bangalore traffic

Our roads are public, and parking, where it is legal, should be available to all. But our vehicle users and and homeowners both seem to think that the parking space is something they have ownership of. Many buildings display notices outside which say, "Parking for XYZ customers only". Many homes (private ones, not clinics) have signs outside that say, "Ambulance may come at any time, no parking"....a patently false declaration. I can understand signs that say, "Don't park in front of the gate", but privatising the road in front of a residence is surely unethical if not actually illegal. Some…

The commuter catchment for Byappanahalli and travelling to Whitefield actually comprises of many segments. The first one is the work force who commute regularly from and around Byappanahalli which is estimated at 20000 commuters per day. The number of persons working in Whitefield area, belonging to both industrial and service sector, is estimated to be 2.5 lakhs. One estimate suggests that 75% to 80% of this work force is coming from areas beyond Byappanahalli. The number of commuters therefore would be around 180000 to 200000. This is the second segment. The third segment comprises of persons who come to Whitefield…

A wrecked footpath with cables, garbage, posters. Pic: Nadia Asif If you are a pedestrian you would know that crossing Bengaluru’s busy, lawless roads is nothing less than a life-threatening ordeal. For motorists, pedestrians are obstacles and for the traffic police, pedestrians are insignificant road users who somehow find their way in the mayhem of vehicles coming in from all directions without any order. In a survey conducted by Walkability Asia in seven Indian cities, Bengaluru scored the lowest in walkability. It is common to see bikes using the pavements to ride past static traffic, or autos cutting corners inches…

We have a common psychology of living with the problem, not realising we are encountering one! So are the case of most pedestrians whose Right of Way has been infringed for various reasons. The first form of transportation was walking - from the time man was born, he has been walking. But with improvements in technology and innovations of automobiles, we do not give importance to walking any more. Now everyone has their personal vehicles. Number of these vehicles has been increasing every day! It has been reported that about 55.59 Lakh non-transport vehicles, that is cars and two-wheelers are…

It was supposed to be a quick route to get to South Bengaluru from the western part of the city, which it was during the 90s, when the portion of Ring Road linking Bannerghatta Road to Mysore Road opened. I was pursuing my post-graduation at a business school in JP Nagar then and would manage to reach Banashankari and JP Nagar that were next to the same road, in just half an hour from Vijayanagar even in the early 2000s. However, things started going downhill around 2003. My rides got longer. I relocated to Hyderabad in 2004 and was relieved…

During the last few months, there have been several instances of the Karnataka Transport Department seizing cabs that operate under on-demand app-based aggregators. All hell broke loose for Ola and Uber cabs who were operating merrily in Bengaluru, when the State Transport Department introduced a formal set of rules governing taxi aggregators, on April 2nd, 2016.  In the previous two stories on taxi aggregators, you read about how Ola and Uber have changed the commuting pattern in Bengaluru, the commuters response to it, and how has it changed the lives of cab drivers in city. The policy called as the Karnataka On-demand…

This is an idea of how Chalukya Circle (CC) Junction and surrounding areas can be made signal-free with existing infrastructure. The idea if implemented will make the following four bottle necks signal free and cross-traffic free. Chalukya Circle AG's Office signal on Palace Road Palace Road-Sankey Road Junction Miller Tank Bund Road-Sankey Road.  The following roads lead into and away from the circle.  Raj Bhavan Road - one way from Raj Bhavan to Chalukya Circle Race Course Road - two way Palace Road from Maharani's college side - two way Palace Road towards Cunningham Road - one way towards Cunningham…

Sides are covered on Mysore Bank circle skywalk. The narrow footpath forces pedestrians to walk on the road. Pic: Shamala Kittane Subramaniam This is the skywalk at the Mysore Bank Circle on Kempegowda Road in Bengaluru. It has an elevator and is well-lit. However, the sides of the skywalk path are covered, so the insides are not visible from the road. People who need to head from or towards Kandaya Bhavan struggle to cross this part on the footpath, because a large part of the footpath is occupied by the skywalk base. Harish, an employee at Kandaya Bhavana does not…

A couple of years ago, the government came up with a hare-brained plan to construct underpasses on Sarjapur road. The sole reason for this was to benefit a private builder developing a large area on the wetlands of Bellandur lake. The residential areas along the way would have been decimated, but that was of no concern to the powers that be. Citizens went to court and finally a negotiated settlement was arrived at between citizens and the government. A government-appointed commission, in its final report, stated that the real problem was on Hosur road and that had to be treated…

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…