How Industry can help reduce traffic congestion

Photoyogi - 5-JUN-2008

With the rising cost of fuels and the congestion on the roads one would hate to drive but as work demands we grind our teeth and just pull along. How long is this going to work? I have a friend in the IT Industry, His job is mostly at client locations and currently rides a 2 wheeler. His company offered him a hike of 15K if he moved to a car. Ouch!

modern metered taxis in Pune

sanchitnis - 2-JUN-2008

I am not aware of any modern metered taxi service like other major cities in India where one can book taxis over phone or web. Currently there are old rickety yello/black cabs only at airport or Railways station and they do not use meters even though they are supposed to.

Any reason why the progressive city of Pune lacks such a basic service?

Sanjay Chitnis

Cooperative Transport

sanchitnis - 2-JUN-2008

I am proposing something in between public transport and car pooling - we can call it "Cooperative transport".

Daily commuters along a fixed corridor and fixed timings can come together to hire a vehicle from BMTC or any private vehicle provider. The elected 'leader' can manage all coordination activities.

Bus services - a different approach

murali772 - 1-JUN-2008

"Vayu Vajra I am told is very convenient - for 150 rupees - starts from Aishwarya stores - supposed to be at every half an hour - but that's not the case. I was told today morning that they have one at 3.40pm but when I reached I realised it got cancelled and the next one was only at 6.40 PM.

Luckily, they had this cheaper alternative called 'Suvarna' for 80 rupees at 3.50 PM and I am now on my way!! The driver fellow has promised to reach in 90 minutes - but I doubt it; since he is stopping at every stop shouting airport airport airport airport..... ."

Core Ring Road (ICCR) as BRTS

Transmogrifier - 1-JUN-2008

Any new developments regarding the Core Ring Road (ICCR)? I was looking through a couple of BBMP design documents (alignment etc.) that silkboard posted here quite a while back on his blog from BBMP.

A couple of thoughts on the present BBMP plans before I make a few suggestions.

BMTC – Zones and Routes

narayan82 - 30-MAY-2008

This is not a solution but an attempt to spark off a debate to create a solution

I have tried to work out a method to organize bus travel within Bangalore. The inspiration for this started from London’s Underground – which is based on the concept of zones and lines. I have illustrated my idea of how Bangalore can be divided. It is a combination of the “Spoke” and the “Zone” concept.

Firstly I have divided Bangalore into Zones. Each zone will have one TTMC. See Fig 1 (Click to see original)

Bus Services Suffer from an Image Problem

Naveen - 30-MAY-2008

“A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure” – Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister.

Conventional bus services, the world over are generally perceived as slow, infrequent, inconvenient, uncomfortable, and distinctly lacking in status & quality.

What is required for bangalore is a complete change in the way people travel.

Invoking cosmetic changes & marketing conventional bus services are unlikely to make major impacts, other than marginally improve patronization (we have seen this all these years). Bus services, unfortunately carry a long-standing negative stigma regarding poor performance & inadequate customer services, despite BMTC being one of the best performing transport corporations.

BMTC's airport service - experience

silkboard - 28-MAY-2008

[Since's Goerge's experience got lost in talks of PPP, privatization etc, I am posting this in a new thread]

Got to use BMTC's Whitefield to BIA service yesterday. Went to Hope Farm junction in an auto, and noticed that there was a special board marking the BIAL bus stop. I was there at 1:35 pm, and as per the listed times, a non-A/C service should have shown up in a few minutes. Even though a non-A/C bus was parked about half a km back in Whitefield, nothing showed up. Waiting for the bus wasn't fun - strong sun, no shelter, and no paved surface to rest my luggage.

[flickr-photo:id=2531137466,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2530320673,size=m]

BMTC busses on the Tarmac

narayan82 - 27-MAY-2008

BMTC and Airindia SATS/Air Deccan have tied up at BIAL to ferry passengers in the Low Floor Red Volvos from the gates to the airplane. I don't get it! The volvos in the city are going packed, the frequency is less than what i can/should be - why can't these busses run on the road instead. To me these busses are a much needed addition to the existing public transport. For the 2 Min ride from the Gate to the Plane, we dont need to use this "fancy" bus! Or we can get a Sutlej or a Tata-Globus/eicher/swaraj mazda for the airport!

BMTC service to BIAL - personal observation

George E Matthew - 26-MAY-2008

On Sunday evening, I thought I would observe the BMTC service to BIAL (called BIAS-Bangalore International Airport Service) from Trinity Circle. I had no intention of traveling to the airport, -I just wanted to know how reliable and convenient the buses were.