Will we ever hit the road to smooth traffic?

Will we ever hit the road to smooth traffic?
The Times of India

Scene: Shanghai. Eighteenlane roads, smooth traffic flow, no crisscrossing of roads, disciplined driving, no lane-jumping and traffic under control.
Scene: Bangalore. At best, 100-ft roads which accommodate two-way traffic. Hardly six lanes put together, bumper-to-bumper traffic, no lane discipline, all kinds of vehicles choke the roads and roads dug up almost everywhere.

Can Bangalore ever do a Shanghai in traffic management?
To bridge the gap between what people want and what the government provides, the first Times Round Table, an initiative of The Times of India, is being held on Saturday. The theme for this high-powered discussion is ‘Traffic, How To Decongest Bangalore’.

The Times of India received several emails, faxes and letters from citizens on this problem. Says Ashish Shrivastav of Banashankari 3rd Stage: “Bangalore’s woes seem to be never ending but the solution lies in on how we involve ourselves to resolve this mess. In a short-term perspective, we need to motivate traffic police to ensure enforcement of traffic rules which requires regular professional training from an international agency, provide for internal competition to increase their effectiveness and rewards based on smooth traffic flow. All activities should be oriented to involve the police in a positive way.’’

He also suggests that the government may task private companies to maintain some stretches of roads and give them, as sops, either advertising rights or tax concessions.

Simultaneously, the government should take measures such as banning entry of heavy vehicles into the city at least 5 km away, make traffic classes mandatory in schools, regularise licence issuance, and provide sufficient foot over bridges and underpasses.

Ajit Agarwal has other solutions: On the long-term front, place curbs on increasing number of vehicles, build multistoreyed parking, elevated right turns like the one at Hebbal, more flyovers and two-tier roads. On a medium-term basis, create more no-parking zones, have more one-ways, and condition roads.

On priority, the police should be more strict in traffic management, enforce lane discipline, prevent crossing of white or yellow lines and stop signal-jumping. Dr M S Suresh makes another observation, “Avoid allowing right turns.’’

Class VIII student Pradyumna Karpuram suggests: “Modernise the public transportation system and make it so efficient that more people use it instead of buying their own cars; change the way people work by introducing telecommuting and give companies better taxation rates to encourage this system; introduce online classrooms, introduce GPS-based traffic monitoring system; collect a fee from those driving vehicles in congested zones and invest this money in improving public transportation.’’

Senior citizen B Natarajan says, “Buses should not stop near turning points as traffic slows down.’’

Dibya writes from the US that a flyover there was installed in 48 hours. “We may not have that technology, but at least we must have our flyovers up and operational — quickly.’’

Uttama Seshagiri advises IT captains: “Employees of Electronic City find it difficult to commute to their workplace. Can’t you provide an MRT-like an overhead cable car from concept to completion? How we miss visionaries like JRD who turned an ordinary town into Jamshedpur? He did not complain about what was missing in the town — he provided for everyone there.’’

Shreyas Suresh Harve believes there’s only one solution: Metro Rail. Flyovers and oneways are just temporary solutions and the need of the hour is a Metro Rail offering connectivity, affordability, frequency and reliability.

TIMES ROUND TABLE TOMORROW


The first edition of Times Round Table, an initiative of The Times of India conceived with a view to bringing together officials of key departments for a discussion on burning issues that concern the city and its residents, will be held on Saturday.

The topic is: ‘Traffic, How to Decongest Bangalore’.

The discussion aims to bridge the gap between the aspirations of the people and the delivery mechanism of the government. In a way, it will reflect the needs of citizens and provide authorities a feedback on how their schemes and proposals are working and where improvements have to be carried out.

Panelists: Police commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh, additional commissioner of police (traffic) M N Reddy, KSRTC managing director M R Sreenivasa Murthy, BMTC managing director Upendra Tripathy, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation managing director K N Shrivastava, BCC additional commissioner (finance) and engineerin-chief P K Srihari, Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Public Affairs Committee director A Ravindra.
The Times of India resident editor H S Balram will moderate the programme. Also on the panel will be a team consisting of assistant resident editor Jayanth Kodkani, chief of Metro bureau K R Sreenivas, principal correspondent S Kushala, senior city correspondent Azmath and city correspondent Smitha Rao, who will fire questions to the authorities.

The outcome of the discussions and the solutions offered will be published in the newspaper on Sunday.