Bad roads are city’s bugbear

Bad roads are city’s bugbear
Bangaloreans Proud Of IT,Worried At High Cost Of Living
The Times of INdia

Bangalore: Better infrastructure, combined with more security, will make Bangalore a global city of class. That’s what a majority of Bangaloreans believe, according to an opinion poll conducted by TNS Consultants for TOI.

The poll finds that 27% of those surveyed think better infrastructure is the key to taking Bangalore to that level, but the clear majority — 52% — think it has to be a combination of infrastructure and security.

The concern about infrastructure comes across also in Bangaloreans’ views about roads. As many as 48% feel the city does not have good roads, while 34% feel they are good (the remaining were non-committal). An even higher 60% disagreed (with 40% strongly disagreeing) with the statement that the city ‘has smooth traffic’.

Bangaloreans are also worried about the city’s high cost of living. Some 70% of those surveyed disagreed with the statement that the city’s ‘cost of living is affordable’. On security, they are evenly divided: 39% feel the city is quite safe and secure; 38% feel it is not.

If there is one area where the city comes out positively in people’s minds, it’s the environment. About 40% of those surveyed feel Bangalore has a clean and green environment, while 35% feel this is not so.

Yet when it came to ranking the most important improvements to be done to the city, the highest proportion (29%) ranked ‘clean and green environment’ as their No. 1 priority. Better roads was the No. 1 priority for 22% of those surveyed.

Asked what they liked most about the city, 43% said it is the city’s status as India’s software capital; 41% said it is the weather. For the remaining, it is the peace and warmth of Bangaloreans.

The poll also elicited opinions about the city vis-a-vis other metros. In areas like water availability, quality of educational institutes and job opportunities, the majority (between 40% and 57%) felt Bangalore is “much better” than Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. But in the areas of public transport and roads, the proportion of respondents saying “much better” dips to the 21-30% range. Bad roads are, clearly, Bangalore’s weakest point.

The survey was conducted among 206 people in the age group 18-45, with men and women in roughly equal numbers.