Caught in a Residency Road gridlock

Jam-packed, chaotic, and in serious need of better traffic planning. That is Residency Road for you, caught deep in a twister of woes as hundreds of private school vans and cars invade the critical space with impunity. For thousands of Bengalureans, this is a daily ordeal, left unresolved for years. Why?

Cutting right through the city’s heart, Residency Road is in a perennial spot of bother. Here’s the recipe for absolute chaos: Seven private schools, in close proximity to one another, lets out thousands of students within a span of two hours, triggering gigantic traffic congestion.

In those two hours of maddening rush from 2.45 pm to 4.45 pm, commute is reduced to a crawl. The vehicular queue extends from the Shantinagar bus stand on Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road up to Mayo Hall and beyond. The entire Richmond Circle flyover comes to a virtual standstill. Chaos repeats in the morning as the schools reopen.

So does Lavelle Road that joins Residency Road under the flyover, so does the Cash Pharmacy Junction, where the flood of school-time vehicles join traffic from Richmond Circle side. It only gets worse at the Ashirvadam Circle where more vans and cars fanning out of the nearby schools converge.

Double, illegal parking

Multiple reality checks by DH showed just why the problem persists: Hundreds of private school vans, unattached to the institutions in question, line up on the road hours before the school bell. As if this is not chaotic enough, several parents or their drivers park close to the school gates. Double parking further reduces the available width for other vehicles.

For instance, outside the Bishop Cotton Boys School, the private vans occupy every inch of parking space and beyond. Private cars that pick up students await the school bell, as they occupy the road lane up to Bangalore Club and beyond. This is a sureshot trigger for chaos as hundreds of vehicles descend from the Richmond Circle Flyover only to get stranded here.

Caught in the jam almost daily, sales professional Najam Kapoor is at his wit’s end. “I always get stuck right on the flyover. It takes me over one and half to two hours to get to Residency Road from my home on Bannerghatta Road. This repeats both in the morning and afternoon. I am now resigned to the fact that this is how Bengaluru will be forever,” he laments.

He could see private cars, autos and vans parked haphazardly outside the schools, worsening the congestion. “On top of all these, people just cross the road leaving the skywalk unused. I guess those coming to the schools should use public transport, or car-pool as I sometimes do,” suggests Kapoor.

Hefty penalty

To stop the rampant practice of illegal parking, the city traffic police had proposed a penalty of Rs 1,000 in July this year. The then Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P Harishekaran had clearly instructed the vans to vacate the spot once the children were dropped, and return only at pick-up time.

Enquiries revealed that this direction had an effect only for a few weeks after which the vans returned in full force. Long time vendors near the parking slots, students and parents confirm this while wishing to remain unnamed.

But a parent, Shashikala, draws attention to an equally problematic issue: Double-parking. “Many parents come in their own cars or send their drivers to pick up the children. But they come here at least half an hour in advance, parking alongside the vans. This further adds to the congestion,” she points out.

No alternative slots

On their part, the private van operators contend that they are forced to park near the school as alternative slots are not given to them. “We stick to a line while parking. But many private cars don’t. In most cases, there is only one child per car. We take 30 children on an average,” explains Raju, a van operator who has a fleet of his own.

But why are these vans and private cars not allowed inside the school compound? At the Bishop Cotton’s Boys School, only vans attached to the institution are allowed in. Parents with two-wheelers are allowed too, but those in private cars will have to take a pass. Preferring anonymity, a parent says many prefer not to pay up for the pass and instead pick up the children from outside.

Pouring out of the school in hundreds, young, unattended children could be seen frantically looking out for either their van or car. In that mess, anything could go wrong, fears the parent who spoke to DH. This is a scene repeated outside all schools on the Residency Road stretch.

Although there was no official statement from the schools, a teacher attached to one of the institutions articulated the managements’ position: There is space within the campus only for vans operated by the schools. Two-wheelers and cars of parents are allowed, but only with a pass for safety reasons. The managements were, however, fully willing to cooperate with the traffic police in regulating the vehicular flow.

Past experiments

Many experiments have been tried out in the past by the traffic police to resolve this issue. But execution of such plans never went beyond a few weeks. For instance, in 2015, the city traffic police had clearly spelt out a plan well ahead of schools reopening on June 1.

The architect of that plan, the then Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem wanted all schools on Residency Road and St Mark’s Road to follow it. Vans and cars heading to the Bishop Cotton Boys’ School had to take the connecting road between Vittal Mallya Road and Lavelle Road, and those going to the Girls’ School had to go on St Mark’s Road, away from the crowded Residency Road.

For parents and van drivers heading to Baldwin Girls’ school, the route to take was O’Shaugnessy Road and no other. Saleem had posted policemen on the identified routes to ensure that no parent or driver violated the rules between 7.30 am and 3.30 pm. To show that they mean business, the traffic police had booked over 3,500 cases against van drivers who flouted the rules.

Continuing chaos

Four years later, the chaos remains as the vehicular population has skyrocketed. Struggling for a way out, the city traffic police are now desperately seeking a stringent parking policy within the Central Business District (CBD) with hefty penalty and parking fees.

But the policy has been in the works for years, with no sense of urgency from either the BBMP or the government. Either a policy or a complete switch from private cars and vans to public transport, that is the suggestion of top brass of traffic police. It is clear both are not going to happen in a hurry!