Commute

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, I looked at the strategic issues and practical issues respectively, in implementing the bus priority lane (BPL) project in Outer Ring Road. In this concluding part of the series, I discuss solutions to these problems: Ban slow-moving vehicles in ORR If a slow-moving vehicle is allowed on the general lanes of ORR, the entire traffic will slow down painfully. Hence BBMP must ban the entry of all slow-moving vehicles in the corridor. This includes hand-pushed carts, pedal-rickshaws and animal-driven vehicles. Do not allow BPL to cross the path of private vehicles…

Bengaluru's bus priority lane (BPL) project was to be launched in Outer Ring Road (ORR) today, but has been postponed yet again. In the first part of this series, I explored issues with respect to the overall strategy of the project. What's also clear is that the BBMP and BMTC have not thought through many practical difficulties in implementing it. Here are some of those: BPL is actually Bus 'BMTC Priority Lane'! Presently the BPL is only for BMTC, and not for other forms of mass transport such as: State transport buses from all states Private intercity (long-distance) buses  Private buses…

Tomorrow, BMTC’s bus priority lane (BPL) will be fully operational on a 27-km stretch of Outer Ring Road (ORR), from Swami Vivekananda Road to Silk Board. The project was to be launched on November 1st, but was postponed to 15th, as BBMP was unable to complete the infrastructure work due to rains. There is much optimism about the project, but it has strategic and planning issues that should have been addressed beforehand. In the first part of this series, I look at the strategic problems around BPL. BPL is not contextualised in terms of the city’s transport needs The project…

Public transport in Bengaluru has deteriorated rapidly. Though the government declares magic bullet schemes such as elevated corridors and bus priority lanes, these pop out of thin air without any city-wide planning for transportation. Rather than jumping to ad-hoc solutions, we should first be clear about the problem. At the core of this is how we measure the performance of our transportation. If any public transport agency wants to win over the public as its customers, it will have to consider the following Key Success Factors (KSFs) for mobility, and find optimum solutions. End-to-end connectivity Pickup within 300 m of…

It all started with a nine-kilometre ride three years ago. Soon cycling enthusiast Felix John started pedalling long distances, with his recent record being a 1200-km ride to Coimbatore. And now, he is Chennai’s Bicycle Mayor, appointed by BYCS – an Amsterdam-based social enterprise. His responsibilities as a bicycle mayor are many and diverse: to increase cycling in the city and to bridge the gap between cyclists and local government, among several others. In an interview with Citizen Matters, Felix John, who takes pride in hailing from North Chennai, talks about the ambitions, feasibility and challenges of promoting cycling in…

Many stakeholders have been involved in the introduction of bus priority lanes in Bengaluru - BMTC, BBMP, DULT, Bengaluru City Police, among others. The project also put the advantages of public transport at the centre of public discourse once again. However, an important aspect that plays on our mind about public transport is our personal safety. Women especially, are always at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to safety. We sat down for a chat with Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru city, on measures to improve safety in public transport. In his candid style, Rao spoke at…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDukW437_lw&feature=youtu.be

The much-hyped 24-km BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) corridor in the city, on which Rs 329 crore has already been spent to create the required infrastructure, is now likely to be dismantled, at a cost of 40% of the money already spent on it. The “corridor of trouble”, as it has come to be known among commuters, residents and commercial establishments on its route, has seen 121 accidents and 21 fatalities between 2016 and 2018, according to official figures. Not to mention the traffic chaos it is causing. Launched in 2013 by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, the corridor from Misrod…

Yesterday, BBMP Special Commissioner Randeep Dev said on Twitter, that all engineers have been instructed to strictly comply with the methodology for filling potholes. BBMP had specified the nine-step methodology for filling potholes last December, following High Court's orders in PIL No 42927/2015. Dev said that BBMP is also insisting on geo-tagged photos of potholes before and after patching, to ensure transparency and accountability. According to Dev, following is the methodology for pothole patching/repair that BBMP engineers have to adhere to. Step 1: Place traffic control devices Place traffic cones, flags, flagman to guide and control the traffic movement Step…

According to the Bengaluru Traffic Police, an average of four vehicle-caused accidents occur in the city every day. An alarming 20 percent of these are fatal. These happen for several reasons - pedestrians crossing wide junctions where there's little coordination, driver belligerence, and disregard of traffic rules. People with disabilities and the elderly are left at an unimaginable disadvantage, with only a few seconds to cross the road. The obvious question here is - what about the skywalks? Skywalks exist for the sole purpose of pedestrian safety, but are rarely used. For the average Bengalurean to incorporate skywalks in their…