Commute

On August 7th this year, transport workers waged a nation-wide strike in protest against the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which was passed by the Lok Sabha and is awaiting passage in the Rajya Sabha. The stir saw support from two state transport corporations of Kerala and Haryana as well as unions across party lines through the country. While the proposed law has largely been welcomed by experts as one that will bring about greater focus on road safety, several proposed changes to the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 do not seem to have gone down well with the opposition parties and transport workers.…

Growing up in Bengaluru is no guarantee that you know the city. Though I have spent all my life here, there are parts of it which are still unfamiliar, and once in a while, I get to experience a facet of the city that I had not seen before. The #ModaluTrainBeku Rail Yatra, organised by Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) on August 31st 2018, allowed me a glimpse into Bengaluru’s local train network. The Yatra, from Yeshwanthpur station to Heelalige station, was organised as part of ongoing campaigns to introduce commuter trains for local commutes. On August 31st, I joined the…

Transport is the only development sector that worsens as incomes rise. While sanitation, health, education and employment tend to improve through economic development, traffic congestion tends to worsen as pro-growth forces tend to demand and influence policies. Transport is not a technical problem, It is not an infrastructure problem, It is not even a financial problem, Most often, it is a political problem. The proponents for elevated freeways planned to be built cutting across the city claim many benefits, but the theory behind these has gaping loopholes. Let me analyse them one by one, objectively. City has just 1,500 km…

Through this article, I would like to counter a previous article by Nitin Seshadri, a resident of Koramangala, that recommends elevated roads as a solution to our traffic jams. Here are my points: 1.The debate is based on unreliable data. We do not have the accurate road capacity data, and the OD matrix. Apparently Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has carried out some transportation forecasting, but it was never shared in public. So the entire debate is based on questionable data. Before any elevated roads are proposed, the relevant data must be shared in public domain. 2.The elevated roads are neither…

Did you know that the state has a wide range of welfare schemes for all students, including those studying in private schools? The state department has allocated Rs 2,717.34 for the Transport Department, of which  Rs.799.25 crore is spent on subsidy for free bus passes to students and senior citizens. Bus passes can be availed to travel from a student's residence to school and back on all days of the month. Students with passes are permitted to travel in all ordinary, express and deluxe services. Here is an overview of such schemes available. Special Concession for Students To encourage school going…

Two years ago when the Centre for Smart Cities, the same think-tank that came up with the idea of elevated corridors, formulated a proposal to concretise 29 Bengaluru roads, it was with the vision to build sustainable road infrastructure. Like many ambitious government plans, the execution of the project by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) continues to be stalled by obstacles not taken into consideration during planning. The work has been held up in the absence of clearances from traffic police and due to the onset of monsoon as reported by the media extensively. However,  tender documents related to the project clearly show…

KSNDMC warns of possible flooding in September Bengalureans felt the ripple effect of floods in Kodagu District (where a rainfall of 768mm left villages ravaged) on August 24, when the city received 43 mm of rainfall till 9 pm. Areas such as Malleswaram, Rajajinagar, Hebbal, Sadashivanagar, Kengeri, Adugodi and Mysore road received very heavy rainfall. Once the rain started, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) issued warnings by dispatching messages through their mobile application to certain key areas. The centre has forecast heavy rain in the immediate future, and has intimated the same to BBMP. Scientists warn that 80 mm…

Dear Chief Minister of Karnataka, With great urgency, in your very first budget, you have announced an undebated ‘Elevated Corridor’ project that has not had public consultation, and followed no due process. Another project is an untested technology called ‘Pod Taxi’, again not following any due process or transparency! These are listed neither in the master plan for Bengaluru, nor in any integrated mobility plan for the city. These will impact the 1.2 crore residents of the city in many ways. The Elevated Corridors project will cost the exchequer Rs. 34,000 crores, 151 acres of land, and almost 4000 trees.…

B'luru ranked in 58th position on livability index Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri released the 'Ease of Living Index–2018’ on August 13th. Bengaluru was ranked in 58th place in the overall list, among 111 Indian cities surveyed, based on aggregated scores in four categories: institutional governance, social, economic and physical infrastructure. To ensure accurate reflection of the ease of living in Indian cities through this ranking, marks were awarded against 78 indicators in 15 sub-categories. Barring the category of open spaces, in which the former garden city fared reasonably well in 16th place, Bengaluru was at the bottom of the list…

I got this useful post , i am reproducing it here with the grammatical errors rectified. ******************* Have you applied for your driving license (DL), but don’t know the status? Waiting to get a copy of you DL can be a time consuming process. Instead of waiting for the DL to arrive by post, you can visit the respective Regional Transport Office(RTO) with your token number to check your driving license status. You can also go online to the Sarathi website of the MInistry of Road Transport and Highways. How to Make a Driving License Status Enquiry *Please visit the official website…