Infrastructure

The adage says, "there's safety in numbers". But our Bangalore citizens seem to apply this out of context. Here's a photo I snapped on Sunday.  I wonder how many more people can ride on that two-wheeler, all without helmets....

Outer Ring Road traffic on a usual weekday. Picture Courtesy: Mayur Channagere   The ORR stretch from Ibblur to Marathahalli is home to Ecospace, Embassy Tech Village, Prestige Tech park and Cessna Business Park. In addition we have a world class hospital, scores of commercial buildings, offices and approximately 50,000 residential units (and still growing). Several lakh square feet of space, both residential and commercial, is under construction. The Sarjapur road, adjoining ORR, houses Wipro corporate office - currently 10,000 employees. A new Techpark sprawling on 65 acres is coming up in Carmelaram, near Decathlon Sarjapur road. Many more residential…

Outer Ring Road traffic on a usual weekday. Picture Courtesy: Mayur Channagere   The ORR stretch from Ibblur to Marathahalli is home to Ecospace, Embassy Tech Village, Prestige Tech park and Cessna Business Park. In addition we have a world class hospital, scores of commercial buildings, offices and approximately 50,000 residential units (and still growing). Several lakh square feet of space, both residential and commercial, is under construction. The Sarjapur road, adjoining ORR, houses Wipro corporate office - currently 10,000 employees. A new Techpark sprawling on 65 acres is coming up in Carmelaram, near Decathlon Sarjapur road. Many more residential…

Reshmi Nagendra writes: Last evening when I was returning with 2 of my friends in my car, I had one of the worst encounters with a BMTC bus driver and the conductor of that bus(K A 0 1 F A 923, route number 213 L). The bus driver overtook us from the left side so recklessly and that left scratches in the front of the car, near the headlight. When I stopped and questioned him regarding the way he spoke , the driver straightway started addressing me in singular and used fowl language. Since I am also a localite I…

Reshmi Nagendra writes: Last evening when I was returning with 2 of my friends in my car, I had one of the worst encounters with a BMTC bus driver and the conductor of that bus(K A 0 1 F A 923, route number 213 L). The bus driver overtook us from the left side so recklessly and that left scratches in the front of the car, near the headlight. When I stopped and questioned him regarding the way he spoke , the driver straightway started addressing me in singular and used fowl language. Since I am also a localite I…

I saw this "repair" of a broken window on a Vajra (Volvo) bus.   Jugaad, or creative solutions, are all very well, but does BMTC really not have money to repair a bus properly, and have to resort to ugly solutions lik this?

I saw this "repair" of a broken window on a Vajra (Volvo) bus.   Jugaad, or creative solutions, are all very well, but does BMTC really not have money to repair a bus properly, and have to resort to ugly solutions lik this?

What a day! It was a treat to see people pouring out of streets and alleys to join the human chain, merge in seamlessly, bringing their own posters, chanting their own slogans, and through small acts of kindness, reinforcing each others' faith in the compassion that is at the core of all of us. One protestor brought biscuits and drinks for the rest of the gang. Another stepped off the bus unaware of the protest, but joined in spontaneously and started coordinating the walk towards Vydehi. Buses gave free rides to the protestors gathered at Marathahalli and Kundanahalli. Men, women…

What a day! It was a treat to see people pouring out of streets and alleys to join the human chain, merge in seamlessly, bringing their own posters, chanting their own slogans, and through small acts of kindness, reinforcing each others' faith in the compassion that is at the core of all of us. One protestor brought biscuits and drinks for the rest of the gang. Another stepped off the bus unaware of the protest, but joined in spontaneously and started coordinating the walk towards Vydehi. Buses gave free rides to the protestors gathered at Marathahalli and Kundanahalli. Men, women…

In spite of my writing to BMTC several times on this topic, I have never received a response, nor has anything been done.  It was a rainy evening, I came out of Goethe Institut, Indira Nagar, wanting to take a bus home. I knew my route number - 201. But, where was the bus stop? In the rain and the dark, I could hardly see the route numbers on the buses that passed (it didn't help that the route numbers were not illuminated in most buses.) There were several stops, but not one had any bus routes on them. I…