Commute

I was tickled to see these two jostling for space on the roads of Bangalore... An auto and an automobile. Life is full of highs and lows, all existing together!

  Drive it with flowers! Sometimes, the appearance seems to be more important than safety on our roads. I saw several autos, vans and cars bedecked with flowers in this way, on the eve of Bali Padyami. How the drivers of such vehicles can drive safely is beyond me. While such festive displays make for quaint, National-Geographic-type of photography, how is it that the traffic police look the other way when road safety is so blatantly compromised?    

  Drive it with flowers! Sometimes, the appearance seems to be more important than safety on our roads. I saw several autos, vans and cars bedecked with flowers in this way, on the eve of Bali Padyami. How the drivers of such vehicles can drive safely is beyond me. While such festive displays make for quaint, National-Geographic-type of photography, how is it that the traffic police look the other way when road safety is so blatantly compromised?    

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

ROADS AND TRANSPORT - 2013 - PROBLEMS • BBMP and BDA have been slow to develop Priority Corridors (BIG 10, Outer Ring Road). As a result, vehicles don’t choose to stay on arterial roads. • Road surface quality is extremely poor, and is made worse by inadequate planning for rains. • Speed of construction is ridiculously slow. BDA /BBMP /Metro all seem in slow mode. • Over-emphasis on vehicular movement. Pedestrians and cyclists suffer as a result. • Inadequate bus fleet, plus weak last mile connectivity. At least 1500 per year needed to be added. • TTMCs in wrong locations,…

ROADS AND TRANSPORT - 2013 - PROBLEMS • BBMP and BDA have been slow to develop Priority Corridors (BIG 10, Outer Ring Road). As a result, vehicles don’t choose to stay on arterial roads. • Road surface quality is extremely poor, and is made worse by inadequate planning for rains. • Speed of construction is ridiculously slow. BDA /BBMP /Metro all seem in slow mode. • Over-emphasis on vehicular movement. Pedestrians and cyclists suffer as a result. • Inadequate bus fleet, plus weak last mile connectivity. At least 1500 per year needed to be added. • TTMCs in wrong locations,…

In India, as in other emerging economies, the physical development of the city is influenced by the everyday practices of its people. The Urban spaces are continually transformed by social, cultural, religious, political, economic and other practices. Currently, these practices intermingle with each other and with the streets of the city in a random manner. The formal plan of the city finds it difficult to account for these everyday practices due to their changing nature and because they have not been sufficiently documented or analysed. To understand this phenomenon, a series of workshops with architecture students comprising of both conceptual…

In India, as in other emerging economies, the physical development of the city is influenced by the everyday practices of its people. The Urban spaces are continually transformed by social, cultural, religious, political, economic and other practices. Currently, these practices intermingle with each other and with the streets of the city in a random manner. The formal plan of the city finds it difficult to account for these everyday practices due to their changing nature and because they have not been sufficiently documented or analysed. To understand this phenomenon, a series of workshops with architecture students comprising of both conceptual…

Dear all,    After doing a series of pedestrian events called "Come, Cross the Road" to observe and highlight the issues faced by pedestrians on Bangalore roads, Hasiru Usiru is  now ready to release the final draft of the report with our findings and observations.   As part of this event, we would like to showcase photographs emphasising the different problems faced by pedestrians on a daily basis. The problems could be any of the below or ANYTHING you perceive to be a problem for pedestrians in the city.    Difficulty in crossing the roads Bad footpaths Dimly lit subways,…