[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

What you said is what I referred to as the maniac yellow boards that cause the jam - the so-called successful lane switch of that genius BMTC or cabbie from the left most to the right or vice versa causes vehicles in 2 adjacent lanes to jam their brakes and creates a few minutes of chaos. I am blessed to do 30 kms everyday on ORR and there's not a single day where a mad manouver by a BMTC or a company bus hasnt caused a jam. If you recollect, the few days of BMTC strike last year and the uber / ola strike earlier this year did result in a few days of peaceful drive, albeit longer driving time due to higher # of vehicles but more disciplined driving

You and I remember BMTC strike day at different extremes. I was commuting on cycle at that time (~5km one way) and that was the toughest traffic ever in 2 years. I am sure there are references to hellish traffic about those days in this very thread.
I am talking about ORR, which is one-way all around, and a lane switch means a lane switch. My experience is exactly the opposite of yours. The cab's and the buses do switch, and the private cars try the switch.

This is the way ORR traffic is supposed to be



And this is how we are (and I have taken a milder traffic photo -- if you google there are many more chaotic ones)



Are you saying all the private car drivers drive like first case and the cabbies are all like second case ?
The whole question of cabbies and buses messing everything up is quite the opposite of reality. BMTC buses commute 40-50 times the number of people your car commutes for just 3 times the space. It is bizzare if you think taking them off somehow solves traffic problems.
Every single issue you accuse cabs of, lane jumping, blocking traffic, wrong parking, I see everyday coming from private vehicles as well.
Once in a while we all need to ask that question, who is the real moron ? White collared, white numbered educated well off people who commute in car just because we can or the bus/cab drivers ?

True that 500 series is reliable but what about the last and first mile connectivity? That is where Bangalore has an issue. In my instance, I am more than happy to take the 500 series that addresses 80% of my commute
distance but there is just no reliable bus service for the rest 20% and autos are just not an option. If there are autos like Mumbai / Kerala that are willing to come by meter, I am more than happy to ditch the car. If the last mile connectivity issue is addressed, I wouldnt be surprised if a lot more of us switch to the volvos

Better learn to walk the last mile when you are young, because in 5 years you will anyway have to do it. The way ORR is going now, there is no escape from that.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

Love the ranting here.
Makes me feel relieved that I am not the only one with the thoughts such as - pathetic road manners of cabs, BMTC ditching lane discipline, single occupancy cars, maniac two wheelers, crawling Tata Aces, bully TT fellows and the omnipresent cement mixers coupled with ingenious design of roads and even better 'approval' to make SEZs and TechParks right in the center of a populated city.

Most of these crawls are caused by 2 or more BMTC buses, who have zigzagged and parked to pick passengers and then are trying to move ahead. This is happening in the left most lane and causing cars behind to frantically move towards right lanes, causing a mess - understood.
As soon as we cross the bus stop, traffic seems to 'ease' a bit, sometimes even allowing me to use my third gear !

Have you folks made similar observations? [/b]

Totally in agreement with your observations; your points are very similar to my comments in the previous page about the main culprits for the crawl

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

You and I remember BMTC strike day at different extremes.

The whole question of cabbies and buses messing everything up is quite the opposite of reality. BMTC buses commute 40-50 times the number of people your car commutes for just 3 times the space.
Every single issue you accuse cabs of, lane jumping, blocking traffic, wrong parking, I see everyday coming from private vehicles as well.

Each one to their own, you are entitled to your opinions and so am I. Just because BMTC carries 40 people doesnt mean they have the right to flout every single rule and courtesy on the road. On the contrary, to encourage bus travel, there should be signal free corridors and dedicated lanes for buses so that the commute time reduces. Have seen this work beautifully in the Silicon Valley where the "Rapid" buses get priority in signals and have dedicated lanes to enable them move faster.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

...better 'approval' to make SEZs and TechParks right in the center of a populated city.

This point I actually disagree with. The ORR was the perfect place to make tech parks- A 6 lane + 2 service roads signal free corridor with vast empty lands. Of course, the problem was that once every one realized it was a nice cash cow, the approvals kept flowing and then there was no stopping it. It then became a series of band aid solutions to fix one problem after the other which has resulted in the state we are in.

The other interesting thing is that none of these seem to discourage companies from coming into this stretch. Every space in the area is being constructed and looks like there is no dearth of takers for these spaces.

My company was one among the first on that stretch and I still remember my manager telling me to leave office by 6 because the road was deserted from Belandur to Marathahalli.

[ajmat]

The ORR should have been an overhead road with proper designed ramps for access to the technoparks.

What causes the ORR blockages - cars coming in and out of various service road gaps, villages in the middle of the ORR and the bottleneck when merging at Iblur

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

The ORR was the perfect place to make tech parks- A 6 lane + 2 service roads signal free corridor with vast empty lands.

True, the ORR was never this crowded. I remember teaching my cousin how to ride a bike in the afternoon on the ORR in about 2007 or '08. Unthinkable today.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

...because the road was deserted from Belandur to Marathahalli.

Haha, very true. My first job was at Whitefield, and even that stretch was lonely post-7, this was between 2001-03. Can you imagine that today?!

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

The other interesting thing is that none of these seem to discourage companies from coming into this stretch.

This is what I find most interesting too. Are the office rentals everywhere else really that high or are the rentals here really that low that it makes sense for a company to move here? My office shifted here last year and now we have to provide cabs for each employee. I'm really wondering how it still makes financial sense considering the added cost of providing transport.

Originally Posted by ajmat

The ORR should have been an overhead road with proper designed ramps for access to the technoparks.

Very true. The only one road going in to, heading out of each of these blessed 'tech' parks cause a lot of the problem. Of course the builders are just too greedy to provide additional entry points and exits because that land can be used to put up another glass building.

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

This point I actually disagree with. The ORR was the perfect place to make tech parks- A 6 lane + 2 service roads signal free corridor with vast empty lands. Of course, the problem was that once every one realized it was a nice cash cow, the approvals kept flowing and then there was no stopping it.

This is what I also meant. 1 or 2 TechParks and then the approvals should have stopped. Example, Global Tech Village.
When the world knows Ecospace causes traffic jams, and we build Ecoworld (and other parks) in the vicinity, it shows how the cash cows are being milked.

Now, Prestige Ferns has come up and Microsoft is taking it up. My friend mentioned their company cabs are being scheduled to reach office by 7:30 AM. It means, more traffic, earlier in the day. Seems like my breezy drives in the morning will soon be over.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ajmat

What causes the ORR blockages - cars coming in and out of various service road gaps, villages in the middle of the ORR and the bottleneck when merging at Iblur

The places where service road traffic merges with ORR are terrible because often they are designed as 2 L-turns. Instead, they should have been exit ramps where direction of travel changes only slightly so that vehicles can take them without reducing speed.

The Rainbow-Innovative stretch has this sort of problem at Alpine Eco, Jeevika Hospital, Kalamandir, Girias and maybe another couple that I missed. That is a minimum of 4 locations in a 3km stretch. Each of these results in a 300m mini-jam even at non-peak hours.

And that is not counting the U-turn at Karthik Nagar.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by am1m

This is what I find most interesting too. Are the office rentals everywhere else really that high or are the rentals here really that low that it makes sense for a company to move here? My office shifted here last year and now we have to provide cabs for each employee. I'm really wondering how it still makes financial sense considering the added cost of providing transport.

It is actually the opposite, the floor space in ORR costs more.

It is straight forward economics. SEZs have tax holidays often running into 2 or 3 decades. That saves the company's corporate tax, which I guess is around 25% now. For company accounting, an MNC like Microsoft that makes say a billion dollars in revenue, can show 10 million to come from India Dev centre in an SEZ, can save 2.5 millions just by being there in an SEZ.
Suffice to say that the profits in million dollars are too high to count on employee satisfaction as a criteria for choosing location.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

Suffice to say that the profits in million dollars are too high to count on employee satisfaction as a criteria for choosing location.

Ahh, that makes sense, thanks. Was really wondering how these swanky campuses could actually be cheaper than those run-down multi-storied buildings in the CBD.

Also, perhaps it's the older employees like me ('older' in this industry being defined as 'above 30 and married' ) who really detest the traffic. As a younger, unattached person, maybe a great campus like this would be worth the traffic hassle. It's got everything inside (once you manage to drive inside)- greenery, a gym, fancy restaurants, a great looking crowd of people from different offices. And if you're relatively new to the city and most of your friends are your colleagues, it's a convenient place to hang out after work. Maybe it's worth it to a lot of people.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by am1m

Also, perhaps it's the older employees like me ('older' in this industry being defined as 'above 30 and married' ) who really detest the traffic. As a younger, unattached person, maybe a great campus like this would be worth the traffic hassle. It's got everything inside (once you manage to drive inside)- greenery, a gym, fancy restaurants, a great looking crowd of people from different offices.

The younger, unattached crowd simply stay close to work. If you take a walk around the areas behind/opposite Ecospace, you can see the huge number of PG accommodations that have popped up. Visit the apartments in the area. Most apartments up for rent are taken by this group and I personally know for a fact that there is huge demand for rental apartments in this area from the younger crowd. Once you are here, you can walk down or at the max hop in-hop out of a bus to reach offices along the ORR. The traffic is not a deal breaker at all. In addition, on weekends, the stretch is pretty smooth.

[binand]

What is RNSIL? OA Road junction with Wind Tunnel road is getting a flyover looks like.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by binand

What is RNSIL? OA Road junction with Wind Tunnel road is getting a flyover looks like.

Here is the full plan:

HAL, BBMP ink deal to decongest roads that witness massive traffic jams; underpass to come up near Kuvempu junction

Link

[binand]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Here is the full plan:

Thanks. Was aware of the project, but not so much of details. This article was very informative.

Couple of questions, though:

1. Does this mean the Wind Tunnel road's alignment will change? Do we know what the new alignment is?

the BBMP has agreed to shift the existing Wind Tunnel Road to the edge of HAL’s land at Challaghatta and construct a bridge over the Challaghatta drain.

2. Do we know the alignment of this road? Seems like if it can be connected to the new Wind Tunnel road a lot of traffic at Manipal etc. can be rerouted?

Major projects stalled because of land issues include road construction between Ejipura Inner Ring Road and Sarjapur Main Road

[hemanth.anand]

I don't know what had happened today morning on the Kanakapura road, but the stretch form the Toyota showroom till the NECE road junction was completely blocked. A colleague who left earlier (around 7AM)informed me of it and I avoided it just in time. My kid's school bus has to travel on this stretch before coming to our stop and it was delayed by an hour. My company cabs coming in this route were delayed by an hour too. The block was there till 10AM. Anyone has more info on the reason for the jam?

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I don't know what had happened today morning on the Kanakapura road, but the stretch form the Toyota showroom till the NECE road junction was completely blocked. A colleague who left earlier (around 7AM)informed me of it and I avoided it just in time. My kid's school bus has to travel on this stretch before coming to our stop and it was delayed by an hour. My company cabs coming in this route were delayed by an hour too. The block was there till 10AM. Anyone has more info on the reason for the jam?

It was jammed from 7 AM to up to 10.30 or so. My colleagues took more than 1.5 hours to cover the stretch which they usually would do in 10-15 minutes. It seems one side of the already barricaded road was blocked for some metro construction related erection and all to and fro traffic was diverted through the available 1.5 lane. Add to this the impatience of our fellow motorists, all hell had broken loose there.