Better Bussing For A Green Bangalore

murali772 - 12-DEC-2007

There's no denying that the tree cover in Bangalore is being lost largely due to road widening. Road widening is necessitated due to unchecked growth and usage of private vehicles. To address this problem, you have to have excellent public transport services. METRO may be a solution. But, it is extremely expensive, and at best a solution in the long-term. BMTC cannot cope up with the needs, however much they may appear to have become efficient, which they are not and cannot be, as long as they continue to enjoy a monopoly status. The simple answer is to facilitate the entry of TVS kind of companies (my first exposure to TVS was as a bus service provider in the city of Madurai) into the fray. The present rules do not provide for that. It facilitates only the 'Sharma' kind of operations, which in turn only helps provide fodder for the die-hard opponents of the private sector.

BIAL airport design

thebangalorean - 12-DEC-2007

I wonder if anyone has seen photos of the Hyderabad International Airport. http://www.hyderabad.aero/information/live_footage.html Its design looks a generation ahead of BIAL which seems drab in comparison. Even from a practicality standpoint, the lack of multi-level arrival and departure concourses at BIAL itself is likely to result in tremendous chaos.

Let us meet - Sunday Dec 16, 9 AM, Lalbagh West Gate

admin123 - 11-DEC-2007

We have been talking about it - what more can we realistically do besides sharing our ideas and frustrations via discussions. We also want to decide on the future course for the website itself, for Praja aims to leverage the site as the platform. So how about we meet and talk all this?

Date: 16 Dec, Sunday morning, 9 AM Venue: Lalbagh, West Gate

Resources - complaint/suggestion websites, emails or phone numbers

admin123 - 11-DEC-2007

Let us start building a "citizen's resources" section at Praja website. Many members know websites, phone numbers or email addresses for various local government bodies or public service providers. Let us start listing all such 'self-help' resources.

Eventually, this new section here could have the following:

1) Self help: as mentioned above

2) RTI and PIL guidelines: how to file a RTI application. Or even a PIL. And member's success stories

3) Contacts of helpful NGOs and RWAs (resident welfare associations) that members have experiences with

Bangalore's elevated roads

silkboard - 10-DEC-2007

Dont just think the elevated expressway from Silk Board junction to Electronics City. Our city is planning for a few more elevated roads to speeden up movements in and out of the city:

1) Sirsi circle flyover to Outer Ring Road (Kengeri) - 6 km elevated. BBMP got started with this one last week by calling for RFPs (read here on BBMP website, mentions 4 lane elevated corridor).

2) Silk Board junction to Shoolay Circle. BBMP should soon be floating an RFP on this one too. Its a pretty long one, 10.5 kms going by the CTTP (here).

3) Yeshwantpur and Outer Ring Road junction - 5 km elevated. Things seem to be moving on the Nelamangala tollway project (we discussed recently). But it is not clear to me if the 5 km elevated stretch at Yeshwantpur is part of the tollway project.

Bangalore Mangalore train - Lalu's admission?

silkboard - 9-DEC-2007

First off, thanks Vasanth for the informative update on the long awaited train. Hopefully they will complete the Bangalore Hassan line soon, the zig zag route via Mysore (go south) and Hassan (come back north) takes a bit too much time (12 hours).

BTW, I read a news-piece on this train in ToI this morning, and something in there just amazed me. The piece talks about Mr Lalu Yadav flagging the Bangalore train off at Mangalore, and how he kept the audience in splits during his speech. Now, for the interesting part:

"When Lalu mentioned that he knew the reasons behind the delay and put the onus on the bus and truck lobby, there was a loud roar of approval"

Black City, Bangalore

tsubba - 9-DEC-2007

In traffic jargon a black spot is a locations in the city where accidents happen with regular frequency. The areas around such black spots are called black areas. A study by Sudhir and Akbar of Secon Pvt Ltd., reveals why Bangalore is a black city. Excerpts from that study ...

Transport Regulatory Body - Long Overdue

Naveen - 8-DEC-2007

Today's (8th/Dec) Economic Times carried an item on Page-1 titled "Watchdog may soon put brakes on vehicles". The body would be responsible to frame legislation/s pertaining to limiting vehicle ownership per household, increased penalties for traffic violations including cancellations, etc. Pedestrian welfare & Cycling Infrastructure is also being addressed. Strips of 2.5 mtrs width for each is suggested on roads exclusively for pedestrian movement & cycling as also proper street furniture. Congestion pricing is being examined.

Nobel cause

murali772 - 8-DEC-2007

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the Chairman of the Nobel Laureate, IPCC, when asked to comment on the TATA '1- lakh car' project, in the context of the adverse remarks made by the famed economist, Thomas Friedman (addressing a meeting of the Bangalore International Centre), expressed his wish that TATA's would simultaneously get into public bus transport services. And, TATA's being TATA's would be happy to do so, provided the government facilitated their entry.

Irrationality of dedicated lanes

murali772 - 8-DEC-2007

text of letter sent to the New Indian Express: I refer to the report captioned 'auto lanes may be allotted to BMTC' published in your columns on the 5th instant. The idea of 'dedicated lanes' for BMTC buses seems to have caught the fancy of every self-appointed traffic expert. And, there seem to be plenty of them in the city today, apart from the author.