Jammed Bangalore

One of most burning topic....and is one issue where anyone and everyone can discuss about this........Bangalore is no longer considered just an IT hub of India...but it has got itself tagged as jam Hub as well. No longer people see Bangalore as just city of Gardens or Pubs........

This is something which is surely not to be proud of......Coming from a wonderful city like Chandigarh i had high hopes on Bangalore and always thought to be a dream destination for everyone.....but there is something horribly gone wrong which has made Bangalore so unpopular...and only advantage that Bangalore enjoys now is a wonderful weather.......The pain of travelling in and around Bangalore has made Bangalore a Jammed city now.......

Lets just see what are main problems which makes commutation so difficult in Bangalore.....

1. Lack of Interconnection: There is just no proper interconnection between different areas of Bangalore. One really wonders a big city like Bangalore should also have been divided into some kind of Zone structure and Transportation arranged accordingly.

2. Bad roads: I think the concept of good road has just vanished from Bangalo

re as every 2nd or 3rd road is a bad one...now we just find really bad roads, Bad roads and ok kind of roads....

3. Overcrowded Local Buses : In morning/evening peak hours people can be easily seen hanging out from door of local buses and risking their lives daily.

4. Water Logged Roads during rains: It is really disappointed that even roads newly created are also not given enough thought as to how and where the rain water would flow out and as a result roads get clogged by rain water. This is leading to even more traffic jams.

5. Black Smoke from Vehicles: This might not affect all but is certainly a prime concern of area as far as two wheeler commuters are concerned. They are the one who feel the brunt of Black smoke emitted from other vehicles. Sadly in Bangalore, we have too many numbers of vehicles adding on to this problem. This is also affecting environment and worsening Global Warming l.

6. One way Roads: lets agree on this that making roads one -way is just not the final solution to manage traffic in Bangalore. This is just a stop gap arrangement which though prevents traffic jam in short term but adds on commuter torture more on longer terms

7. Intersection Points: most of traffic jams occurring today are on Intersections. Not much thought has been given as to how to handle this. To add to this the Traffic Signal timers are so inconsistent and not in sync that it ultimately leads to travel time more

8. Lack of Flyovers/Metro etc: One really wonder that what kept the administrators waiting for so long to start building flyovers and opting for metros ...I believe their lack of dedicated efforts has proved costly...But this is something which is already done ...only hope is it is not repeated

9 . Pedestrian facilities: in Bangalore the concept of building good footpaths is just not there....Best example is Electronic City on Hosur Road. You find IT giants with likes of Wipro/Infosys and HP there. And I am very disappointed to see that there is hardly any proper footpath there in Electronic City. One just wonders that what sort of planning had gone for Electronic City....there is hardly any cemented or proper footpath and it forces pedestrians to walk on main road and thus risking their lives.

10. Traffic sense of Bangalore Drivers: Finally this is one major factor which is causing Bangalore to be Jammed....The Traffic sense is completely lost with Bangalore Drivers. And every driver from 2-wheeler to drivers of Bus./Truck are guilty.....

But not everything is bad, even though because of above problems I still feel that Bangalore has full potential to overcome these problems and will make travelling simpler in coming times. Some of good steps taken for this are:

1. Introduction of AC Volvo buses: This is a wonderful step, even though the frequency is less but I am pretty sure it is gone become more popular and would be seen more on roads. Increasing popularity of Volvo buses even though its fares were high earlier just goes on to show that commuters want a comfort travelling even though it be a touch expensive.......

2. Building of new Flyovers and Metro project: It's really great to know about all upcoming flyover projects planned up and also Metro project in Bangalore. It will prove to a boom for Bangalore...


But still there are many things which need to be done and much thoughts need to be ut in to control Bangalore's traffic..........We need to understand following very important points:

1. Converting some of roads to one way roads: This is just not complete solution. It is a temporary gap arrangement and administrators cannot sit silent once they see that Jam has reduced because of converting one road to one way. Traffic is bound to change and who knows in just few months we might fall into situation where some one way road needs to be made one way from other direction now.

2. Traffic will rise in Bangalore: Don’t forget that once the Car companies come out with their Car models priced at 1 Lac. The number of Cars on road is going to increase phenomenally. People planning to buy two wheelers will prefer to put a little extra money and get the 1lakh car....With all the new IT zones getting created and many new IT companies coming to Bangalore the traffic increase will be manifold.....

3. Flyovers or wide road will not be enough after some time: Please understand with the kind of rise in Traffic expected , we will be reaching a stage where even all the new Flyovers or Wide roads will not be enough and we may get stuck with traffic jams then as well....Be ready for that!!!!!!


Some of measures which can be taken more in this regards:

1. Metro Project: I strongly believe that if there is indeed any long term solution then it has to be Metro Project. We all know how Metro has changed whole of New Delhi. If metro can be implemented in a big city like New Delhi, i believe it can be easily done in Bangalore.......Metro is going to give one alternate mode of Travel which is so badly needed in Bangalore. We also need to ensure that Metro project is implemented on a larger scale with adequate frequency. I am happy that a flyover is finally getting built over Hosur Road from silk board to Electronic City. But just imagine how much more useful it would have been if Metro was started there instead of Flyover....it would have resolved traffic issues on this road completely....
Another major benefit of Metro is that it will take vehicles off from the road as people will travel on Metro...thus traffic will decrease on roads....but if just flyovers are built.....there would be more vehicles coming on to road and which will finally Jam Bangalore again........

2. Thumbs Up to Volvo buses: Increase as much frequency as is possible for Volvo busses and see the difference it will make. Make it affordable to common man. I am sure there would be less instances of people hanging out from buses then......

3. Pollution Free stickers should be introduced instead of certificates. Every three months pollution check should be done for vehicle and the color of stickers should change. For e.g. issue red stickers for Jan to March, Blue for April to June, Green for July to September and Orange for October to December. Vehicles can be challaned if stickers do not match the quarters. There would be more logistic issue which would still need to be resolved but at least it will be step to make our environment clean and healthy

4. Issuing of Driving License should be more strict and should be renewed after 5 years. Issuing of driving license for 10-20 years validity is just absurd..... ...

5. Road Minister: I am not sure if such a post exist but Bangalore has reached a stage where it needs a person who will be responsible for only roads in Bangalore, he will not have any task but to improve condition of roads.

6. Privatize Road Constructors: If one particular street needs to be built may be locality people can get the road constructors and build the road for them, why wait for government to come and build road for them which might take months.......Of course Road Minister can fix some people in respective areas to do inspection in such a case and issue them a go ahead chit before they get road constructed. And the amount spent should be re-imbursed by government by submitting Go ahead certificates.

7. Speed Limits strictly enforced: Remember that Traffic sense of people driving in Bangalore is bad since rule enforcement is not strict...with strict laws traffic sense will automatically come. We are same people who go abroad and drive perfectly in lanes and don't use horns unnecessarily but moment we come back to Bangalore we are back to our usual way of driving.......


8. Start Green Bangalore scheme: Let more and more people plant trees under this scheme wherever they can........start advertising campaigns which let people know how Bangalore can be made green.....re-juvenate the Bangalore Gardens all over so that it truly becomes green......

9. Planned New Construction: -- very important --All new constructions should be well planned and this applies not just to buildings but also new roads...make sure roads are parallel and they should be built in such a manner that you can take any road and still be sure that you will reach destination ....and not worry to get stuck onto some one way roads .......

These are just some of my views about travelling in Bangalore.........being such an important city in India, Bangalore cannot afford to miss these things as it is going to get tough competition from other developing cities in India.

But I cannot just end this blog before giving a big Thanks to one of most important people in Bangalore right now and that is Bangalore Traffic Police. Hats off to you guys who are sacrificing their life’s just to make our life simpler.....They all deserve a big applause from all of us........