Commute

It is a pretty linear argument as far traffic solutions go. The big bad car versus pedestrians and cyclists. Non-motorized transport (NMT) versus motorised private transport. If we want to get out of this nightmare we call traffic jams and decongest the city, we need to get people out of their private vehicles and have them take to mass transit and non-motorised transport options i.e. walking and cycling, in a big way. Sounds pretty simple in theory, and this is expected to be the linchpin that will not only decide the which way urban mobility is headed, but also decide the survival…

Widening of Sarjapur Road was put on hold because of the delay in land acquisition, and people refusing to take Transferable Development Rights (TDR) as an alternative to money for their land. The problem here lies in the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Benefits of Development Rights) Rules, 2016. TDR or Transfer of Development rights is a big non-starter in Municipalities like Bengaluru, given the loopholes. First of all, TDR providing 2X compensation in FAR won’t solve the problem as people holding rights are not able to get fair value or even sell it due to lack of demand. Real…

Bengaluru is a city which has far oustripped its original population for which it was designed. From a population of approximately 15 lakhs in the 1970s, to an estimated 110 lakhs today (source: Draft Revised Master Plan 2018), the city’s population has burgeoned beyond limits, and stands at the cusp of further explosive growth to 210 lakh plus by 2031 (the end year of RMP 2031). Transport planning for such a huge population is very important, and cannot depend on piecemeal solutions. That’s where elevated corridors come into picture. Modal shares and extrapolation Many conflicting numbers are being passed around…

It has been two years since the Metro was launched between Mysore Road and Byappanahalli. Since the day it opened, it has been my main transport to get to work. So much so that I can’t think of any other way of commuting to work! The issue since then has always been the last mile, the last 6kms from the station to the office. I decided to go with BMTC and the results have been mixed. On mornings, it would take anywhere between 20 mins and 45 mins for that distance, not considering traffic. Evenings, it took anywhere from 25…

Varthur lake, the second-largest lake in Bengaluru has been an unfortunate victim of unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation. With the growing population and the inflow of commuters to Whitefield and Sarjapur on a daily basis, the infrastructure of the roads circumventing the lake, specifically the Varthur bridge and the Varthur-Gunjur stretch, are unable to handle the congestion. This has pushed local residents to demand the widening of the road. While the BBMP had sanctioned the work on repairing the bridge, work has come to a halt due to protests by surrounding landowners who are afraid of losing their land. The road-widening…

Kasavanahalli Development Forum(KDF) hosted a meeting of many Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and forums that represent more than 10,000+ citizens across Bellandur and passed a 'Bellandur Development Resolution 2018' to address the critical infrastructure issues in the ward. In Bellandur, the IT hub/SEZ ORR zone alone contributes to ~12% of IT Services GDP for the country, and 30% of Karnataka’s IT Revenues. In addition, Bellandur is one of the highest contributors of tax to BBMP with no proportional investment coming back in infrastructure. Citizens' right to life is being challenged, with no basic amenities of water, drainage, road infrastructure, public…

Twelve hours after two commuters were killed in an overcrowded train at St Thomas Mount on Monday evening, a similar accident claimed four lives at the same station on Tuesday morning. Four men -- Shivakumar (19), Bharat(16), Naveen Kumar (25) and Shankar (age unknown) -- were killed, while six others injured when their shoulder bags hit the 5-feet railway cement fence at the station. They were travelling on the footboard of the overcrowded Chennai Beach to Tirumalpur express that reached St Thomas Mount Railway station at 8.20am. According to a spokesperson from Southern Railways, the fence was constructed to prevent…

With Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s maiden budget reviving the pod taxi for five stretches in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 1445 crores, several eyebrows have been raised in questions over what makes the government favour it as a possible solution to the city’s traffic nightmare. Interestingly, the idea of pod taxis isn't as new as one would imagine. Indian cities have seen similar experiments before: The Chembur - Wadala - Maharaja Chowk monorail project, the airport feeder metro built by the Delhi Metro as a PPP project which was subsequently converted into the orange line. Both have had their…

Travelling within Bengaluru City has become a chronic nightmare for all its citizens. Even as people grapple with never-ending traffic jams, the government has come up with various ideas to solve the issue, including the much debated elevated flyover and the pod taxi project. But are decision makers losing sight of the broader context and framework within which the traffic situation must be viewed? Is there a deep enough understanding of the nuances that need to be considered for the gridlock to be broken and the efficiency of solutions multiplied? Talking to Citizen Matters, Professor Ashish Verma deconstructs the overall…

Eight years ago, a bunch of us were discussing on Praja.in about commuter rail routes and reviewing its potential for changing the transportation scene in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region of 8,000 sqkms. In one of the comments, I had proposed that we use the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) as a hub for rail as well, so a new transport hub for passengers is created. Let’s look at what we might achieve by doing this. Economic growth of a country depends on the productivity of the economy. Efficient, intelligent usage of Labour and Capital investments determine productivity. Where we deploy investments…