Commute

Bengaluru has the most active citizenry any city can dream of. There are sustainable transport advocates, public transport activists, runners, cyclists, environmentalists, civic activists, anti-corruption activists, urban planners, architects, artists, political activists, public policy experts, resident welfare associations - you name them, you have them here. And the steel flyover coming up on Bellary Road has united them all in protest, under the banner 'Citizens Against Steel Flyover'. A human chain event has been planned this weekend on October 16th, 2016, from Chalukya Circle to Hebbal, to oppose the steel flyover. A team of citizen activists is mobilising people across…

From: Citizens Concerned over the Proposed Steel Flyover An open letter to: The Bengaluru Vision Group Comprising - NR Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Sachin Bansal, Ramesh Ramanathan,Swati Ramanathan, V Ravichandar,Kalpana Kar, Mohandas Pai,Ramakanth, K Jairaj, RK Misra, BS Patil,Siddaiah, andVivek Menon cc: CMoK Siddaramaiah, Chairman; Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George, Co-Chairman; et al Members, The purpose of your group, was, according to an April 28, 2016, order of the Government of Karnataka: "... to improve life of Bengalureans by ushering in reforms in infrastructure and systems, resource mobilization, transparent governance, especially e-governance solutions, and increased participation of citizens, organizations and industry members." (Media reports) As concerned citizens,…

During the cabinet meeting last week, the State government decided to give a green signal to the metro rail project on Outer Ring Road (ORR), pushing aside the long pending ambitious Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) project; hopes of citizens who were rooting for BRTS or multimodal transport options were dashed. Though the proposal to introduce BRTS on the Outer Ring Road was hanging in balance for quite sometime, the plan to lay a metro line on the busy stretch has eliminated the possibility of BRTS. So why did BRTS, which was first conceptualised in 2012 and had a Detailed…

Newspapers announced with glee and celebrated the news that the Metro construction between Silk Board and KR Puram was going to go ahead and will be “fast tracked”. On Twitter, corporate honchos part of the Bengalulru Blueprint Group, congratulated the government for taking the decision. Source: https://twitter.com/kiranshaw/status/776241398622228480 But it was with a fair degree of alarm and shock that the already harassed lot that commutes to the Outer Ring Road read the news. According to this news, Metro Phase 2 construction in this region would now be from Byappanahalli till KR Puram (that line will continue towards Whitefield). Then from KR…

Traffic congestion in ORR is getting worse - the long term solution is moving more and more commuters to mass public transport like the Metro or  BRTS. While the jury is out on which is better and faster to implement, we are losing precious time everyday in our commute. With the intention to reduce the commute time and avoid stress in waiting at traffic signals,  Rao Ganesh Janardhan, HSR Traffic Police Inspector has put together a series of simple changes which can improve the traffic flow from Marathahalli till Central Silk Board. The first of such changes have been implemented around…

File pic: Mayur Channagere A press release issued by the Karnataka Department of Information and Public Relations on July 30th about Bengaluru Vision Group sub-committee’s traffic related decisions related to Bengaluru has ruffled feathers. A section of citizens have questioned the sub-committee for taking unilateral decisions for Bengaluru, instead of remaining just an advisory group, as noted by the government during the formation of the Vision Group (Bengaluru Blueprint Action Group or BBPAG). A lot of information has been floating around about the decisions taken by the sub-committee: starting with their declaration of 12 roads as high density roadsto their intent of…

When an overhead walkway built by Ecospace was recently opened to public, residents of Outer Ring Road greeted it with joy. It made crossing the ORR so much safer and seemed to reduce congestion caused by vehicles slowing to let jaywalkers cross. Though India had a strong tradition of pedestrian-centric cities, it is deplorable that post-1970, cities in India have rarely been designed for pedestrians. Reviewing the list of ten most accident-prone areas in Bangalore, Citizen Matters found that the predominant factor for accidents was pedestrians crossing the road in the midst of high speed traffic. With the absence of…

Perhaps the best idea to come out of the Government of India in recent times was to set aside 2% of the post-tax income of companies (beyond a certain size) towards investments of social value. Used properly, this can be a powerful fuel for localities and their corporate denizens to collaborate to solve local problems. Nooraine Fazal (left) of Inventure Academy, hands over the keys to a traffic signal to Police Inspector Narasimhamurthy. Pic: Anu Parekh We’re seeing some of that happening in Whitefield, home to a good many companies. Interestingly, CSR is now being used to directly address the…

Here's a quick anecdote about the puzzle that was the Uber business model in Bengaluru. I visited Bangalore — the city I am from — earlier this year. I’ve been used to driving my parents’ car around town while visiting; for the first time, though, the consensus opinion from friends and family was that I should Uber the entire time instead. I’m a fan of convenience, so I agreed. It was pleasant enough: the cars were new, clean and shiny; prices were cheap when paid in USD; cars were abundant. Practically all the drivers were local Kannadigas who had quit jobs in the service…

Does it not bother you that Chennai is the 'accident capital' of India? And according to some reports, we have the second highest number of road accidents in the WORLD, after the Brazilian city of Fortaleza! In the year 2015 alone, official records indicate that over 850 people died in traffic accidents. This is likely to be lower than the real figure, since several instances are not reported to the police, and also does not include instances where the person was injured and succumbed to it subsequently. The list of disturbing statistics is almost endless. Over 40% of the casualties are…