Articles by Rakesh HP

As a part of decongesting traffic from Silk Board junction to Madiwala checkpost, the traffic police have converted some two-way roads into one-ways. Now the vehicles going from Silkboard to Koramangala or Diary Circle can move easily on both sides of the road. One may thank the police for this initiative, and for facilitating smooth traffic flow on these roads. But the main problem is for commuters who are moving towards Silk Board or Hosur road, from Dairy Circle or Koramangala water tank. They have to go towards Krupanidhi College junction and then take a right onto the Madiwala market…

It was a fine Thursday morning - 10 am. I was waiting near Krupanidhi Engineering College Signal on Sarjapur Road on my two-wheeler. Many girls were holding some pamphlets on road safety and traffic rules, and were distributing them to motorists. When a girl approached me with a pamphlet, I saw the content was purely in Kannada and I asked "English?" She probably realised that the pamphlet that was in Kannada can't reach everyone. Then, she rudely shouted: "When you are in Karnataka, you will have to learn Kannada!" The question that came to my mind is, whether we should…

After giving the full amount for the BMTC ticket you will have to ask "Ticket kodi sir" - "please give me ticket sir." I have seen many conductors taking cash and if the commuter is travelling for short distance, they just don't give the ticket. What happens if you give money and not take ticket? This incident happened in BMTC Shanti Nagar Bus Depot. Last year, I used to go for weekend trips and manage to reach Bangalore either Sunday night or Monday early morning. One day, I was comfortably seated in a bus at Majestic. The bus was fully packed…

This is one question that arises in the mind of commuters travelling from BTM Layout via Maruti Nagar to Koramangala. For the last six months, BWSSB had made a mess of Thaverekere 1st Main Road. Now the vehicles coming from Forum to BTM Udupi garden are diverted via Maruti nagar. Due to this, traffic have increased during peak hours. Now commuters have to choose an alternate road to save time and avoid traffic in Maruti Nagar road.Recently Maruti Nagar Road had a traffic jam; adding more trouble to commuters were some private property owners who have left construction materials such…

12 Bus Days till date. Officials say the initiative has been successful and it will begin the second year of Bus Day on Friday. It's been a year since the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) initiated the Bus Day programme. Started on February 4, 2010, BMTC introduced extra buses along twelve corridors of the city on the 4th of every month. Studies indicated that at least 5,000 cars were off roads on this day, bringing down pollution levels considerably. (Source: Times of India)But is Bus Day really a success. Did it encourage commuters to use BMTC for one day or…

We all know that our Bangalore is growing fast and civic authorities are planning a massive road-widening project across the city. But footpaths are either full of parked four wheelers or debris leftover by BBMP construction works. The narrow footpaths we have are already blocked at points by transformers, trees, piles of garbage and vehicles. Roads are meant for vehicular movement and footpaths for pedestrian walk. But you can see this reversed near main roads or traffic signals. We cannot name a specific area because this scene is seen all over Bangalore. I personally experienced this near Madiwala, BTM and…

I have not written this article to defame BMTC but to bring out an issue which I come across every day on my commute to work. I stay in Madiwala and my office is in Indiranagar. I either catch bus route number 201 D or 201 M/A. I board these buses from Ayyappa Temple or Madiwala Masjid bus-stop.Underpass construction work on Ayyapa Temple road started at the end of last month. This has increased traffic in and around Koramangala Water Tank. I am not here to complain about traffic. Heavy traffic during peak hours is common in a city like…