Think traffic!!! Think solution!!!

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Have been reading about ring roads and the one that comes to mind is the series of ring roads of Beijing..the roads there are junction free..

I think thats the way to go..make the entire ring road junction free..as can be seen our ring road has almost a lane(drain/trees) seperating the service road  with the main road..

All that is needed is to employ good tranport engineers to use this land and the instant underpasses. RK Mishra studied transportation from Japan? It would be a good impact if he can take this project up to make Ring road signal free!

Trucks should anyway be banned from the ring road..wheres the peripheral road? 

Tow trucks? why not eploy private parties? All the govt needs to do is to outsource the job..this would also avoid excessive bribing as the private guy would charge them on actuals! Towing is needed on all roads..tigers do, but always as a means of bribes!

Many countries especially US countries which are Car Bound are facing lot of problems even with highly systematic traffic management. California state is the best example. Here there are 8 layer flyovers, 5 lane roads, no U turns. Traffic situation is ideal like whatever that has been said in this thread. Despite of that, because of sheer number of cars, traffic is jam packed. Now, in western US states such as California and Virginia, after having fed up with Car mess, they are stressing on public transport. Please visit www.soundtransit.org for more details on Virginia's initiative on public transport.

In these countries, drivers are disciplined, follow lane discipline etc. almost ideal, but still traffic is uncontrollable with all the infrastructure in place mainly because of sheer number of cars. Also the pollution resulting from so many cars is huge.

It is the attitude of the people in Bangalore to have all the luxury of big cars and SUVs and ultimately blaming the infrastructure which is resulting in traffic snarls. Also, we are not good and disciplined drivers. Everyone thinks himself as an hero and expert driver and do not follow any traffic discipline. This has resulted in Hosur, Bannerghatta, Tumkur road jams which is the prime example. Public transport is the main answer for this and hence allover this praja site most of our members are stressing on public transport. Why we are all stressing on Airport Rail and Buses on Dedicated Lines although there is three laned road, it is mainly to overcome the congestion. Almost all of the members have cars and love to drive cars, but, for the public cause we are all ready to sacrifice that once we get effective MRTS. Everyone has to sacrifice to some extent.

People are that's why stressing to introduce Tolls in main traffic hit roads like Hosur Road , Bannerghatta Road etc to reduce the number of vehicles. In Western countries, usage of cars in Metros like NewYork, Washington DC is not supported by Government by putting heavy tolls while entering the city and huge amount of parking fees such as 40$/hour in the city. Outside Metros, infrastructure is developed to use cars. People come to the nearest railway station to the Metro in cars, park their cars and take trains from there. Newark in New Jersey near to the NewYork is the best example where people from New Jersey working in New York park their cars and take Train to New York to goto work.

Heading of this thread itself should have been - Don't think traffic - Think of Public Transport . This is what Bangalore is lacking today and development of efficient Public Transport instead of cutting trees, widening roads etc.

Benefits are many:

1. No private vehicle maintenance costs
2. No need of driver/driving skills
3. No insurance which is hefty for cars
4. Saving of car parking space at home - You can convert your 2 bedroom house to 3-4 bedroom house.
5. No headache of scratches and dents
6. No fights on the road - no more visit to police stations to claim the vehicle towed from no-parking area.

Bangalore needs effective Public Transport with excellent pavements to walk on and skywalks to cross the roads which is not at all concentrated by the Government.

Houses Do Not Move and Cars Move - There lies the difference between house and a car. I have a dream to drive Volvo Bus - Shall I use it alone for office commute? Dreams should go in the right direction and to reduce congestion!!

The problem with blr is about non exixtant roads..if you have travelled towards ITPL you will see two very big constructions coming up..one is the Brigade Metropolis and the other is the Prestige Shantiniketan..the number of houses and commercial space being put together is mindbogling and the 2 lane road in front of it will in no way be sufficient to take the load..this along with many other firms coming up there make the road totally inadequate..it takes one hour to travel a distance of less than 8 kms during peak hours..

I was wondering the CBD concept to get redifined in the Blr context where we have MBD or multiple business districts within a city!

So more than the FAR, the public transport should concetrate on connecting all these business districts..this will avoid all the other means of transprt like taxis of call centers..

Feel that the first phase of metro in BLR will almost serve no purpose as the rideship could be very low as it starts and could threaten the whole project itself as they might realize that its a white elephant..instead extending the metro from KR puram to ITPL (8 Km) could really make sense and avoid the road congestion!

blrsri,

This again is looking at it from one angle. From economics point of view, I don't think its viable to have metro from KR Puram to ITPL.

Also, I understand, Bangalore is one of the most haphazardly grown cities. Even today it continues. You should read Bangalore's CDP for 2005 created way back in 1995. Reading the CDP, you'd imagine a world class city by 2005. But you know what state we are in. 

Of course, apart from all these, govt. can still go in for a comprehensive metro network running at loss, purely considering the fact that it helps public - just like how it is in the case of most of the metros world over. Only difference - I think we are not yet a rich country that can afford to have a hugely loss making metro network in all major cities across the country.

Ts,

I understand what you're getting at. All I had in my mind when talking economics is - are we convinced that all the low hanging fruits have been plucked? I'm personally not convinced. For example, by spending 50 crores, if we can solve a problem (say with objective of X km/hr average speed of commute), we should do that first before spending 5000 crores PLUS running cost of a crore every year and still get only X km/hr average speed of commute time. Ofcourse, in the long run the latter option may be more scalable and has to be done. But I think we should first attack what helps now and easily and cheaply too.

I am not sure of your daily travel needs but many of bangaloreans spend pathetic non productive frustrating hours on the road travelling from places like Peenya to EC or Nayandahalli to ITPL..its a minimum 4 hour commute everyday..and now the docs say its not good to read in a running bus as the constant shaking strains eyes..or they suggest to wear a pollution mask inside a bus waiting at a hopeless jam!

The road traffic is being compunded by the on road DMU's..Have you ever had a chance to get stuck behind or in the middle of train of busses while heading to any of the PSU's/ITPL/Wipro's/Infosys's..its like a 2 wheeler rider will have a run for his life everyday..

BMTC is raking in profits not because of public/janata transport..but more because of these trains..starting from almost every big company in bangalore! This also includes..the other multiple trains of verious sizes from the Janani's and SRS's(earlier only knew of SRS doing trips to Bombay thru Dvg)..

 About money, there is no dearth of it..where is all the petrol tax going? We pay the most for petrol in India. Earlier we were collecting for metro separately but now its collectively collected as sales tax..what is this money for? to waive farmer loans?

Blr has been called pensioners paradise..its now hell..where old couples staying at BSK have to plan like a US trip to visit their children in say hebbal/banaswadi..also here they have to go thro all the painful 'watch the traffic' issues..

Its high time we get the congestion tax on bigger vehicles and get the metro in place..

Throughout our discussions in praja site, it was basically felt that MRTS with dedicated right of the way is the necessity. This augmented with good Bus Service and Shared Environmentally Friendly Feeder Vehicles such as Reva like cars acting as a feeder can reduce the emissions and traffic. Transport hub needs to be developed with multistoried parking. Also Pedestrain walking path and bicycle path needs to be provided encouraging walking and bicycling.

Cars are 1 way necessary to transport aged / small children. But, its usage should be reduced. Small cars should be considered in such cases. Used cars are available from 10,000 itself, everyone can afford it. It is not the question of arrordability as said in the thread. It is the question of practicality. If someone is thinking that he is a bigshot and he should only travel in luxury big cars and SUVs, he is the culprit. If he is doing so with car pooling with others, then he is sensible. The way in which people are thinking is the main problem for Bangalore.

As TS posted with the example of Bangkok along with pictures, widening of the roads will attract more number of cars, reduce the length of the jam and increase the width. Moreover, in our discussions, we are very poor disciplined in driving which causes all the chokes and jams. This all necessiates an effective Public Transit for Bangalore. Currently BMTC buses are overcrowded. We are urging the government to improve the service by providing hi-tech buses to cater the needs of hifi people. Poor and lower middle class people use it extensively, it is the upper class society - mainly the IT crowd of Bangalore who needs to be attracted towards Public Transport.  Murali has posted a lot on better Bussing for Bangalore, Naveen lot on increasing the Metro network and cvikash on feeder service for the same.

We the improvement of roads and improvement of traffic as well, but in the long run, public transit is the only solution.

On lighter note ! I like the photographers instant idea to capture the moment to convey the message: learn descipline from me. Then all would be well