Commute

He is one the world's foremost authorities on public transportation, and in particular bus systems. He led the transformation of bus transport in his home city of Bogota, Columbia and has since been involved a host of cities around the world.Dario Hidalgo is in Bangalore for a few days and he and his team of people from EMBARQ, an international organisation that develops sustainable transport solutions, are training BMTC officials on improving it's BIG-10 services. EMBARQ works with local transport authorities in developing countries to help them adopt best international practices. Dario Hidalgo, is Director at EMBARQ. EMBARQ works with…

In his latest notes on Bangalore Traffic Police's (BTP) Facebook page, Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) discussed problem areas, which are known to cause commuter issues. A snapshot of the note posted by Praveen Sood. Credit :BTP Facebook page. Titled, ‘K R Puram problem', in the note posted on 22nd August, Sood said that hundreds had posted on the page about the narrowing of the road under KR Puram hanging bridge while going from Hebbal towards Marathahalli, causing bottlenecks. He said that the solution to the issue was not easy as the adjacent lane to the road belonged…

  When we are already struggling to contain the traffic on our heavily congested roads, what is the need to have such vehicles?These vehicles do not transport anything or anyone; they take up valuable space, and add to the pollution. Can the government not ban this form of advertising, which adds to the traffic woes of Bangalore? ⊕

On the roads in Bangalore, you just never know what you are going to see, and when. Yesterday, I was going into Arikere Layout with my friend Jayashree, on her two-wheeler...and....It riveted both of us, and of course, I whipped out my camera immediately!No, it's not a buffalo driving a two-wheeler, just a bean bag that is being transported in an unusual style! ⊕

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has been conducting Bus Day on the 4th of every month, providing publicity through different media. Bus Day is an initiative to promote public transport in the city of Bangalore. BMTC is now inviting innovative posters (inclusive of slogans) for Bus Day publicity carrying a prize of Rs 15,000 for the best poster design. Bus day posters should incorporate the blue & red wheel-logo (either Kannada or English) and BMTC Logo contained in Enclosure 1. The softcopy of the logo can be downloaded from the scroll found on the homepage of the website: www.bmtcinfo.com.The last date for submission…

The High Court case on Sankey Road's widening, which citizens had filed against BBMP and state government, will include BDA as a party. Five citizens and the residents' association Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative had jointly filed the PIL last month when BBMP cut 17 trees across Sankey road stretch.HC ordered a stay on BBMP's tree cutting at the time, when two of the 17 trees were still standing. Hundreds of trees are expected to be cut for road widening from Cauvery Circle to CNR Rao Circle, and subsequently till Yeshwanthpur flyover.The High Court bench headed by Justice N Kumar passed the…

BMTC fares went up a month ago, and hikes in petrol/diesel prices were cited as the reason. The story is more complicated than that. The real reasons are the three C-s -- ‘Collection' , Corruption among staff, and Complete apathy towards commuters' convenience or rights. 364E is a route that plies from Boopasandra in north Bangalore to south Bangalore (beyond Jayanagar) so it is very convenient for people like me who travel from north to south regularly. If I get 364 E, I can go directly to Jayanagar, otherwise I have to take two buses, one to Majestic or Shivajinagar…

BBMP has taken up road widening work up again and talk of TDR is afloat. But for the first time the agency is saying that if the people do not want TDR, financial compensation may be offered. K R Niranjan, BBMP Special Commissioner, says, "In core areas we can minimise road works by doing junction improvement etc. But in outer areas these works are necessary and land will be obtained through TDR; but if public do not accept TDRs we need to have reserve funds for acquisition."Road widening in outer areas is part of the ship load of projects worth…

In Praveen Sood's latest post on Bangalore Traffic Police's (BTP) page on the popular social networking site, Facebook, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), talks about one ways. Posted on 25th July, the post received more close to 15 comments by fans of the BTP page. The note titled, ‘One-way? Two-way? No Way!', talks about several one-ways being introduced in 2001 (Kempegowda, Richmond, Residency Road etc.,). Sood says that the decision to make them one-ways were made after a careful research undertaken by Bangalore Action Task Force (BATF) and not based on the whims of traffic police. He says that…

The Karnataka state government's deadlines to launch mega transport projects continue to be paper statements of intent. Namma Metro's persistent delay is now virtually taken for granted. In the meantime, despite the deadline of 2013-14, Bangalore's Rs.6700 crores High Speed Rail Link (HSRL between city centre and the airport) is still stuck at the preliminary stage. A concessionaire, the firm that will fund, build and operate the PPP, is yet to be selected through tender process; construction will start only after the concessionaire awards tenders to other parties. Currently, only prequalification of concessionaires is completed. Prequalification is the process of…