traffic

The adage says, "there's safety in numbers". But our Bangalore citizens seem to apply this out of context. Here's a photo I snapped on Sunday.  I wonder how many more people can ride on that two-wheeler, all without helmets....

What a day! It was a treat to see people pouring out of streets and alleys to join the human chain, merge in seamlessly, bringing their own posters, chanting their own slogans, and through small acts of kindness, reinforcing each others' faith in the compassion that is at the core of all of us. One protestor brought biscuits and drinks for the rest of the gang. Another stepped off the bus unaware of the protest, but joined in spontaneously and started coordinating the walk towards Vydehi. Buses gave free rides to the protestors gathered at Marathahalli and Kundanahalli. Men, women…

Whitefield. I know the very mention of that name is starting to remind people about all the things that are going wrong in that part of town. In my recent visits to that side too, I have been surprised by the degree to which the city has collapsed over there, and wondering what can be done to retrieve the situation. Rather than continue the litany of complaints, I thought I would put together the things that can be done to tackle the problem, initially focusing on roads and transport. A beeline of vehicles waiting on Varthur Main Road, near Kundalahalli…

In anticipation of the possible rush of traffic at the railway station and at bus stands, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has made special arrangements for traffic on October 21st . Impacted areas include City railway station, Kempegowda bus terminal, Shanthinagar bus terminal, Mysore road bus terminal, Yeswantpur bus terminal and Chikka Lalbagh bus terminal. In addition, private vehicles will not be allowed to use some roads, and parking has been banned on some others. Do remember that KSRTC has also planned for 1,500 additional buses for the Dasara weekend, so there is bound to be more vehicles on the city roads.  …

Sneha Jain writes:  My ideal India experience I lost my DL recently and had to go file an FIR to get a duplicate DL from the RTO. I was thinking of getting it done from the Koramangala police station. Given my past experience with the Police, I was not sure if I wanted to go through this on a Monday morning, and spoil my day and the rest of the week ahead. But I went ahead hoping things might have changed. It was my best experience with the Police so far and it has in fact made my day today.…

This is Akshayanagar Layout, situated off Bannerghatta Road (Note: Akshayanagar is also the name of another layout situated in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore). Sandwiched between Hulimavu Lake on one side and Begur Lake on the other, Akshayanagar is an upcoming locality with several residential projects under construction currently. Owing to its proximity to Bannerghatta Road, Electronic City and Jigani, it is a much sort after locality by Bangalore’s techie population. Akshayanagar Layout can be accessed from Bannerghatta Road via the BDA 80 feet road (one of the many access points), which joins the Hulimavu-Begur Road, and further connects to the Yelenahalli…

Pic: Prashant Kamat. Keeping the roads free of potholes is quite simple. Everywhere in the world, cities do this all the time. How? By doing three or four key things. First, they build roads of high quality. We build roads of low quality thinking that they are cheaper. But that's actually not true. They keep crumbling in the rains, and we keep rebuilding them, and as a result the expenditure on the roads is actually higher in the long run. It is better to build roads once, at higher cost and quality. Look at Vittal Mallya Road - it has…

How long does it take you to get to office? 10 to 20 minutes, 45 minutes, a little more than an hour, or two hours? For those of you who spend long hours on your commute, what do you do? Read? Work on your phone? Listen to music? Read a book? Well, here's something else you could do... Vikas Tripathi, a resident of Whitefield, works in an organisation operating out of M G Road. The present condition of the infrastructure in Whitefield ensures that it takes him around one and a half to two hours everyday, to reach his office.…

The ever-busy Silk Board junction. Pic: Abhishek Chandel The clock chimed seven on a balmy Wednesday evening, as I peered out of the dusty window of my motionless office bus. A cacophony of voices, the humdrum of engines, snatches of conversation and a curse word or two greeted my eardrums. The scene in front of my eyes appeared as dull and despondent as my day had turned out. A middle-aged lady driving back home from office killed her car's engine, and got busy yelling instructions to the domestic help about that evening's repast over her phone. A bored taxi driver…

In my earlier article dated August 19th, I had advocated the creation of a halt station on existing railway tracks, i.e. optimal use of resources, in turn saving our tax money. I would like to applaud Whitefield Rising for taking up this initiative and raising funds for the halt station. I was earlier requested to do a preliminary analysis by visiting sites at these locations, analyse feasibility and share my insights.  We should certainly go ahead with setting up halt stations between the junctions from Byappanhalli to IOL, Soukhya Spa (i.e. KIADB Phase II where there are warehouses). Often we just…