Silkboard (Pranav), Vinod, Sri, Mr Ananthram, Mr Pathy, Srivatsava, Raghunandana, myself & few others met at Freedom park earlier toady - wish many others could have made it too (apologies to those that did attend, but whose names I have missed out).
Amongst various discussions, it was emphasized that priority was needed for meetings with BMTC & BMRCL to discuss issues.
Also, we had discussed about Commuter rail & the need for it since the Metro would not cover all areas - large sections of the city would still remain unconnected even after the Metro becomes operational (will post a blog with a map soon to detail this).
Though early in the morning, we noticed heavy movement of BMTC buses along Seshadri road, which is a good sign, as far as PT is concerned.
The Freedom park is unique for it's unusual design - some portions of the erstwhile central jail, such as the watchtower & a couple of barracks have been retained for their heritage value - Mahatma Gandhi had also been a prisoner here once during the freedom struggle. A strip on the Gandhinagar side has been left barren for civic /public use. Seshadri road, though 6-laned now, is devoid of the many shady trees, but new saplings have been planted, & it will take a few years for them to bloom & grow up.
Other/s that attended the meeting may please fill in more details.
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@Naveen The meeting was held
ss87 had flwg comment :
@Naveen
The meeting was held at 6:30AM and the area close to Seshadri Road near majestic. Hence so many buses moving is not a surprise. Many buses to majestic start their schedule by around 5:15-5:30AM and the night services end their services by around 6:30AM(4:15-6:15 in the morning generally). Many IT sector volvoes too start their schedules by 5:30AM and the most surprising thing is that they will be generally full at that time itself. Only the general shift buses start late with their schedules at 7:30AM. Even at 10PM U can expect to find these many buses from majestic.
I think night services are not available to Shivajinagar,market and ring road though buses to market and on ring road start at 5:00-5:15. Shivajinagar being a commercial area buses start a bit late around 6:00-6:30AM.
A Nice face to face meting
As Mr. Naveen has mentioned, the Commuter Rail Service (CRS) and other topics of commuter interests were the main points of discussion, over Break fast at Kamat Yatri Nivas. They serve buffet Break Fast which is wonderful.
We had a brief and nice morning walk at the freedom park. The park is well designed monument of the erstwhile Bangalore prison. In the Western side they have earmarked a big chunk of land for the purpose of KSRTC Bus stand. [This may be as a temporary stop gap arrangement for the Metro station work disruption of the existing facility. I am not sure]
I am a bit surprised at the late arrival of the CRS idea. This if I am not mistaken is something like the local trains of Mumbai? Bangalore is served by the southern Railways. These tracks can accomodate the CRS (locals). I remember there used to be a local train to HAL long back. But that station itself is defunct as of now.
The praja initiative discussed in to days meet is thus a very valuable one indeed!
Meetings resume, was great seeing everyone!
Naveen, you missed Ravi_d and blrsri for sure.
So we have resumed our monthly face to face meeting tradition. I think we need these, we will always be a virtual network, but sometimes things click when people meet face to face, and you never know when the next big project or tech idea will show up.
I didn't know Raghu was so active on Railways front, I think with him, Sanjeev and couple more, we can get some serious Railways activism started. CRS for Bangalore, and more demands for Karnataka. Everything seems far fetched, but we are here to try and initiate (we call it "seed") changes and we should try, on the website, behind the scenes or through other NGOs.
Back to the meeting, I think we should make Freedom Park the regular venue. Nice open public place, bang in the center of the city, easy to reach via bus, and a Kamath nearby for belage bisi kaafi and benne dose - what more do we need!?
We talked about planning a meeting with BMRCL, to sort of try and bring them out of the shell that they have gotten into after recent PR troubles. Getting a detailed project update (no idea of generating any controversies, we only mean business) from them in a technical sort of meeting could be tried. Naveen said he will.
After the first Bus Day, we need to try some new ideas in the next one (or next ones). 3 folks said they will try do something (like connecting with traffic police to try dedicated lanes, or suggest more local shuttles, or improve the Whitefield / E-City ones).
And on railways, lets step up the tempo, first via some informative/digging type posts here, and via our individual media/journalist connects. We will also try some meetings with Ministry and SWR DRM. I think some of us have met individually, but we haven't yet managed an open Praja-style meeting with Railways or SWR yet.
So that's it. Tried adding little more than what Naveen etc have mentioned above. Look forward to more folks in the March meeting, I think 15-20 is a good number to aim for, more than that will be chaotic to manage.
Also - blrsri suggested that we should try have more local meets, like one month in Hebbal, another on Mysore Road side etc etc - that way, folks living nearby will come. Can certainly try after March
Freedom Park
sb,
" I think we should make Freedom Park the regular venue. Nice open public place, bang in the center of the city, "
As I pointed out, there is no bus stop in the vicinity.
We should take it up with BMTC/Traffic polce as lots of people visit this park.
K.V.Pathy
No stops for freedom park
As I pointed out, there is no bus stop in the vicinity
You could walk from Mysore bank on KG road, but, there isnt a stop anywhere along seshadri road despite the million buses that go on that route. There should be 2 stops on seshadri road with the attendant ped crossing. 1 near hotel maurya and the other called Freedom park stop. Not all routes need to stop as long as people know which ones will, they can change from Majestic.
Praja Meeting at Freedom Park
I missed the meeting, but got updated thru' Raghu.
With focussed group on Railway Projects needed for Karnataka and CRS for Bangalore, we need to pool the ideas with ground knowledge on the SWR. This will take us further on the Railway projects. If possible we need to meet on monthly basis.
Their is bus stop near Freedom Park, Near College after under pass.. Its just 300-400 Mts, hope Praja Members do not mind walking in the morning. We should not have bus stop at every place on busy roads.
Stops are for destinations
We should not have bus stop at every place on busy roads.
The college stop is also on the same busy road, how come that goes? Actually if a few routes turn into the side roads and stop it will be even better for the places inside.
Anyway, bus stops are not for roads, they are for people and destinations. And there are lot of destinations in the area between majestic & palace road that can do with an extra stop or two for some routes.
Whatever happened to the bus stop every 500 mtrs promise by BMTC?
The stop near Maharani
The stop near Maharani college is fine but due to many buses coming in it is very difficult to spot our bus and board it at that stop. The problem exists till corporation where 50% of the buses change direction. The previous arrangement that the Mysore bank stop had when KG road was a 2 way was quite good where bus stops were planned well across depending upon the routes of a bus due to which it was easy to board the bus. BMTC and BBMP must co=ordinate to bring back the easier way for the benefit of commuters.
For people who may have
For people who may have missed the news, bus stops are back in BMTC control now.
Bus stops are under BMTC
Bus stops are under BMTC control; fine but the place for bus stops ahve to be provided by BBMP. Proper allocation of space will reduce lesser snarls