About Me

Sunday, 7 August 2016

Bengaluru's traffic problem & half a dozen ideas

Hello good people,

Drafted this one 2 months back, just managing to publish it. Why the delay ?  - Stuck in traffic LOL! This seems to be the template reason for almost any event, especially in Bengaluru.


I'm one among those who believe that the Bengaluru traffic is not just due to the vehicle density but includes other few parameters. Like after being stuck in a t-jam for 30 mins,  we see that it is due to one SUV or Sedan taking an ambitious U turn,  blocking both the roads, and the road thereafter is almost empty.


Or a mini van waiting for a right turn, while a BMTC has 20% of it's body behind the mini van and is unable to move forward and blocking others behind it.

The idea of this blog, as visible in the title is not to sulk about the traffic or to make fun of it.  So let's see what can be improved - precisely, to look at some ideas which can be implemented with no or least investment.



 1. Bus stop where the bus stop :

Read it however you want, Forget that official bus stop,  that's for the auto guys and corporate cab pick up points.  So where does the BMTC bus stops?

  • at the start and end of a flyover
  • immediately after a turning,
  • immediately after a signal
making things worse for the vehicles behind.

And one unique technology followed by bmtc is -  when one bus is already in the bus stop,  the next one stands parallel to the first one instead of standing behind. What an idea!!


This is for sure the easiest of things to change first up - remove all other boarding/drop points other than designated bus stops.


2. Shortcut to success :


No need to asphalt the shortcut or gully routes,  at least they can be leveled.  At least the two wheelers can use those roads leaving the main roads for bigger vehicles.


Recently Accenture Whitefield campus opened a 'back gate' that leads to cosmos mall,  saving 4-5 km and avoiding rush at graffite India Junction. More such routes could be opened through out Bengaluru.


3. Continuous signals :


Where we have continuous signals in a same road,  it can be planned to sync the signals such that the vehicles that get the green can pass all signals at one stretch.  Saves time, energy, fuel, avoids pollution and lot of chaos.

Example -  the 3 or 4 signals in Richmond road.

I hear that this was tested for certain roads successfully and will soon be in action., super.




4. Let the waste wait:


As far as I've noticed,  the BBMP corporation vehicle cleans up the piled garbage,  promptly between 8am to 10am , which as you see,  is the peak hours for office and school goers.

By scheduling this at 2 to 4pm,  garbage is not going to complain.

5. 1-way:


Narrow roads prone to huge vehicle volume could be made one-way. People should start accepting a mindset that travelling 500m more to save 15 mins time is a better idea.


Example - The triangle between Gopalan grand mall, big bazaar and DRDO bus stop can be made a one way to avoid unnecessary t-jams.




6. Restructuring U-turns.


Needless to explain, this is one other spot where traffic is held up. Avoiding or changing U-turns from crowded spots, like opposite to Malls, Metro, petrol bunks, schools, corporate campus etc., can help in a lot of ways.


Recently, a U-turn near Marathahalli was changed to a spot where the road is much wider, and this showed good difference.


And there are more ideas like rain water harvesting near under-pass, which recently created a mess in outer ring roads.


As you see,  these do not need heavy investment of funds,  but just the time and 'will' to do things.


As usual,  if you know of some simple ideas,  please add it in the comments.


See you later,


Ta ta




 

@ Special thanks to Chetan for well depicting the situations.