Traffic in Bangalore - Who's responsible?

I hail from a city of Mumbai and am living in Bangalore for almost 5 years and seen the “Garden City” becoming the “Traffic Jam City”.

I have tried to look at the things from 3rd person angle rather than my own and found what I have jotted down here.

Locked Bangalore

(Namma) Bangalore and traffic are synonymous to each other. Wherever and whenever you go and your end up in the middle of the traffic jam.

Morning 6 am and night 10pm are the same things. Rainy day or sunny day traffic never shows any kind of improvements. In last 5 years of my stay here the only times that I could drive bike or car peacefully was during Bangalore (or Karnataka) “BANDH”.

The condition has worsened in past couple of years. So what exactly is the problem and what are the solutions to these problems?

Let’s start with a problem statement. Its simple “The traffic in Bangalore is very pathetic”. So who do you (rather we) believe is the culprit?
No guesses for that. The most common answer to any such problems is “Government”. Government does not do this and does not do that and all such crap that we were, are and will hear. But we need some introspection too. Is government the only responsible entity for this? Can somebody else would also be responsible? If we are true to ourselves then most definitely you would find the answer as (as big and bold as this) NO.

I have so far in my stay of 5 years here or so have analyzed (of course, in my capacity of thinking that is bit limited). According to me there are quite a few factors affecting traffic (rather effecting traffic jams).
These are:
1. Government
2. Companies (employers)
3. We the People

Part 1: Government
As everybody else, I also strongly believe that Government is definitely the first reason for this situation. There are many facets to this entity.
Government:
a) Failed to anticipate the growth rate of Bangalore
b) Failed to keep up the pace with increasing traffic,
c) Failed to keep check on the health of public transport system, and
d) Most importantly maintain the traffic law and order in the city.

Government failed to anticipate the rate at which city started to grow (in any direction). Houses, buildings and even malls were granted permissions without much of the thought process. From a common man’s perspective the equation seemed very simple, “If Land is available, and buyer is ready, then sell the land”. This has helped people/realtors build houses/buildings with no space available for road development.

Government failed to keep check on the number of vehicles on the road and capacity and condition of the roads. The health of the roads in Bangalore is very poor; many roads are in their dying stage. The road repair works are not carried out religiously. (of course, people are equally responsible for this reason). No road dividers on many roads and very less number of roads have footpath. Traffic police seem to have forgotten to give training to these cops, especially about pedestrian crossing signals. There are hardly any pedestrian signals observed automatically and/or manually (by cops) in the entire Bangalore city. Pedestrians have to run between the ends of the road against racing vehicles. (Many drivers assume that pedestrian signals are wastage of time for them and are not meant for them).

Whichever is the government never looked at public transport system as a better option to ease the traffic. On this we might see the argument that we have “BMTC”. Yes, BMTC, currently the only public transport system in Bangalore, but what is the frequency of the buses on each route? What is the need of the area from which they ply? What is the health condition of these buses? How well the drivers are trained? (Looking at current pictures published in the Times of India (Unlock Bangalore), this is serious question that needs to be answered immediately). BMTC buses can definitely ease lot of problem by even sticking to their road lane and halting only at traffic signals and bust stops (I mean on the bus stop in the given area). Many of the BMTC drivers seem to be in a hurry and also in a driving race with other bus/vehicle drivers (this can become very nasty at times).

Another public-private transport system in Bangalore is “Auto rickshaw (Auto)”. (I say it as public-private as they run privately based on the “public” government setting the fare rules.)
These are the people who can help ease many if not all the problems. Auto, commonly used vehicle by people who are in some sort of hurry, or elderly people or people who cannot travel by other public transport system (BMTC buses). These guys are one of the greediest of the communities in Bangalore. Be it a daytime or evening or night these people will just sit, relax, read newspaper, taunt people or girls passing by, chit-chat and if they are in mood entertain passengers. Entertain does not mean they would allow you to ride the auto with “Meter on”, it just means that they would talk to you and ask you to pay 2 – 3 times that the actual meter charges. Recently, these auto drivers had gone on a day’s strike for demanding hike in the fare (reason being the increase in the petrol cost). But I must admit the day was better for other vehicles on the road.
But the hike in the fare was never implemented by them, as they still charge the way they want and not by the meter. Also, these meters usually run much faster than supersonic jets. These people deny going to most of the areas in Bangalore, making it difficult for people to commute and force them to pay hefty amount for that journey.
If its raining and you need auto you should be ready to pay 2-3 times more than the actual meter would show.
Officially, the night charges (one and half) should be charged if someone rides auto after 10PM. However, according to “Autowallahs” sunset is the official night and they would charge you anything up to 2 -3 times. If you stay in remote areas, you have to pay even more. Even after you pay them what they demanded (because you are needy), you have hear cribbing from them for staying so much inside. They always think that they are the only people who do not earn as much as others do and would never ever bother to return the rest of the amount. (if you give Rs 100/- and you agreed for 90/- or 95/- then be rest assured you would not get your rest of the amount back, here people should insist on getting their money back without bothering too much about their own reputation/status etc)
The needier you are more is the charge you have to pay. (This leads to higher number of vehicles on the road, as to avoid menace of these Autowallahs and BMTC buses, many people go for buying a two or four wheelers.)

One of the worst part of these Autowallahs is that they race the vehicle very fast (as if they are driving to win F1 race), but on the wrong side of the road. And they create one part of the traffic jams. (The second part is explained later).

Now about the traffic law and order in the city. The traffic police (most but not all) are just like any other pedestrian (spectator) till the traffic is jammed or some accident happens close to where they stand. They (Traffic Police) are abused openly by many cab/auto/BMTC drivers. These drivers also make sure that they do not follow any instruction from these traffic police. However, the same traffic police many times harass private vehicle owners for breaking signal and so on.


Part 2: Companies (employer)
Bangalore is said to be an IT/ITES hub. This has enabled many MNCs to turn to Bangalore for their operations. As part of the employee benefit many of these companies offer bus/cab services. Even though it is said to benefit a person as an employee but bothers same person as a citizen.
These cab drivers (again not all but many do) drive rash. Usually, there are numbers written on the back side of the vehicle stating “Traffic violation or rash driving please call 123456”. But how many people would be able to take down that number to actually call and complain. Even if someone does that, who ensures action against such drivers ( Personally I complained as an employee of the company about rash driving by some of drivers of the same company, but haven’t seen the action being taken against these cab drivers). These drivers drive very rash and go unpunished by police or even by their employers.
These people are usually in hurry, and don’t really bother from where they are driving (right side of the road divider or on footpath or the designated road). Their favorite hobby is “(unnecessary) Honking”. And another one is to stop the vehicle in the middle of the road (mostly for employees to get down).

Part 3: We the People
Most powerful are “we the people” who make or break governments. But do we make use of our rights in a right way? Do we differentiate between our duties and right?
We have the “right” to drive vehicle in this country (though it’s a privilege), but we fail to oblige to our “duty” of maintaining the discipline while driving.

We have few traffic rules
Drive on your left but (in case of) overtake others from right.
Footpaths are for pedestrians and not for any vehicles (including bicycle)
Don’t park under the “No Parking” board

Many of us follow the third rule very religiously for saving our vehicle from being towed and eventually pay the fine.
However, the first two rules seem to be just for the sake of setting the rule.

Most important aspect which is missing in Bangalore is patience. People in Bangalore are very less tolerant. If there is a traffic jam in front of them they try to create their way ahead by overtaking all the vehicles from the rightmost side. Since there are no road dividers on many roads, this creates jam on the opposite side of the road as well, and leads to a deadlock. This is true to all in Bangalore, be it a cab driver, taxi driver, BMTC driver or one of the car/bike owner.

There are three entities here:
People with car: These people usually think that they have the car and they can honk at anybody and everybody on the road to give them way, even if there is a traffic jam ahead of them. Driving rash (racing) on the road is their prime hobby and if someone who drives slow (40-60kmph) is a headache for them and they ensure that they keep honking at such people.
People with bike: These people think that this vehicle can pass from any smallest gap available between any two vehicles. Secondly, since they are wearing helmet and they are safe, they have permit to race the bike as if they are missing their “GOLD MEDAL”. Thirdly, since they can they must drive on the footpaths to reach ahead of autos and other vehicles. (Police sometimes ask bikers to drive onto the footpaths.) This is the most dangerous for pedestrians. Bikers think that the overtake rule is not at all meant for them and without any signal they overtake the vehicles in front of them. Bikers usually carry a perception that if they drive on the right side of the road (or road dividers) they won’t block the traffic. Let me tell you that this is just a perception, as the vehicles on the opposite side would drastically slow down their speed when they would see someone driving on from the opposite side of the road and affecting smooth moving traffic and making it slow moving traffic.
People who walk or ride bicycle: These people are no saint. They love to walk in the middle of the road (without bothering too much about honking vehicles behind them). Crossing the road when the pedestrian crossing signal is red (even though there are hardly any pedestrian signals in Bangalore).


This scenario depicted in the picture above is a very common scenario in Bangalore.



Unlock Bangalore

If we want the situation to improve we need to improve ourselves first and then blame others (government, fellow drivers etc). There is a lot that needs introspection. There are few things which can be done at level one:

From government perspective:
Road widening and repair projects should be carried out on very urgent basis.
Health of the public transport system should be checked periodically. The BMTC drivers should also be pulled up for traffic violations and punished severely on the monetary basis.
Keep check on the fares charged by public-private vehicles like auto rickshaw.
Implement stricter traffic rules and laws for all (cab, auto, BMTC, and even private vehicles)
Ensure that all the roads are well illuminated in the nights/late evenings.
Synchronize the traffic signals to reduce the travel times.
Create separate bays for emergency parking of the vehicles.
Initiate projects that would link the driver’s performance to the insurance premium paid by the driver. (This may also need vigilance from different level of authorities.)
Make sure that cops at the traffic junctions are equipped with necessary tools to handle the situation. They should be given more authority (which comes with huge responsibility) to handle traffic miscreants, and traffic trouble makers (auto rickshaw/cab drivers.)
Ensure that the road dividers are huge and long enough to prevent any vehicles to cross and drive on the wrong side of the road.
Make driving on the wrong side and driving on footpath a punishable crime under law. (Law needs to be stricter in this regards. In many countries, driving on footpath is crime equivalent to “attempt of murder”)
Ensure that there are only few points on the stretch of a road to allow U-Turn, and other turns as well.
Ensure separate traffic lane for emergency vehicles (ambulance, fire brigade etc)

From companies’ (employer’s) perspective:
Maintain the health of the cabs that ply around the city.
Take appropriate actions on the drivers against whom the complaints have been received.
Train the cab drivers in terms of traffic discipline.
Take regular feedbacks from the employees travelling in cabs to understand the behavior of the cab drivers on the road (and may be otherwise as well).
Encourage car pooling by offering best of the parking slots for the employees driving a pooled car. (This would mean that people coming to office together would leave for home together as well.)
Create awareness/Educate/encourage employees about the traffic norms.

From people’s perspective:
Learn to be patient; you won’t be stuck in a jam forever.
Honk less.
Don’t jump the traffic signals, they are for your/other’s safety and convenience only.
Respect other’s time and don’t drive on the wrong side of the road.
Try and drive within your driving lane to avoid accidents and traffic slowdowns.
Respect pedestrians’ lane (footpath) and signals.
In the night/late evenings don’t drive with dipper lights (which are used for seeing the long distance)

Here we need to understand that together we will be able to do it. Not alone the government or we the people will be able to do it. It has to be a collective effort to solve this problem.