[Announcement] Working Groups - our first one

admin123 - 26-MAY-2008

Okay then. Time now to test ourselves, and the theory, that with a bigger pool (1000+ now) of members, we will have correspondingly bigger numbers for on-ground activities. Let us start our first "working group" (or WG) on Praja. Taking the window of opportunity offered by Mr Tripathy, and well aware that the subject is most popular thus far, the first WG will be on Public Transport. Before forming this group, let us figure out this generic concept of WG:

Lalu Wants Monorail for Patna !

Naveen - 23-MAY-2008

Kuala Lumpur: A trip in the monorail and zipping over the crowded streets here on elevated tracks has convinced visiting Railway Minister Lalu Prasad that India, especially, the capital of his home state Bihar, needs such an advanced transportation facility.

BMTC branded auto service!

silkboard - 22-MAY-2008

Creating a separate post about the upcoming BMTC branded auto service or similar.

Meeting with Mr Tripathy, BMTC - Summary

silkboard - 22-MAY-2008

So it did happen. Naveen, Murali sir, Vasanth, Praveen, myself got 30 minutes of Mr Tripathy's time in his office. After introducing Praja etc, we were planning to present our (rather, Naveen's) slides on single dedicated lane based BRTS idea. But Mr Tripathy said he was short on time, and would look at it later at leisure. However, he warned us that he just can't do BRTS by himself. He is only a bus operator, and owns only the rolling stock. We should go to other bodies (BBMP/BDA/Traffic police to get non-rolling stock infrastructure for BRTS) to push for it. He then updated us on the BRTS-on-ORR project a bit. He seemed well versed with BRTS, its need and advantages, Bogota etc. Though, his take on the key reason for the success of buses at Bogota is - the interesting ways in that city ran campaigns to educate citizens on road discipline.

Free Indian Aviation from its Colonial Past

Devesh - 22-MAY-2008

I thought as a lull, I will resurrect an old story, that I am sure should get some of our "nationalistic" juices flowing in a non-BIAL direction.

BRTS funded in five states

silkboard - 21-MAY-2008

Meet with BMTC

silkboard - 19-MAY-2008

Meeting with Mr Tripathy @ BMTC. This is an introductory meeting to set grounds for bigger open-to-all meetings for Praja members. Please post your suggestions for this meeting or future interactions in this thread created for the purpose.

Meeting with Mr Tripathy (BMTC)

admin123 - 18-MAY-2008

A few of us are meeting Mr Upendra Tripathy (BMTC) this Thursday. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to organize this as a broader and open-to-all-who-are-interested type of meeting. But, we will:

• Talk to him and explore ways of connecting our upcoming "working group" here with BMTC
• Try to show him as much of the good suggestions that have come up here so far

Dedicated bus lanes - a presentation for BBMP

Naveen - 16-MAY-2008

I made a presentation yesterday to Mr.Subramanya (BBMP Commisioner) at his office about the single bus lane idea. He was quite interested and said he would discuss with his committee and revert. He also agreed very well that the solution was not to build or widen more roads or flyovers. He also mentioned some problems that are being faced with the underpasses construction on Bellary road - the actual costs were much higher than anticipated because numerous problems had cropped up - conduits for sewerage, water, telephone, electricity, etc that were marked incorrectly on admittedly very old drawings that now need to be re-aligned !

[Here is the presentation, prepared with a lot of help from folks and material here on Praja]

Driving - what are the chances ...

fightcorruption.co.in - 15-MAY-2008

What are the chances of you reaching the destination in time and alive if you are driving and followed all traffic rules?