch.

Just to sample, I heard Honeywell is consolidating all Bangalore operations into the facility in RMZ Ecoworld, A new Intel building is coming up, read that Amazon is looking for space on ORR.

In addition, Uber and Unisys have started operations in the new tech park on Sarjapur Road and Wipro SEZ is progressing next to that. These developments are already increasing the load on a choked Sarjapur Road and the other roads leading up to ORR (like Panathur Road).

Definitely going to get worse.

Edit: On a side note, 2 incidents which bought a smile to my face during the commute. In Varthur town, traffic was moving very slowly and an ambulance was coming- A few vehicles managed to move in the right way and provide a clear path to the Ambulance to move.

Immediately after, a small school girl (7-8 years maybe) attempting to cross the road (alone). Came quarter way and seemed scared and stuck. A traffic policeman nearby who saw this came to her, took her hand and helped her cross. A nice moment in the chaos.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by shatananda.k

Once all the tech parks are functional, we are in for the real treat.

Instead, can work from home be encouraged ?
I don't think everyone needs to travel to work everyday unless there is a HW dependency. A laptop with good internet should be enough.
Not really sure if something of this nature can be implemented. If not, the amount of time wasted in traffic is only going to increase exponentially

In most tech firms WFM is looked down upon as not doing any work. Once one of my managers had told me, "See, I can pay someone who is sitting in office not doing anything for 8 hours, but at home I don't know what he is doing". Unfortunately the employees too almost imply WFM = Holiday (Not everyone, but a significant lot).
Similarly in a different company my manager was perfectly fine with WFM and even the team/management encouraged the same. Really depends where you work.

But if we can lock down WFM, then a significant load can be taken off the roads. Understand that traffic is a problem everywhere. In Bangalore it gets compounded because of the pathetic infrastructure. Look at the newspapers, everyone these days is showing the state of our roads. I wonder why can't authorities fix it? Why does it need to be highlighted in newspapers for them to take action? Just sheer irresponsibility.

[shatananda.k]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

In most tech firms WFM is looked down upon as not doing any work.

I understand this attitude. People tend to work FOR home. But this is exactly what needs to change. There is no point in hoping that the infrastructure will improve anytime soon.

Originally Posted by vnidta

I travel from Chamarajpete to Prestige Tech Park in ORR.

I do work out of Prestige Tech Park sometimes. Started commuting using my 2 wheeler now. This does save time. Only problem is during the rain which leads to new games on ORR.

[audioholic]

The recent rains have just showed how robust last years resurfacing was. Most of the newly laid patches on my daily route has just been dissolved. I dont even know where the material went, probably clogging some partly existing storm water drain. To cover this up, there are already patchworks being done, but as stupid as it can get, it is being done on damp roads. Not sure if this will last the current rains.

On the other hand, I try to venture into the ORR every month or so hoping for some improvements, but it just gets worse and I repeatedly swear not to come there again. On my recent try while going back home, I met with the pile up right before Kadubisanahalli underpass and this was a new record for me. Left office at 4:30, and picked up a Quickride car pooler at ecospace at 515. Usually I would have crossed Ecospace by 5:00. And I finally reached my house at 6:45, which would not have been the case if I had taken the city route.

I heard from the lady who accompanied me that since Wells Fargo started business operations, the situation has worsened. I cant imagine how people can even commute on this stretch. What are the various organisations in this stretch doing to help the situation? How on earth can more companies agree to move in to such properties? I believe that as long as there is demand, the supply will be very much in sync and more buildings will continue to come up.

These days I have got lazy and end up taking my Dio to work, and I find the journey a refreshing adventure, with obstacles and potholes playing games and in between all that, some respite from being able to make use of the gap to the left of the road and get ahead of traffic. As pointed out by others, it saves me time and I can reach home within an hour instead of the 1.5 hrs I take on an average to reach home in car. Even metro does not work for me thanks to the poor transit time from BYPL to whitefield. Hence, these days its 3 days of commute by car, and 1 day by two wheeler. The remaining one day is either WFH or I take a difficult decision on which mode of transport to take based on a lot of factors. If it is a two wheeler, then I urge everyone to use a dust mask. The amount of dust in this side of the city is just too high and I end up disposing a mask every four days of commute due to the kind of dust it accumulates.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by audioholic

The recent rains have just showed how robust last years resurfacing was. Most of the newly laid patches on my daily route has just been dissolved. I dont even know where the material went, probably clogging some partly existing storm water drain. To cover this up, there are already patchworks being done, but as stupid as it can get, it is being done on damp roads. Not sure if this will last the current rains.

Every year the government says they have spent so many hundred crores for repairing the roads. I just do not understand how the amount can run into crores for the quality of the work done. Is there any breakup of how much a kilometre of road costs to repair?

Originally Posted by audioholic

What are the various organisations in this stretch doing to help the situation? How on earth can more companies agree to move in to such properties? I believe that as long as there is demand, the supply will be very much in sync and more buildings will continue to come up.

The best these organisations can do to help the hapless souls of Bengaluru is to move out of the city. The government on its part can help by "not inviting" more companies to invest in the city anymore but rather ask them to move to other parts of the state thereby reducing congestion here. But then this is all wishful thinking.

Originally Posted by audioholic

These days I have got lazy and end up taking my Dio to work, and I find the journey a refreshing adventure, with obstacles and potholes playing games and in between all that, some respite from being able to make use of the gap to the left of the road and get ahead of traffic. As pointed out by others, it saves me time and I can reach home within an hour instead of the 1.5 hrs I take on an average to reach home in car.

I have long stopped using my car for daily commute. Find using my Access more convenient but feel that riding 2 wheelers is getting more dangerous on the roads now.

Originally Posted by audioholic

If it is a two wheeler, then I urge everyone to use a dust mask. The amount of dust in this side of the city is just too high and I end up disposing a mask every four days of commute due to the kind of dust it accumulates.

Agree. Also it helps gargling with plain water to clear the throat once you reach the destination.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Every year the government says they have spent so many hundred crores for repairing the roads. I just do not understand how the amount can run into crores for the quality of the work done. Is there any breakup of how much a kilometre of road costs to repair?

The PWD contracting business is a "money making scheme" for any politician, all across the country. These folks would be able to give perfect believable figures (and account books), but it is an open secret that lots of money actually gets rerouted the politicos. See the craze for the politicians from Karnataka in widening roads, building steel fly overs and what not.

[drive2eternity]

Though the poorly road design and the pathetic quality of the material used in Bangalore has been widely discussed and criticized in this forum, another aspect which I just cannot comprehend are the strange openings in the roads in the name of U-turn.

My daily commute forces me to encounter 2 of such moronic U-turns.

The first one is just as we descend after the Spice Garden flyover towards Marathalli. This U-turn is only for two-wheelers. It basically blocks of the right most lane (for both sides of the traffic). On the exact same spot, on the left most lane there is a bus stop. It is naturally blocked by buses. This causes the entire traffic to squeeze into just one, central lane. Awesome planning by BTP. Applause

The second one is right opposite the More Megastore on ORR-Marathalli. This one is wide and allows cars and even tempo travellers to take the much needed U-turn. Needless to say, it blocks off the right most lanes for both directions, with vehicles waiting in the 'fast' lane to turn. Also, since four-wheelers have a wider turning radius, they mostly complete the turn in the middle lane thereby choking the wide, six-lane ORR.
Moreover, since this U-turn space was 'conceptualized' and 'created' by removing the central medium, there is no hard surface to support vehicle weight. It is just some mud which has already given way, forming a nice, deep crater. Add the monsoon rain water to it and we get what I used to call 'coffee' as a child. Perfect, sticky mud with a layer of water on top. Today, at 8AM, a Ciaz was taking a U-turn. The front right wheel went deep into 'coffee', the left rear wheel decided to leave the road contact and raised itself 2 inches above the ground in pride and the Ciaz was stuck. The 'coffee-d' wheel soon started spinning freely, at will, spewing large amounts of 'latte' to its vicinity. Huge pill-up of traffic followed very quickly. The right most lanes blocked, the central and left lanes moving slowly as everyone wanted to 'dekho' what was happening instead of driving ahead.
Slow clap and applause to BTP (again)

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

Though the poorly road design and the pathetic quality of the material used in Bangalore has been widely discussed and criticized in this forum, another aspect which I just cannot comprehend are the strange openings in the roads in the name of U-turn.
Awesome planning by BTP. Applause

Slow clap and applause to BTP (again)

Though I agree with the flaws you mention, I have some sympathy for BTP. Its the BBMP that is to be blamed for everything you stated. BTP have only put their efforts making use of the infrastructure that the BDA and BBMP have provided to them. Of course, they have done their trials and erred in a few instances. But they are the fastest to respond and provide solutions to problems, even if it is beyond their scope. If only the BBMP responded to tweets and fixed roads and broken dividers, Bengaluru's condition would have been better.

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Its the BBMP that is to be blamed for everything you stated.

Oops, I was under the impression that such decisions are taken by BTP.
Apologies for my oversight.

Thanks for clarifying. Slow claps to BBMP then

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

Though the poorly road design and the pathetic quality of the material used in Bangalore has been widely discussed and criticized in this forum, another aspect which I just cannot comprehend are the strange openings in the roads in the name of U-turn.

My daily commute forces me to encounter 2 of such moronic U-turns.


The second one is right opposite the More Megastore on ORR-Marathalli. This one is wide and allows cars and even tempo travellers to take the much needed U-turn. Needless to say, it blocks off the right most lanes for both directions, with vehicles waiting in the 'fast' lane to turn. Also, since four-wheelers have a wider turning radius, they mostly complete the turn in the middle lane thereby choking the wide, six-lane ORR.

You forgot to mention the awesome choice of location for creating this U turn - right in front of the bus stop @ VIMS Hospital where BMTC buses, company staff buses, random TTs and Innovas and everyone can freely park and solicit passengers with absolute disregard for the chaos they are causing. And here, one has to "applaud" the BTP for being amazing spectators to this drama with doing nothing apart from blowing their whistle every 20 seconds and waving at vehicles to pass, as if they can suddenly take off into thin air. So you have the right most 2 lanes lost due to the moronic U turn and the left lane to parking, and this results in a pile up upto the end point of the underpass.