Silk Board, Bellandur, Marathahalli, KR Puram, Whitefield, Nagavara, BTM Layout or Koramangala: Bengaluru has become synonymous with traffic. Today, traffic is undoubtedly the foremost concern of the residents of the city.
To understand how and why the situation went out of hand and to look for possible long term solutions, urban Commute Expert Sanjeev Dyamannanavar and traffic expert M. N. Sreehari joined The Hindu for a live chat. The following is the transcript of the chat:
The Hindu Welcome to The Hindu Live Chat on Bengaluru traffic. Your concerns about the traffic situation in the city will be addressed by our panelists - Sanjeev Dyamannavar and M.N. Sreehari
Priya Why is it that bus stands fall under the purview of the BMMP? Shouldn't it be left to the BMTC to decide?
M.N. Sreehari The owners of the road are BBMP, whereas buses are only operated by BMTC, a service provider, which is a part of a total transport system. That is how the BBMP, the owner, comes into the picture.
Atish There should be an extra lane at bus stop for buses to stop. Currently bus stop right in the middle of road, thus halting the traffic flow.
M.N. Sreehari It is very much true. On the other hand, every bus stop should have a dedicated bus bay where buses can go inside for passengers to board and alight. Particularly, this problem happens at junctions as adequate road geometry is not available. As per Indian Road Congress, a minimum of 75 metres must be made available for bus stops and bays. Unfortunately, at such locations, private properties are located, which impede the available space. At new locations, however, this can be taken care of.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar when we have constructed ORR, we have not made provisions for bus stops and also FOB or subway. It has to be done on priority
Guest All the buses on ORR stop before and after the flyovers adding to the congestion on silkboard marthalli strecth, can we avoid this pls?
M.N. Sreehari BMTC is the owner of the buses and bus stops are decided by it only. Hence, BMTC must make a note of it and issue strict orders to all drivers along the route not to stop at the approaches of flyovers that can result in many traffic related issues like congestion, delays and even accidents.
Dhruv Private buses move on service roads around marathahalli, to avoid main road traffic. Is this even allowed?
M.N. Sreehari Private buses are hired by many IT companies. To serve these companies, they will move along the service roads for entry and exit and even allow alighting and boarding. This, however, is a bad practice. The IT companies should take note of it. IT companies should also share the responsibilities on this issue.
Guest Private buses simply stop on side of the road around the under bridge at marathahalli.causes huge jam, and risk to two wheelers.
M.N. Sreehari This problem must be addressed by the Bengaluru Traffic Police as these vehicles cause local congestions and one can observe the parking on the BRT route also.
Dhruv Service road from marathahalli to Panathur junction has construction vehicles covering half the road.In most cases, construction material is spilled on the road causing jams. Nobody regulates such behaviour.
M.N. Sreehari This problem shall be addressed jointly by BBMP and BTP. There is a general rule to cover the trucks carrying garbage and other materials to prevent spillage. Panathur Road is very narrow. These kinds of vehicles must be prevented during morning and evening peak hours.
Pavan Nail menace on ORR is increasing day by day on the ORR, Mr Benedict combs of half a kg of nails everyday , police not ready to take a compliant, whom should we approach? Everyday I see atleast 4 vehicles punctured on this stretch
M.N. Sreehari This is a law and order problem. The case can be booked as a crime, more than a traffic related problem.
Guest Anything being done to reduce the sheer volume of vehicles that Bangalore roads experience on a daily basis? Carpools, better bus/metro connectivity et al..
M.N. Sreehari Generally, car pooling is a social initiative and must be addressed by like-minded people. This cannot be enforced. Another solution could be to distribute all IT companies across the city and not concentrate it in Bengaluru East and parts of South East. Out of 1.1 crore population, at any given point of time, 80% of the people are travelling. The buses will share only 54 lakh, where as Metro share is 1.5 to 2 lakh pr day. The remaining rely on private transport. This is how the number of vehicles on the roads is increasing.
Dhruv Most cabbies are connected to google maps, why are they not tracked online to ensure they do not take illegal turns/ no entry? google maps already shows legal road directions, which are pretty accurate.
M.N. Sreehari Google maps are helpful. However, the frequent change in road norms like one-ways etc cannot be registered on the maps, which causes confusion and legal issues. Only variable message signs (VMS) can help to plan the route in advance along with the time required to reach the destination.
Ashfaq Ahmed Shariff when will the traffic problems get over in Bangalore.why cannot we, have more flyovers and underpass and also local trains .
M.N. Sreehari Commuter Rail System has been planned for Bengaluru city. However, there is no financial support from either centre or state. Secondly, the solving the traffic issues is very difficult as Bengaluru has grown from village to town, town to city, city to metro, and metro to mega. Only buildings have come up on par with international standards, where as roads have not grown in proportion to buildings and traffic, as roads cannot be widened further. Added to this, BBMP is also allowing parking on these already narrow and congested roads.
Pavan I mailed Bengaluru Traffic police regarding buses stopping before and after the flyover the reply I got was to contact BMTC, Then I mailed BMTC the same, the reply I got saying If the traffic police requests for change in the bus stops it would do the same, Now how do we get these 2 departments to talk to each other and solve the issue ?
M.N. Sreehari Both agencies - traffic police and BMTC - should be invited on a common platform and matter should be resolved there. The Vision Group can facilitate this.
Dhruv Another point is that everybody focuses on the important roads, without realizing the service/feeder roads are equally important. People fleeing jams on main roads get stuck on smaller roads due to their condition.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar: Their is traffic disciplane reqd and it need to be enforced
Pavan Can the bus stops be shifted to the service lane, as buses stop before and after the flyover adding to the congestion on ORR silk board marathalli stretch.
Sanjeev Dyamannavar Dedicated bus stops need to be created and for that if some land need to be acquired, should be done
Dhruv There also needs to be a very stringent campaign to change public's road behaviour, people drive with anger on their sleeves.
Sanjeev Dyamannavar Yes Dhruv, lane disciplane , parking, honking, dedicated bus stops. In bangalore, people have habit of driving with mobile talking and they tend to drive slow or erratic and end up slowing traffic. Either people will be looking at Google map for location which will lead to further traffic block. Unless Traffic police do the beat and put strong fine, people will have bad habit in driving
M.N. Sreehari Road rage is a common phenonmenon among road users across the world. However, it may be a little more and vigourous in India because of improper infrastructure facilities, resulting in road rage due to impatience, delays, congestion and urgency for travel.
Pavan Because of the nails, vehicles get punctured! and will be parked on the main road adding to the congestion everyday. Thats how its linked sir
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar: This is law and order where more vigilance reqd
Dhruv Potholes in my area, sometimes complete broken roads, are fixed by filling rocks, rubble, garbage and tiles. Is this acceptable? It makes riding even more dangerous. Till roads are not ok, no traffic problem can be resolved.
M.N. Sreehari Very true. The matter should be addressed by BBMP and when it fails to do the job, the traffic police come to the rescue at least by filling debris to give temporary solution.
VIkas The traffic problem anywhere in India is mostly due to negligence of traffic rules by common citizens. So are citizens to be blamed for it?? I don't think so. People used to die of TB earlier just because they weren't aware of such things. Similar is the case with traffic, our government really needs to put out some advertisements TV and other media regarding traffic rules and their implications.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar Yes Vikas, its more with volume of vehicles on the road. Needs awareness and strict enforcement also. In mumbai, people follow lane very well and in Delhi no parking r followed very well , so its enforcement
M.N. Sreehari: In India, most of the traffic violations in big cities are committed by highly educated class of people. As long as the people leave psuedo-culture and duality, this problem cannot be solved.
Ananth Sir, I see a lot freight lorries and other huge container trucks everyday during peak traffic times. Wouldn't it be better if they're allowed to use the roads only during the night times when traffic is less? There is a similar rule in Chennai as far as I know.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar This will solve if we have good road width, With just 1 1 lanes or 2 2 lanes with heavy traffic of cars, this will not solve in Bangalore as we can see in Hebbal, KR Puram
VIkas Overhauling the infrastructure requires time, huge capital investment and political will. So, it is not a solution for short term relief. However, road users themselves can lessen their hassles just by following speed limits and other regulations. Kindly watch Phantom Traffic Jam video on YouTube. Trust me, I am a transportation engineer from IIT Roorkee.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar Vikas good to see ur participation and suggestion. These need to be done without any compromise. But we need to strengthen the Public Transport system which should attract more commuters
M.N. Sreehari I too am from IIT Roorkee, a post graduate as well as a doctoral programme in traffic management, in 1980. More than blaming anybody, the surrounding system must be blamed, which makes us to do the same mistake again and again. That too, in the absence of traffic police.
Santosh Traveling from Jayadeva to silkboad is a pain whether in two/four wheeler. The reason being most of the busses stop anywhere on the road. They change lanes from right to left just to stop near the bus stop. The left lane should be made as Bus lane and any bus service violating this will get their license and permit revoked.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar Bangalore is having roads with out dedicated bus stops like on bellary road. So even Bus driver wants to stop, he will end up stopping on one lane of road as we can see on Jayadeva to silk board. One thing is Drivers should follow lanes
Sanaya Sir, even though metro is there... People still take bus and autos. The public transport system should be strengthened
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar Well said Sanaya, any Public travel like METRO one need to look into total end to end travel time. In bangalore METRO has poor planning to integrate with other modes of traffic which adds even a minute for commuters. Security check r must and we can't compromise for the METRO
VIkas See most of the transportation engineering starts with defining the psychology of the road user. You can see where it is going. What do you understand from it? We really need to change our habits before we start complaining about existing infrastructure. In India, most of the people don't have the slightest idea of what road regulations mean. A simple ORS can save a baby's life. Why to instantly run for a full body checkup? We need to introspect. Road habits of Indian citizens has drawn a lot of flak from people all over the world. Let us start using our existing resources wisely.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar: Yes, in terms of Driving and even walking on the road instead of Foot paths, crossing roads at random. This has to come with education, awareness, enforcement, and creating good infrastructure for foot paths
The Hindu There are studies about how traffic has reduced accidents in the city... your take on this
M.N. Sreehari It is only a simulation model rather than practicality. The driver behaviour is very important for the accidents to occur. NIMHANS is leading on this aspect to study the driver behavioural approach before, during and after accident if the driver survives. Still, the outcome should follow. It is very complex in nature because not only the driver should know about himself, he has understand the behaviour of other road users.
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar As Traffic has slowdown, it has helped in reducing accidents but on elevated corridor or tolled highway, more people have lost their life due to poor road crossings facility or unscintific design of roads
Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar: Thanks to Hindu for carrying out road campaign for Bangalore and its citizens need to follow the rules and set good example for country
M.N. Sreehari Thank you all for the fruitful discussion. Hopefully, some fruitful solutions emerge out from today's discussion.
