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Indore buses: sure better than Bangalore, but not good enough!

I am referring to the Indore bus services, which has been touted by many as the World's best public-private bus partnership - Indore. I had raised a few questions about the Indore model, vide my posting under the caption ‘better bussing’ on 22nd Dec, ’07.

Subsequently, I had attended the seminar on ‘Effective Traffic Management’ convened jointly by the DPAR and Centre for Public Policy, IIM, Bangalore, at the Vikas Soudha on the 4th Jan, at which a presentation was made by Mr Shukla from Indore (he had come in place of Mr Vivek Agarwal, IAS, Dist Magistrate, who had conceived the entire scheme and who was originally supposed to come), and the answers to the questions I had raised became more or less clear, based on which I have drawn my conclusions.

Marathahalli Bridge close to completion - finally

I still remember the sign board BDA had put up onsite when construction began on Marathahhali bridge (here). Start 30-4-2006, finish 30-7-2006. Were they kidding - 3 months, thats it? Anyway. dates moved, fast forward to January 2008, and the word going around is that we may get the full six lane bridge done in a few weeks.

Is BRTS right for all cities?

I am aware that much needs doing with regards enhancing public transport in all Indian cities. What I am not convinced is whether all cities should have a BRT. Could there be simpler options that are more cost-effective? My answer to this question is a 'yes'.

BMLTA and Public Transport

Traffic is one thing and Public Transport another. Traffic is about moving vehicles, public transport people. Something like BTRAC is aimed at traffic management - wider roads, flyovers, signals an stuff. Enforcement on roads, how to drive etc are also more like traffic topics. Getting to know and discuss the upcoming BMLTA, tracking BMTC's efforts to enhance its services, and watching BMLTA, BMTC and Metro all work together to create public transport infrastructure - all this needs a dedicated 'forum' of its own.

So, we have created a new high level project (see the list under "track projects') for the purpose. We expect that folks like Mr Muralidhar Rao, Sudhir, Vasanth, City.zen and others would contribute their awareness, knowledge and opinions there. Use the "Public Transport" label if you want your posts/threads to appear under this 'project'.

Happy new year 2008!

Wishing all members and readers a very happy new year 2008! And let us hope that this will be the breakout year for our city. A shining new airport might just be the tonic for better things that have been waiting to happen :)

Litter Cops of Bangalore

Next time you think of littering on Kempe Gowda Road, M G Road, Cubbon Road or Commercial Street, look out for one of the sixty litter cops in special uniforms belonging to retired army man, BN Nandukumar's Major Territorial Army.
Depending on whether you are “Misusing water meant for drinking, urinating in public, throwing garbage around, spitting/expectorating and allowing pet animals to mess around" you will be slapped with on the spot fines ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 1000. They will also issue show-cause notice to shopkeepers as well as individuals who do not abide by rules.

BTRAC - smart traffic lights are coming

Hope you still remember BTRAC-2010, the nice sounding traffic management project for Bangalore. Seems like KRDCL has started the process of putting up new traffic signals under this project. This bidding document talks of 204 locations for these signals. Thankfully, this document contains the specifications of these new signals as well, and they do seem smart - vehicle detectors, remote control from a Traffic Management Center, pedestrian crossings with audible alarms, and more. Have a look:

56 motorized sky walks for pedestrians!

Not that BBMP doesn't care for pedestrians. They have been talking about motorized sky walks for sometime now, and earlier this week, a BBMP tender showed up with plans for sky walks all around the city - 56 of them, and with escalators!

"These sky walks are proposed with attractive escalators of adequate capacity on both sides of the road which shall facilitate the vertical movement of the users for climbing as well alighting purposes"

As I said, the fancy skywalk talk isn't new. Earlier this year, BBMP had plans for 30 "capsule lift" based sky walks, refer this tender dated 12th Feb 2007:

less government

Economic Times has invited its readers to state what their dream for the state would be. My response was that I dream of a state with the babudom reduced to such an extent that half of Vidhan Soudha (and, of course, the entire Vikas Soudha) itself gets rented out.

Residents' Initiative To Turn The City Green

Tabloids are not just about scandals, glambiz and other trivia. Bangalore Mirror and a local private trust have clubbed up to promote tree planting in their city. Mrs. Janet Yegneswaran, who founded the trust a couple of years back in memory of her husband, has been engaged in encouraging Bangalore residents and neighborhood communities to chip in their bit in her endeavour to make a difference to the city’s green cover.

Cooking Gas From Kitchen Waste

Left over food and vegetable waste discarded in a dump near our apartment complex raise a stink. Apartment residents hold their breath; and curse the municipal waste disposal staff, as they pass by the roadside dump. We could do something about it, if only we are so inclined, thanks to the work

done by Pune-based Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) in developing a household biogas plant that feeds on our kitchen waste.

How do you react?

Before I start on a long rant with my reactions, thoughts and ideas, tell me this. How should one react or behave on seeing things like these? And what should change to prevent these drivers from resorting to these shortcuts?

Robbing The Hungry - the racket called PDS

With even the likes of Medha Patkar critical of the system, perhaps the only ones who would be opposed to it's being dismantled would now be just the racketeers and a few pseudo-socialists. Isn't it a crying shame that the country continues to allow as massive a loot as an annual Rs 10,000 crores by this lot?


text of the letter sent to the New Indian Express:

Commuter Rail can make our city better

CTTP has all the details for improving transport facilities in Bengaluru through various options. While the Metro / Mono take their own sweet time for completion, making use of the existing railway network on a limited scale on a few routes can be an immediate solution. I understand that the railway lines cover only a certain portion of the city, and local train transport with feeder bus services will have a great impact for that portions. The Kengeri-Whitefield route can be a pilot route as it is already an electrified double track. With the BMTC & private industrial managements, including software tech parks providing feeder services from their respective places to the nearest terminals, this can be a very effective solution in the immediate future. Our daily traffic situation is only growing worser day-by-day and i believe if this is implemented in a small way, our city can become better.

SEC's muddle

Isn't it time that as important a task as preparation and maintenance of the electoral roles (and issuance of EPID cards), on which the success of the entire governance system rests, is out-sourced to professional agencies?

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