Better Bengaluru aims to create lasting improvements and celebrate those who are championing civic change, helping the conservation of heritage or those less privileged. Join us today with Prof. M. N. Sreehari, a Bengaluru-based expert on traffic related issues, for a live chat at 5 pm.
* Hello and welcome everyone— The Hindu
*Better Bengaluru aims to create lasting improvements and celebrate those who are championing civic change, helping the conservation of heritage or those less privileged. — The Hindu
*As an Advisor to the Government of Karnataka for Traffic, Transportation and Infrastructure, Professor M.N. Sreehari is in the unique position of being able to contribute his expertise to the betterment of the traffic situation in the city. Today, Prof. Sreehari joins us for a webchat in which he will answer questions and voice his opinions on how we can ease the traffic worries in the city, making a Better Bengaluru.— The Hindu
*Good evening— TheDivision
*Joining us today, Prof. M. N. Sreehari, a Bengaluru-based expert on traffic related issues.— The Hindu
*Welcome everyone. Glad to have Prof Sreehari with us today.— Avinash Bhat, Staff Reporter
*I am fortunate enough to address some of the basic issues that Bengaluru citizens face like traffic, transportation, bad road conditions and poor planning of infrastructure. A day has come where in citizens have to begin a movement to find solutions for simple issues and tap the door of authorities to set things right.— Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*There are lot of bad roads in my house in basaveshwarnagar. I have complained to councillor. no action. is there any special trick to ride with the potholes? — A participant
*Generally, at present, the citizens of Bengaluru are interested to know why the city's roads are riddled with potholes and one has to search for the road to move. Similarly, the traffic management is also vbery bad due to less number of traffic controllers and their way of handling in an unscientific way.— Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Do you think the politicians are right in claiming that potholes cannot be filled in monsoon? Is there no other option but to wait for rains to end to have smooth roads— Avinash Bhat, Staff Reporter
*This kind of bad roads are everywhere and one has to search for the road to move. The BBMP is the owner of the road and hence their job is to rectify, repair, and permit the road users to drive safely. Corporators can take up the issue with the engineers of the ward and hence, citizens can directly meet the concerned engineers. In case they are not able to take it up, it can be reported to the corporator or the city Mayor, even the Commissioner. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Sir, They fill potholes and then road becomes back again after few weeks. What should we do about this?— — A participant
Also what is your opinion about TenderSURE. I face a lot of problem when I go to pick up my child from Bishop Cotton Girls School after TenderSURE came
*How are potholes formed? — Pothole Princess
*Do we have any dedicated authority to study urban transportation issues? —King
*When contracts are awarded, isn't there a warranty clause in it? If a road gets washed out after a rain, it should be the contractor's responsibility to fix it immediately. Otherwise they should be fined. — Ravi
*TenderSURE has been carried out without any tender. And the work is awarded to the individuals who do not have any expertise on road construction or road design. The design is based on the volume-capacity ratio and adequate focus should be made on handling the Bengaluru traffic management problems, rather than creating creating footpaths where the number of pedestrians using the facility is less in the Central Business District areas. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Sir, the current solution to traffic issues seem to be costly flyover and underpasses. Do you think this is how planning should be? In western countries, we do not see many flyovers inside the city, while in India, we see only big projects that do not seem to end traffic problems. — Vinayashree J
On the other hand, such facilities - wide footpaths - are more warranted in the residential areas, so that pedestrians can make more use of it. This issue must be tackled suitably and in my opinion, the government should stop this kind of haphazard and unscientific work that is creating much more traffic issues and throwing up more challenges. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@King: As such, at present we do not have any traffic transportation wing, except traffic police who manage the traffic. However, the traffic police too do not have traffic engineering cell to advice them. Though BBMP has a cell, it does not have an experienced expert in the field to work in tandem with the traffic police. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
Contract information should be made available to everyone who wants to see it. That way people can follow up with their corporator for bad roads in their localities. — Ravi
Why do you think car-pooling has failed in the city? — Pooja Rao
Sir, what is your view on introduction of stricter measures like congestion charges to discourage more people from bringing their vehicles out everyday to commute? — Avinash Bhat
Sir, is road-widening a solution to the traffic problems in the city? There are talks of the BBMP's plans to widen certain roads being executed again... —Saniya
*@Ravi: I draw your kind attention to the absence of any such responsibilities assigned to the contractor who builds the road. It is essential to penalise the contractor who is responsible for construction, at least for a minimum of three years after construction. This kind of defect liability must be enforced and the government should make it mandatory for all types of work, inlcuding road construction. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
We should start a car pooling initiative. Sir I am ready to start. Will you guide us? — Pooja Rao
*@Vinayashree : Any flyover or underpasses or grade separators do shift the problem to one junction to another without solving the main issue completely. As rightly said by you, within the urban areas, these flyovers are responsible for more congestion, delays and lead into accidents. Of course, these grade separators are recommended at major junctions of highways, arterial roads, preferrably on the outskirts of the urban area. The road geometrics control such grade separators and an improper geometrics results in many traffic related issues.. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
* Good Evening! Potholes presence are more than Engineers in the City. Is there any other concrete technology which gives solution? — Kingarivu
*@Ravi: Basically in any corporation in any state, three issues are absent - accountability, auditability and assessibility. Further, the quality will not be checked duringh construction as most of the roads do not give the designed life period. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Is there any specific plan that can be implemented for non-CBD areas for traffic and road management? — Balaji
*With such narrow roads in Bengaluru and so much rains, the traffic is a pain for any commuter. What do you think can be done to make life easier for the commuters? — Shikha
*@Avinash: Since it is a democratic set up, it is very difficult to control to the vehicular movement by preventing people to get the vehicle on to the roads. On the other hand, road pricing or congestion tax like in other developed countries/ cities are made using satellite. The technology is very simple but requires political will. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Traffic police is making u-turns and other diversions to decongest signals. The corporation had built haphazard magic boxes, which only compounded the situation. These are only temporary measures. Cannot a more sustainable solution of enforcing traffic discipline or encouraging use of public transport be the way forward? — Deepak
*There is also major traffic problem near schools in CBD. Everyone blames schools. I represent school managements we are always blamed. But we have changed timings and done everything but we are not successful. — Shashi Kumar
*Sir. Water is the primary cause of potholes. And longstay of water in road may cause pothole. Can we cant make a road which absorbs water like sponge? — Kingarivu
* @Saniya: Road widening is not at all a solution as it carried more and more vehicles. On the other hand, the widening process being carried out by either BDA or BBMP leads to parking on both sides of the roads. Our country or city is not rich to construct a good road by spending Rs. 5 crore per km for a 3.5 metre wide lane that will be used just for parking. If the authorities come forward to remaove parking on the road, I am sure the road can take easily the traffic volume, in addition to closing so many median openings where turning traffic takes place. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Balaji: The main issues in residential localities are parking on both sides of the narrow roads inspite of showing car parking spaces inside the buildings. Many a times, these spaces are converted for other use, as road is freely available for parking. It is recommended that we take up neighbouring parks, go underground with basements to create parking spaces for the locality. The space above can be utilised for a park or playground. This is also the responsibility of the government to utilise the space available for multi-level car parking, with parking charges, so that the amount collected can be used for constructing many such facilities. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*The vehicular density of Bengaluru is increasing day by day , this combined with the ill- planned way of managing traffic and shortage of police staff is making life a hell in the city , while there have been many novel ideas , there is very less implementation done , how do you think our city police can implement their ideas better ? — Minhaas
*@Deepa: The only nearest solution for the authorities is to have multi-modal integration for substainable transportation, which includes Metro and other modes like Mono Rail, Bus Rapid Transit or even intermediate public transport like autos, cabs, two-wheelers, which can act as feeder services. Ultimately, the individual is interested in how the last mile connectivity is given. This must be ensured properly from the planners so that the number of vehicles can be reduced on the roads. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Deepa: Magic Box is known as Tragic Box. It is creating hell of a problem and is fit for demolition. Now, the authorities are adviced not to go for these narrow width boxes, which induces traffic congestion, poor visibility and lead to accidents. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*A reader @Maleccha tweets: when will the cyclists get space? — The Hindu
*How effective in your opinion are 'open street days', a new concept being tried in Bengaluru? — Saniya
*About filling potholes: We definitely have the cold mix technology which can be adopted during monsoon or rainy days. The potholes can be fillecd in a scientific way using this mix. Within 5 minutes, the road can be opened for traffic. The reason why this is not followed is quite obvious. The corporation authorities want to see potholes again and again so that they can spend money on filling them unscientifically. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Minhaas: Bengaluru has grown by leaps and bounds haphazardly from a village to town, town to city, city to metro, and metro to mega... without any planning. The suburbs are equivalent to Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities. More and more transport problems, individuals resort to two-wheelers, as it connects door-to-door service. The strength of traffic police is highly inadequate for motorised vehicles of 56 lakh for a population of 1.1 crore. Since the public transportation services are inadequate due to delays etc, one will use his/her transportation mode to move. That is how the trips are increased by many folds which is causing the travel speed to reduce to a single digit that is the same as walking speed. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Aren't roads poorly laid in the first place, just see the roads built inside various defence lands across Bangalore, they are uniformly good. You can observe this in Ulsoor, Richmond Road's cross roads, near Austin Town & more, though very heavy trucks and other vehicles move on these roads, I don't see them laying it as often as other roads are. We know that road contractors are all affiliated to political parties and fund the political parties. Can't we make them accountable for the state of roads?
*@Maleccha: In a city like Bengaluru, Jayanagar has created for cycle tracks by DULT. However, it is not being used by any cyclists. Though money is wasted on this project, the tracks are not utilised due to parking, huge trees, poorly lit roads and other such reasons. So, schemes for non-motorised vehicles must be implemented in residential areas where one can cover short distances, rather than in the CBD areas, where time is precious. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Saniya: Open street days is a big tamasha. Instead, the authorities must remove parking on the roads. This way, the road capacity will increase and all the traffic problems will be solved. Emergency vehicles obviously suffer when streets are opened up only for pedestrian use. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
@twistedlogix: Definitely, our engineers are very intelligent to plan, design, construct and maintain... provided they are given good opportunities from the politicians. We are second to none in every field. As rightly said, we are lacking in three A's - accountability, auditability and assessability. Engineers must be made responsible and their salaries must be cut for giving us bad roads, poor quality roads that are unfit for traffic flow, though huge sums of money is spent. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
Trees are usually the first casualty when it comes to designing roads. How do you think this can be balanced out? Cutting off decades-old trees and claiming to go on a new plantation drive will not solve anything, would it? — Saniya
*Do you have any suggestions on making Bengaluru more inclusive, i.e for those who are differently-abled such as wheelchair users etc? — Sriya
*How serious do you think the civic agencies and the government are in introducing mutli modal transport solutions for the city? Last mile connectivity has been an issue for the Metro users which BMTC tried to solve but failed with their feeder buses. Will the city have a mutli-modal transport hub in the future and where do you think this must be located? — Avinash Bhat
*@Saniya: During the reign of Emperor Ashoka, trees were grown so that people who walk could do so under the shade. The road is now meant for traffic and do not require trees, except few flowery plants to enhance the aesthetics. Many tree branches become weak during rainy days and cause accidents. Many times, the tree roots upheave the pavement, causing accidents for two-wheelers. Another issue is the low hanging tree branches that do not allow streetlight to fall on the road. In these conditions, there is no need to grow trees within 3 metres from the edge of the pavement. Horticulture department should take note of this and select the species in such a way that it does not negatively impact the moving traffic or pedestrians during rainy days. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*There are a certain norms which need to followed while laying roads for better efficiency and long life of the roads , which , obviously , are not at all followed , we get to see roads wearing out like water flowing out of a broken bucket! How do you think we can actually make then meet the conditions for better roads? — Minhaas
*@Sriya: It has been tried in Bengaluru to make footpaths disabled friendly. Due to lack of traffic police and control, these footpaths are used two-wheelers, which obviously creates panic for the pedestrains and the differently abled. Though we have laws, to watch them and regulate them, the shortage of traffic police and lack of awareness among two-wheeler users is a cause of concern. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Avinash: about multi-modal transportation for sustainability has already been discussed. And, I feel the DPR of Metro insists on the parking spaces for other modes of transportation. Presently, most Metro station do not have this facility. Hence, integration is a big challenge. As a matter of fact, Hebbal multi-modal transport hub is planned. Within two-three years, one such hub could come up there. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Minhaas: This issue can be resolved only if the authorities make all engineers accountable and responsible for all works they carry out and some kind of recovery process must be initiated from them. This kind of evaluation is totally absent at present and the government must act in this regard on an urgent note. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Sushmita: Car poorling is a very good idea in western countries as many times, the driver alone is in the car. But in India, it can be practiced for the IT sector. In other areas, because of socio-economic status, many do not prefer. This social stigma must be removed. Till then, car pooling may not be a successful proposal. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*How can the government/traffic police help promote carpooling besides recognizing several carpool groups? Is there any action that they can take to make carpooling the preferred choice? —Avinash Bhat
*@Avinash: Car pooling could be a solution for people going to similar activity centres from a common place. IT is the best example. We are now looking in a different perspective that all IT companies shall arrange Volvo buses to trans-ship at least 50 to 60 per cent, with Wifi facility in the bus so that they can log in while boarding, and their work will start irrespective of the delays etc. Where as the cars also experience delays in traffic stream. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*Sir, can you tell us more about the Intelligent Transport System you're working on- is this along the lines of CCTV surveillance across the city to deter traffic violations, similar to the Singapore model? — Sriya
*Ultimately any transport system is concerned to individuals and groups. So, it is very essential that every one of us should understand the limitation of the mode of transport, road available space and our duties and responsibilities towards making a transportation a reasonably enjoyable one under pleasure, not under pressure! — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@MNSreehari: @Maleccha tweets: I cycle every day cross Jayanagar, when will the cars parked on cycle lanes will be penalized? — The Hindu
*The traffic pileup on Old Madras Road - an important road that leads to IT Park - is horrendous. It's amazing that we don't have a solution still, some 10 years since media first highlighted the issue. — Pradeep
*There is very little time to cross the road if you're on foot, priority is given to cars, many a times, pedestrian light is compromised for vehicular traffic, when will pedestrians become priority? I challenge the Traffic Police Commissioner to cross the whole road in the given time for pedestrian lights. — Kabir
*@Srita: ITS (Intelligent Transport System) is practiced in the developed cities way back since 1980s. In India, it is still to develop as the cost of these varies from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 5 crores. Even inexpensive systems are also available in the market which can be employed like CCTV, surveillance cameras, variable message systems, video walls for control and others without any human interference. In Bengaluru, though the number of CCTV cameras is less (may be 300 in number) and in a year, the annual turnover of fines for traffic violations will be around Rs. 60 crores. If the 5000 major junctions of the total 48,000 junctions are equipped with cameras, am sure the number of traffic violations will be brought down and people will become more and more aware to prevent traffic violations.— Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*All road users: please follow lane rules, drive with other fellow drivers in mind. Safe driving is not for only others. If we follow discipline on the road, one can have a much better experience. — Peshwa Raobaji
*@Maleccha: Due to shortage of traffic police on duty, attending to this kind of traffic controlling, fining is very difficult as most Bengaluru citizens will not follow traffic rules and regulations in the absence of policemen. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
*@Govt: Please plan properly in advance, plan for more than abundance. New tech-parks (Manyata and new Ecospace extensions) have to receive proper infra before the problems mount. There are new parks coming up in Devanhalli and nearby areas. Congestion on the airport road will only rise, please plan in advance. Like, NOW! — Peshwa Raobaji
*@Pradeep: It is now planned to demolish K R Puram bridge, as itself is a bottleneck. Further, the Metro Rail extension is taking place up to Hope Farm along ITPL Road. Main constraints being non-happening of road widening to 45 metres, parking of buses at the up ramp of the flyover, the number of private buses parking on slip roads, Chennai main railway line passing very close at the beginning of ITPL Road. These constraints will be addressed shortly. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
@MNSreehari You mean to say, cyclists you be on your own, there is lack of police and nothing can be done about it. Police doesn't encourage cycling so the vehicles can be parked on lanes.
Sir, I'm sorry to say but other cities have CCTV cameras and numbers are recorded through that, all the registered vehicles receive the slip from police department. One day, you request one officer to document vehicles parked on cycle, challans issued, I'm sure nobody is going to do that.
Many cities have experimented the same including Lima which has smaller roads than Bangalore. About police enforcing norms, at most signals including the one at the intersection between JP Nagar first phase and Jayanagar 5th Phase, police officers are appraising the traffic and not regulating. — Kabir
* @Peshwa Raobaji : It is very essential to plan the new cities, townships and very difficult to address the crowded cities the world over, which are labelled as DownTowns. Upcoming places are taken separately as small town ships with all infrastructure facilities. In this direction, all Bengaluru roads are congested and due to the increase of traffic, congestion is imminent. So let alone the old city of Bangalore, new infrastructure developments must be in the pipeline for new townships. This is clearly specified in Smart City Act. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
@Kabir : It is the joint responsibility of traffic enforcement personnel who are less in numbers, and also much more lies with the citizens to act more responsibly and cannot expect policemen for everything. If that is the case, every individual also should become a policeman. — Prof. M.N.Sreehari
Thank you all for participating.Thank you Prof. M.N. Sreehari for answering all our queries. — The Hindu
