Commute

Just a few days ago, I was very happy to see that BMTC had introduced Yelli Iddira. "Yelli Iddira?" is a service provided by CL Infotech Pvt Ltd to BMTC commuters to track buses (presently only VOLVO) using on-line GPS data provided by BMTC .How to use:Supposing you are in Koramangala, and wish to go to Electronics City. The VOLVO bus route no V356C, connecting Kempe Gowda Bus Station and Electronic City (refer ‘route info' above), touches Koramangala at Big Bazaar, St John's hospital, Water tank Jn, Kripanidhi College, Madivala PS.To know the current location of the buses along the…

I received this announcement just now:Bangalore International Airport is delighted to announce its first Hasiru Habba.The objective of the Hasiru Habba is to create awareness to the community on environmental harms and to provide a simple message in effective way to every individual to make a positive change.Bangalore International Airport is conscious about your organization and the work that your organization is engaged towards environment. Bangalore International Airport would like invite your organization to be a part of this first ever Hasiru Habba to be held at Aiprort commencing from 15th August 2009 to 17th August 2009. Kindly accept this…

The BDA is in the process of building two flyovers on the Outer Ring road near the Iblur and Agara junctions in south-east Bengaluru as part of their 'signal free' Outer Ring Road project.  This article presents some questions, comments and suggestions regarding both the grade separators, on the basis of the project plans obtained from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in response to an RTI request by Citizen Matters. The flyovers have been described in an earlier article in Citizen Matters.  Two dedicated, access controlled, 11.5 feet wide bus lanes on either side of the central median of the…

Z A Khan, an engineer living in a Cantonment neighbourhood, does not travel by bus, car or two-wheeler to his office in Electronic City. He takes the Salem Passenger. “I take the train from Bangalore East at about 7:42 AM and get off at Heelalige (close to Chandapura) which is about 7 km from Electronic city. My company van picks me up at the station,” he says. Khan catches the same train back home in the evening at about 5:30 PM. “This is a much more convenient way to travel compared to enduring the ride through the city and traffic…

When I bump over the potholes, When I (don't) see the missing trees... When I can feel the pollution Because it makes me wheeze.... When I'm cycling in the hot sun Without an ounce of shade, I know that this "desert" Bangalore Is completely "BBMP-made"!  ⊕References

After battling a delay of almost two years, much to the chagrin of hassled commuters, work on the 42-metre-long railway over bridge (ROB) at the Kadugodi railway level crossing in Whitefield is nearing completion. The office of Commissioner of Railway safety in Bangalore, headed by K J S Naidu, says the (pending and necessary) approvals were accorded to the South Western Railways on June 8th. "The ball is now in the court of the railway authorities to oversee the timely execution and commissioning of the railway overbridge," said an official at the railway safety department, who did not want to…

Cycle tracks, parking space for bicycles, racks to lock your bike; all this may well become a reality soon in Bengaluru. Members of the cycling community are working towards developing this infrastructure in the city by working with the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) and other organisations. The BMLTA has been set up by the government of Karnataka under the Urban Development Department as an umbrella organisation to land transport matters in the Bangalore metropolitan area. Cycling route (Pic and graphic courtesy: Vijay Narnapatti) RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation that encourages and promotes sustainable transport through cycling,…

A few weeks ago, on a Monday morning, while I was  trying to drive away the blues, I saw a few people standing and staring at the railway track near our house. Not another one, I hoped. But when I saw people in the crowd discussing something animatedly and calling up people  from their mobile phones, I could sense uneasiness. Someone who was crossing the railway track earlier that morning or the previous night was critically or fatally injured. I was pained to learn later that evening that the victim  succumbed to his injuries. He had been hit by a…

New routes are regularly being introduced by the BMTC. This irritates me no end since, we, the citizens of JP Nagar V Phase are not at the receiving end of these new bus routes. Forget new ones, even the old routes seem to have disappeared overnight. BMTC seems to have wiped out JP Nagar V Phase from their route-maps. There are plenty of bus shelters, beautiful ones at that, but no single bus passes that way. A number of representations and meetings (with officials) have proved futile. Travelling out from JP Nagar, you have a few buses, but coming back…

On the afternoon of Sunday, 2nd May, a group of citizens came together at a dance auditorium at Jayanagar to discuss one of the city's burning issues: the “Namma Metro” project. Organised by Hasiru Usiru, the discussion  focussed on social, economic and environmental impacts of the construction of the Metro in Jayanagar. The four hour long discussion also included a critique of the current plan, alternative designs, as well as legal issues surrounding the controversial project.  The participants said that they have very little knowledge about the plans of the Metro. While some appreciated the introduction of the Metro in…