[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by krish11

Has Metro doomed critically needed Flyovers/Underpasses in Whitefield area ?

My thought is how the Metro route alignment in the Whitefield area seems to have doomed critically needed road infrastructure (flyovers/under passes) at busy junctions in Whitefield area, namely Graphite India junction, Big Bazaar Junction and the Hope Farm junction. (Pictures attached - Red boxes indicate potential Flyovers/Underpa __Snipped__

I hope I am wrong and the city planners have thought about these - if not, Whitefield area will be choking in traffic very soon.

IMHO, you give too much credit to the planners. If they had the vision like that, then we wouldnt be in the mess we are right now.

[mvadg]

See this booming marketplace? This is what happens if you provide a free area for the public. It used to be Sampige Road. Now it is Sampige Town Center, permanently (, I wish) closed to traffic. Imagine the benefits to the economy. We should start converting roads one by one into public meeting places.

[karanddd]

Originally Posted by mvadg

See this booming marketplace? This is what happens if you provide a free area for the public. It used to be Sampige Road. Now it is Sampige Town Center, permanently (, I wish) closed to traffic. Imagine the benefits to the economy. We should start converting roads one by one into public meeting places.

I am not sure if you're being sarcastic but this is actually great. We need more walkable, car free areas in our cities. It's aesthetically pleasing, better for business, better for leisure. Cars hogging all the public space makes for a very dull, polluted, and noisy urban landscape.

[Chetan_Rao]

Revamped Church Street made pedestrian-only on weekends for a while in 2021 was fantastic! A shame it's gone back to the traffic-infested mess it was prior.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Revamped Church Street made pedestrian-only on weekends for a while in 2021 was fantastic! A shame it's gone back to the traffic-infested mess it was prior.

That entire square of commercial street, MG road, church street and brigade road should be made pedestrian and cycle only and run a line to cubbon park. How beautiful Would it be? Imagine fairs, pop up shops, night markets, food fests! How difficult is it to get it done?!

IDIOTS.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

That entire square of commercial street, MG road, church street and brigade road should be made pedestrian and cycle only and run a line to cubbon park.

The plan to make Brigade Road and Commercial Street pedestrian only was opposed by the shop owners. And to be fair, a lot of shoppers will certainly switch to the malls if they can't park their cars right in front of the shop. It's a sad fact but most people don't want to walk even a few hundred meters, that's why you have idiots parking right in front of shops, restaurants on main roads, blocking traffic! (They think the problem is solved by 'valet parking' - but that's basically a restaurant employee going and parking the car in an adjoining residential street and causing issues there!)

The plan to make Church Street pedestrian only was opposed by the residents of the apartments there. And again, to be fair, imagine if suddenly they decided to make the road in front of our houses pedestrian only. Can be solved by some sort of pass system and that was discussed too, dunno what happened to that.

Cubbon park is heaven on weekends without traffic! Again, there what is preventing it from getting closed for traffic on all days (which is the way it was several years ago) is the appeal from the Bangalore Traffic police who fear there will be jams on the other roads on weekdays.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for pedestrian friendly zones! But these are the reasons it doesn't get more widespread. At the heart of it, us Bangaloreans need to be ready to walk a bit to reach the restaurants, shops, malls we want to go to. But I see the majority of people not willing to do that.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

That entire square of commercial street, MG road, church street and brigade road...

IDIOTS.

Unfortunately for us, there are hardly any attractions in the area, only a preponderance of profiteering businesses; - Museums, art galleries, libraries, theatres, maker centers, parks (Cubbon park is really a big parking area now, or a oversized traffic island) pedestrian friendly areas, etc. Whatever is in the area needs updating and upgrading. That's why the government is collecting funds from rich people through excise and cess on fuel. In a few years, you will get your dream town centre. Expect to pay a toll, sorry, entry fee, to walk down MG Rd - a small price to pay for living in a developed city. Oh, "developed" made me think "real estate developers", they are best placed to do this - they could turn Bengaluru into a gated community, one giant mall...

[binand]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

That entire square of commercial street, MG road, church street and brigade road should be made pedestrian and cycle only and run a line to cubbon park.

In fact I was looking at the Metro plan and was thinking that once phase 2 is entirely done a lot of my car usage within city can be eliminated. Another 10 years, perhaps.

But commercial street - maybe I'm not seeing it correctly, but apart from MSU all other stores are your run-of-the-mill high street brands that you find in shopping districts everywhere in the country and certainly in malls and Indira Nagar 100ft road etc?

It will be very tough to make MG Road pedestrian-only in my opinion.

[ShreyG]

So today, I noticed utter stupidity and bullying from a BMTC bus (non AC).
On Hosur road, at Garvebhavipalya signal, buses stop just before the red light since that is where the "designated" bus stop is. Generally, people alight and board the buses while they wait for the signal to turn green. On the rare occasion when the light is green, buses stop at the left just before the zebra crossing much to the inconvenience of the vehicles behind. But this is not their fault and plain foolishness in the design of the bus stop (having it a few metres after the signal isn't really going to affect the walking distance as such).
What happened today is the BMTC bus was a couple of car lengths behind the bus stop with people boarding and alighting as always. However, once the signal turned green, the BMTC inched forward and stopped again at the "designated point" . This caused a lot of folks to honk at the bus which clearly infuriated the driver. He stood his ground and moved forward only when the light turned yellow leaving all behind him stranded.
I do not understand what was achieved with all this other than sound pollution, wasted fuel and subsequent air pollution.
Yes driving in Bangalore is not for the feeble minded, but aren't we all in the same boat? Moreover, I have seen BMTCs regularly flout red lights (especially on Hosur road) without penalization. So in a sense, they have a bit of liberty to play loose and fast with the rules.
Note - I do not advertise flouting any sort of rules of the road and am strongly against any such misadventures. My last point was only to share an observation.

[wildsdi5530]

Originally Posted by ShreyG

He stood his ground and moved forward only when the light turned yellow leaving all behind him stranded

This is a very common game that BMTC drivers play. I've often seen this in Yeshwanthpur signal. They move on yellow and thus regulate the traffic behind. This is apart from street races with other BMTC buses on the same route, Jumping signals, Blocking narrow roads with medians, Stopping at T- junction blocking a road, etc.

You must remember that BMTC drivers are a frustrated lot with low salary and rarely do they achieve their incentives. They play these games to keep themselves and their crew entertained. but God forbid you foil them, they will hunt you down and can cause you serious damage. Also they have their own grape vine where they share data similar to Cabbies. So if you get in their black books, every driver from that depot will bully you.

[ShreyG]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Also they have their own grape vine where they share data similar to Cabbies. So if you get in their black books, every driver from that depot will bully you.

Oooh. This is new information. So, apparently there is now a syndicate to trouble the decent, tax paying folks on the road as well. The power of the ones in government really makes folks like me with a private job feel like real idiots. And obviously having the bigger vehicle basically means they have the bigger stick. And can therefore bully. How sad is this truly
Fortunately, I haven't had any real beef with such guys and don't ever hope to get into any sort of confrontation with them.

[Sebring]

Cops are sitting with portable radars at important junctions. Beaming info to the next check point

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Cops are sitting with portable radars at important junctions. Beaming info to the next check point

This is welcome news!
However, Why block one lane for setting up the tripod?

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by whitewing

This is welcome news!
However, Why block one lane for setting up the tripod?

These are the kings men, no one can question them. Why do they stop out of state vehicles even after there are so many directives against it, and cause jams on highways?

Again, apparently, they are allowed to selectively stop speeding vehicles - not everyone speeding will be caught, even if they can, and I'm not talking about installing a new automated system, I'm saying that they will not ticket every speeding vehicle that they observe breaking the speed limit. This is why we say our cops are corrupt and ineffective.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Cops are sitting with portable radars at important junctions. Beaming info to the next check point

These are ANPR cameras (Automated Number Plate Reader). They can be used to track movement of a tagged vehicle and also alert the cops ahead about any "whales" - cars with a large amount of pending fines!