Did you notice yesterday's (Monday) traffic mess?
I had to do 6 trips y'day (Mysore Road, Indian Express, BTM, CBD Area). Every single one took almost twice as long as it generally takes. Five others I spoke to had the same experience (travelling in different parts of Bangalore).
Was it Monday madness? It is true that traffic on Monday is generally heavier. But by experience, it generally adds about 10 minutes to an hour's travel. Not twice as much.
Could it be overnight rains? Could be, but my experience is that once rains stop (as it did very early in the morning), only a few stretches experience difficulty. Not most of Bangalore (certainly not in the center of the city as it was y'day).
Did we all start later than usual due to rains after a nice weekend? Possible. But not very convincing.
Could it be those just formed pot holes and ponds on the road? Think so. Almost half the left-lane on many stretches became unusable. And potholes magically form all of a sudden as soon as city gets two spells of rain.
So who is to blame? Your guess is as good as mine. What do you think?
Ravi
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Yes true, its just overnight rains
Or its actually carelessness by BBMP.
I go from koramangala to Outer-ring road and in between it falls the road by the side of agara lake. That road's condition is awesome. The left part of the road is anytime filled with sand, and at the time of rain, it gets slippery, 2 wheelers cannot ride there anytime rain or no-rain. Apart from that, there are so many holes in there, and rain water just be there. Also the dividers are there for namesake, all the divider stones are present whole on the road excpet the division where it should be. Then some stupid peoples start taking the opposite traffic coming road also to go against the traffic making the situation worse.
I have twice or thrice sent the pictures to the TOI etc, and they have published also, but nothing much done.
Also, there is a site by the side of the road, where construction is going on. That constructor has carelessly thought of road as his private property, and he is dumping all the construction waste on the road, also the sand and mud on the road is because of that construction only. Their trucks come on the road directly with all mud and sand and make full use of those undividing dividers and making the whole road pathetic, risking the lives of padestrians and 2-wheelers there.
TOW TOW TOW
Have said many times on Praja..all we need is Tow Trucks..we have a huge population of aging vehicles and we desperately need these tow trucks to move broken down vehicles out of the way!
Ravi, yesterdays Mysore Rd flyover jam was due to stalled truck on the flyover and this delayed people a lot and had a domino effect on other junctions also..
more here: http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/15/stories/2009091560430300.htm
Infosys has donated Hoysala jeeps which are more or less now used for collecting hafta's now..instead if Mr. Sood's team can work with the industries to procure Tow trucks..it would be really worthwhile!
We also have trees falling frequently in rains..these tow trucks can also double to clear debris also..
If they are not able to raise money for the tow trucks..we can also start collecting for the Tow truck cause..I am ready to give a thousand rs..
My ride yesterday was ultra smooth!!!
I had the same experience on Aug 17 when it took 45 mins to cover the stretch between BG Road and Silkboard Jn.
Yesterday decided to tak BG Road from JP Nagar to Richmond Town instead of Jayanagar and Double Road. It took me all of 30 mins. I kept to 45 kmph or less for the whole stretch. Of course - I left at 4:30 in the evening and not peak hours.
BlrSri is right - it was a broken down sand lorry on Sirsi Circle flyover. It should never have made it up there in the first place. I also think that because of the Metro work near Anil Kumble circle a lot of traffic is piling up in the approach roads.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
Madness, not just Monday
Well, yesterday it took me an hour and a half to do the 12 km stretch from Malleswaram to Kengeri - I made the mistake of going through Cottonpet and that took 40 minutes. It wasnt clear to me what the cause was appart from the usual
-- people not stopping before intersections but inching, or rather footing, into the road.
-- Impotent police.
-- Debris and stopped cars/autos blocking lanes.
-- two wheelers thinking that its fine to go the wrong way - and doing so with impunity.
On the way back too it took me an hour and 20 minutes - a couple of busses had broken down in front of Gopalan mall on Mysore road resulting in complete chaos - as it is the road narrows there and with the broken down busses it became effectively one lane.
In fact I took the `direct route' from Malleswaram to Kengeri - instead of the Outer Ring Road to `save time'. Thanks to the closure of Tumkur road the next interesection of the ORR - at Subhash Chandra Bose circle - has become hellish.
TOW TOW vehicles please traffic Gurus!
We are spending lakhs on traffic management facilities..monitoring etc..but we dont have tow trucks in this city..
Today there were two BMTC busses which broke down, one on Mysore road during morning peak hours and the other on Mission road..these could have easily been towed away and the jam cleared..but no we dont do anything about it!
The Mysore road bus was finally being towed by a tractor..yes a tractor..which apparently was doing some drilling on the drain as part of the road widening project there..all cos of a concerned traffic cop on site!
About the mission road breakdown..this was right after the corporation bus stop..heavy bus traffic slowed all vehicles on this two lane road as they were trying to negotiate the stalled bus..no tow truck in sight!
Very sad that we try to widen roads and cut trees as an answer to our traffic problems..whos solution lies else where all together!
tow tow tow please - victoria road today
It was a 1.5 lane junction where Victoria road meets lower agaram road and there was a broken down BMTC bus stuck at 5 Pm today...causing huge jams all the way into airport road.. cant imagine how the peak hour traffic would have been..
Are we so stupid that we go about cutting trees and widening roads instead of getting a TOW TRUCK!!
SAD..very SAD!!
TOW TOW TOW PLEASE - Old Madras Road TODAY
A BMTC red board bus was broken down on OMR, at Hosmat jn..this one was parked on the right most lane..making matters worse! This was at 5:30PM
Can we not tow these..??
Request folks to report out more such broken down vehicles,,which cause traffic jams..like we are doing with APAD..
Atleast then they will get these tow vehicles..
To tow or not to tow
Its not that tow vehicles dont exist but the very fact that nothing happens if you dont use them leads people to stick a twig in the vehicle and abandon it where it broke down.
Happened on Palace cross road yesterday morning. Truck broke down on the left lane right near the U turn junction, Every body had to merge into the right lane and wait for U turning traffic to clear. backed up traffic all the way to BDA jn. The truck driver just stuck a twig & was watching the traffic pile up not bothering to move the vehicle a few feet either side of the junction so he lets traffic flow.
Is 103 working?
I tried to call 103 several times during past months to take action (like towing guiding traffic etc) when I saw any breakdowns. But absolutely no one picking up phone. Either comes as busy or no response. Interestingly, when I attended a demo at TMC last time, 103 was working :)
shouldnt towing be spontaneous?
A breakdown vehicles is similar to a human/animal met with an accident..needs to be immediately evacuated!
Far worse..these broken down vehicles slow down all traffic including that of ambulances..inturn snatching away the few precious minutes in someones lives!
They are more deadlier lying on the roads!
As of what I know..the traffic police have the tigers(modified mini van) at their disposal..which is mostly busy making money for them by picking up violating two wheelers or stray cars..havent ever seen the big bus/truck moving tow-trucks!
We need something like this:
Volvo might give it to BTP for free as part of their social endevours!
Bmtc bus breakdown
There was a BMTC bus break down on Whitefield road, near Garudacharpalya (b/w Mahadevpura and Hoodi).
This stretch has traffic jams on any normal day, and with the road being effectively single lane, it was much worser today. Took some15 minutes to cross a 200m stretch.
TOW TOW PLEASE..dont push - Richmond road TODAY
A BMTC bus was stuck right in the midle of Richmond road near HDFC bank today at 5 PM..no tow trucks around..but fellow passengers were seen pushing the bus to the side...yes pushing..no tow trucks in sight!
There was another goods van stuck near Lalbaugh main gate on Hosur road..again no one in sight and potentially becoming a hazard for the evening traffic..
Where are the tow trucks??
TOW TOW PLEASE - dont stick tree branches
Richmond road yesterday at 5PM..BMTC bus no. 327 was stalled with small tree branches hanging indicating the stuck vehicle!
Cant we tow these vehicles!!
Apparently twigs & branches
Apparently twigs & branches are unique around here. I have heard from friends this is not a standard informal practice elsewhere in the country. Anybody know?
Of course I am not under any illusion that IRC prescribes this :)
Sarjapur signal
Yesterday, there was a BMTC bus broken down at Sarjapur Signal, on the service lane, by the side of the flyover on its landing at Iblur.
Quite a few WIPRO shuttles come through that service road at that time, and the road was blocked for quite some time.. The width of service road is two small to accomodate two buses.
Luckily, the traffic cops got a earthmover from the flyover construction site nearby, and pushed the BMTC bus forward, until a point where the service lane was two lanes wide, and the traffic was cleared.
you could even see the bus driver arguing with the cops.. That the earthmover had left its teeth marks on the bus...
BMTC used to have a number to be called in case of breakdown
BMTC used to have a number to be called in case of breakdown, but i think it never worked.
Why not BMTC have just a operator taking calls and outsource the information of vehicle breakdown on aam-junta? All the bmtc buses can have these numbers published on the back of the buses, which people on the road can see and inform BMTC about the break-down of the vehicle.
BMTC should have these numbers published on their back, instead of pasting Corrupt yeddy's photos.
bmtc doesnt tow..traffic police shd
all BMTC does is get another bus/van with mechanics to try fix the stalled bus..
Ideally I would see the tow trucks under the police dept. Since its not just BMTC busses which need to be towed away..
2 buses today..
One BMTC bus on mysore road and the other on mission road.. as usual added to the traffic woes of peak hour commuters..
Yesterday there was a KSRTC bus stalled on OMR near trinity jn..
another BMTC bus stalled yesterday - tow please
it was route 317's bus which was broken down in the narrow stretch behind foot ball stadium on OMR..the familiar tree limbs stuck on the corners!
Tow these vehicles please!
Tow Tow..but they dont!!
It was 239D broken down on mysore road today..held up traffic big time..as usual at the scene two SI were standing and another on a bike was asking a JCB parked nearby if he can tow the bus..no one had any scant regard for the public who were inconvinienced..
It was a Mini van on OMR which was broken down..again no one to tow these vehicles
Monday it was a mini van on ORR near Hosakerehalli and yest it was another mini van on mysore road..so its 3 days in a row!
..and they call us the most livable town in India..pathetic!
Two more breakdowns 1 km apart..
Two BMTC bus break downs yesterday evening.
One near the Bellandur flyover construction, and another one over the Sarjapur flyover. The one over Sarjapur flyover was fixed soon enough.
I heard from colleagues that there was one more near Agara, but didnt witness it..
bus breakdown and traffic cops
once again a BMTC bus which broke down early morning on mysore rd flyover managed to frustrate all road users till afternoon..and again as always traffic cops including senior ones had gathered around the carefree looking driver and using their phone to do things..but nothing was working!
Towing is a very simple option but alas none of the policy makers seem to understand!!