What ails Bangalore is the terrible infrastructure, snail paced traffic and in the recent past, the unending traffic jams, thanks to the political jamboree in the State. It has become more of an exception than a rule to reach one’s destination within a reasonable given time.

Last week, rallies by political parties and the BJP dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue, brought the traffic to a halt on many roads in the area. The ripple effect was so huge that vehicular movement was paralysed even in far-off areas. What affects Bangalore traffic and what are the solutions to set it right? Deccan  Herald spoke to people and experts on the situation, and what can be done to improve it.

Traffic has become a major problem in the City. A downpour or two adds to the chaos because of the bad condition of roads and potholes. Additional Commissioner, Traffic, KC Ramamurthy says, “We can stretch only that much. The City roads are gasping under the vehicular movement, which is four times more than the expected movement.”

He speaks about the reasons, limitations and possibilities of improving the traffic situation in Bangalore. Excerpts of an interview with Mr Ramamurthy.

Q: The problem..

A: The load on the City roads is four times more than what they can take. For instance, a road which can take maximum 100 vehicles at a time is taking around 400 vehicles. Bangalore can cater to 10 lakh vehicles per day, but we have 35 lakh vehicles plying on the roads. Then there’s an additional burden of 1,000 new vehicles per day; every month 30,000 vehicles get registered. Apart from these, there are vehicles coming from outside.

Where’s the infrastructure to cater to these many vehicles? Besides this, roads are used for parking. New commercial complexes, residential areas, software parks are coming up with hardly any planning to manage the increased traffic. The way BMTC bus stops are located adds to the confusion. Further, ongoing infrastructure projects have further eaten into the road space. The traffic police are not involved in town planning.

Suggestions for improving the traffic situation?

We need to increase the road length; create more flyovers, underpasses and grade separators etc. Along with it, we should reduce the number of vehicles, on a war footing. There should be provision for parking inside complexes, residential and commercial. Around 15 per cent of our road space is taken away by parked vehicles.

The BBMP should complete infrastructure projects on time. We have also requested the BBMP and BMTC to build some more bus bays. We plan to have bus bays at 128 places in the City. For the first time, the BBMP and traffic police are having regular meetings to discuss common areas of concern; on improvement of junctions, road condition, water logged areas, potholes etc.

The outcome?

We hope there’s better co-ordination among all the stakeholders. There should be more and stringent conditions on converting residential areas into commercial; apartment complexes should have sufficient parking for their occupants. Roads are dug up and there are hardly any footpaths. We are requesting the BDA and BBMP to complete their projects on time. We have listed out the roads to the BBMP, where there is traffic congestion because of water logging; they are working on them.

Suggestions for ambulances stuck in traffic snarls?

The ambulances, before taking off to a hospital should contact the traffic control room at 22943030 (West) and 22250999 (East).

This will help the traffic constable give them clearance two junctions ahead. Though they try and give preference to ambulances, their hands are also tied because of congestion on the roads.

AMBULANCES: VICTIMS OF TRAFFIC JAMS

One of the victims of traffic congestion is the ambulance. With very little to no place to manoeuvre the vehicle, the traffic cop remains as helpless as the ambulance ferrying a patient in a state of emergency. |

“There’s no traffic discipline and people are indifferent to ambulances. Cars ahead just refuse to move. What can the traffic cop do? It’s social responsibility to make way for the ambulance,” said Dr Rajiv Shetty, medical superintendent, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital.

“A tragedy is waiting to take place. We are lucky that till now there has been no catastrophe because of ambulances stuck in traffic jams. There’s poor civic sense and no methodology for smooth and uninterrupted movement of ambulances on the roads. There are separate lanes for autorickshaws. We should have something like that for emergency services,” says Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals group. 

Dr Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya, says,”No policies will work if the people are indifferent to ambulances. The sad part is that ambulances are sometimes used for general purposes. Their misuse should stop and there should be regulations to make their movement free.”

“In 2004, we had made roads surrounding the hospitals one-way so that people can reach there fast. Ambulances should take patients to the nearest hospital rather than ferrying them to far off hospitals, during peak traffic hours,” says MA Saleem, director, Security & Vigilance, KSRTC.