Infrastructure

I went on a 3 hour trip with a few industry leaders as well as BBMP officials yesterday, looking at some of the 'trail' of waste in the city. The idea was to get buy-in from all the chambers of industry to start doing whatever they can within their own campuses and also understand the economics of the waste trail. Three places that we visited all have important learnings to offer.The biogas plant at IIM, Bangalore substitutes for 16 cylinders of LPG each day, out of the wet waste collected on campus itself. It cost about 10 lakhs to set…

I found these two Harley Davidson's at Cuppa cafe the other day....I've seen the Harley-Davidson communities in the US, looks as if we have an active community here, in Bangalore, too! ⊕

I found these two Harley Davidson's at Cuppa cafe the other day....I've seen the Harley-Davidson communities in the US, looks as if we have an active community here, in Bangalore, too! ⊕

"Please, please, mera change vaapas keejiye, please sir." She was in her thirties, nicely dressed in a blue churidhar with a gold-ish lining, spectacled, and worried.Furiously issuing tickets, the uniformed BMTC person she was pleading with was in the far upper corner of my favourite red monster 500 C. The bus had already stopped at  Marathahalli and departed. She panicked that she had not gotten her change back and had missed her stop.This conductor, middle-aged, spectacled, unusually chubby-cheeked, had not even heard a word of her plea. One of us fellow passengers called out to him. In the meantime he…

"Please, please, mera change vaapas keejiye, please sir." She was in her thirties, nicely dressed in a blue churidhar with a gold-ish lining, spectacled, and worried.Furiously issuing tickets, the uniformed BMTC person she was pleading with was in the far upper corner of my favourite red monster 500 C. The bus had already stopped at  Marathahalli and departed. She panicked that she had not gotten her change back and had missed her stop.This conductor, middle-aged, spectacled, unusually chubby-cheeked, had not even heard a word of her plea. One of us fellow passengers called out to him. In the meantime he…

Background- According to our estimates (made through actual door-to-door surveys) there is no more than 3200 tonnes of waste collected in the city each day. Of this, about 1000 tonnes at the most is wet waste, and the remainder is dry. A small portion (5-10%) is electronic and bio waste.- Current technologies permit most, if not all, of the wet waste to be converted into compost or energy. Composting can be done at different scales - in the home, in neighbourhoods, and in large zones.- A very large chunk of the dry waste can be recycled, even profitably. The recycling…

Background- According to our estimates (made through actual door-to-door surveys) there is no more than 3200 tonnes of waste collected in the city each day. Of this, about 1000 tonnes at the most is wet waste, and the remainder is dry. A small portion (5-10%) is electronic and bio waste.- Current technologies permit most, if not all, of the wet waste to be converted into compost or energy. Composting can be done at different scales - in the home, in neighbourhoods, and in large zones.- A very large chunk of the dry waste can be recycled, even profitably. The recycling…

"The provision of secure, well located cycle parking is essential if people are to be encouraged to use a bicycle as a means of transport. By indicating to the public that cyclists are welcome, cycle parking facilities act as a message to motorists to consider cycling in the future." - "Cycle parking" Information Sheet - Apr 2004, issued by Sustrans and Cyclists' Touring Club, UK  Cycle stand installed at Puttenahalli Lake (Pic: OP Ramaswamy) Cycle parking at public spaces has never been a priority in Bangalore, and for that matter anywhere in India. Most residential and commercial spaces are designed with no consideration for…

"The provision of secure, well located cycle parking is essential if people are to be encouraged to use a bicycle as a means of transport. By indicating to the public that cyclists are welcome, cycle parking facilities act as a message to motorists to consider cycling in the future." - "Cycle parking" Information Sheet - Apr 2004, issued by Sustrans and Cyclists' Touring Club, UK  Cycle stand installed at Puttenahalli Lake (Pic: OP Ramaswamy) Cycle parking at public spaces has never been a priority in Bangalore, and for that matter anywhere in India. Most residential and commercial spaces are designed with no consideration for…

In two years, I have gone from experimenting with public transport in Bengaluru to becoming a full user. I use the bus system almost 4 days a week, and carry the second most expensive bus-pass BMTC has to offer.Riding Bengaluru's bus system gives you a interesting vantage point into city affairs that I thought I would write about regularly starting with this post. First off, I developed a few nicknames of my own for the types of buses in Bengaluru. Even though BMTC has several types, I've simplified this here for making my point.Tin boxes: These are the normal BMTC…