Commute

Last week, former Deputy CM and opposition leader KS Eshwarappa said Chief Minister Siddaramiah's statements have hurt the sentiments of a community. Dear Mr Eshwarappa, you are right about sentiments hurt, but it's not related to food or culture. Our sentiments are boiling - over the craters on the road that threaten our lives every single day, over the water stagnating in drains that's creating colonies of dengue everyday, over the unbelievable mess of traffic that keeps us all immobile on the roads for several hours in a day, over the highly polluted air that never lets us breathe easy,…

In anticipation of the possible rush of traffic at the railway station and at bus stands, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has made special arrangements for traffic on October 21st . Impacted areas include City railway station, Kempegowda bus terminal, Shanthinagar bus terminal, Mysore road bus terminal, Yeswantpur bus terminal and Chikka Lalbagh bus terminal. In addition, private vehicles will not be allowed to use some roads, and parking has been banned on some others. Do remember that KSRTC has also planned for 1,500 additional buses for the Dasara weekend, so there is bound to be more vehicles on the city roads.  …

The illuminated Mysore Palace during Dasara. Pic: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, Wikimedia Commons A press note from KSRTC details the special arrangements that have been made by the transport corporation to deal with the additional demand for buses during Dasara. In addition to the existing services, an additional 1,500 buses are being deployed between October 21st and October 23rd. This is to ensure that those looking to attend the Mysuru Dasara, or make use of the long weekend, are catered to.  Additional buses 1500 extra buses will be exclusively operated from Kempegowda bus station, Mysuru Road bus station, Shanthi Nagar TTMC…

Pavements in Indira Nagar 2nd stage are no place for pedestrians, only for construction material. Pic: Praveen S The 10th main or Water Tank road (Ward 89) and the 10th A main (Ward 80) road in Indira Nagar 2nd Stage are two parallel roads connecting 100 feet road and Indiranagar Double road. Both these roads are have ten residential crosses to their left, and the 4th cross road cuts across them, leading to the Indiranagar metro station on CMH road. Off late, many people who want to skip the traffic at the CMH road-100 feet road signal near KFC, have…

This is Akshayanagar Layout, situated off Bannerghatta Road (Note: Akshayanagar is also the name of another layout situated in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore). Sandwiched between Hulimavu Lake on one side and Begur Lake on the other, Akshayanagar is an upcoming locality with several residential projects under construction currently. Owing to its proximity to Bannerghatta Road, Electronic City and Jigani, it is a much sort after locality by Bangalore’s techie population. Akshayanagar Layout can be accessed from Bannerghatta Road via the BDA 80 feet road (one of the many access points), which joins the Hulimavu-Begur Road, and further connects to the Yelenahalli…

Pic: Sameer Shisodia The vehicle-free street initiative being tried out at HSR layout as an experiment is a good idea, for reclaiming common spaces. Its success and viability, however, depends on ‘we, the people’, who are responsible for making it workable. It can be done, and I have seen it working elsewhere. In Cambridge (UK), car owners park their vehicles on the periphery of the city and take feeder buses so that the city centre doesn’t get clogged. No one grumbles; no one seeks exemption; no one tries to break the rules. No fare concessions are offered, either. Around Harvard…

If an accident is caused by the poor condition of a road, should the BBMP be held responsible? And should the corporation be forced to pay compensation to such victims? There's been a lot of heated debate about this following the unfortunate recent incident, in which a woman fell off a scooter and died as her husband swerved to avoid a pothole on the street. With the cops booking the husband for negligent driving, and the BBMP pointing fingers at BDA, it seems that we were only too ready to add insult to the tragedy, whereas what is really needed…

Pic: Prashant Kamat. Keeping the roads free of potholes is quite simple. Everywhere in the world, cities do this all the time. How? By doing three or four key things. First, they build roads of high quality. We build roads of low quality thinking that they are cheaper. But that's actually not true. They keep crumbling in the rains, and we keep rebuilding them, and as a result the expenditure on the roads is actually higher in the long run. It is better to build roads once, at higher cost and quality. Look at Vittal Mallya Road - it has…

Sunday September 20th was a day like no other at HSR Layout. What was different you ask? For one, residents in the area came out to enjoy the peace and quiet on the streets in the area. Buses, cycles and feet were the most commonly used modes of transportation. Ask most participants what they thought of the initiative, and you would most likely get a resounding yes to yet another edition of the event. All was not well however. Some citizens compared the day to a bandh of sorts, since their freedom of movement was compromised. Many had to walk…

Several citizens of Bengaluru gathered at the Mayor's office on September 23rd to protest against BBMP's failure to provide safe roads in the city. Dr Dominic Dixon, one of the organisers of the protest said, "Though civil society is paying taxes, BBMP does not do it's due diligence. We handed over a memorandum to the Chief Mininster, Mayor and BBMP Commissioner which lists out what action we want them to take. If they do not respond in seven days, we will take it further." Snapshots from the protest outside the BBMP office. Pic: Dr Dominic DixonCitizens handing over the memorandum…