[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by Mukund

On a lighter note, it is Christmas season and the decorative lights would be very appropriate.
I got to know about this chaos in the morning and stayed back home till this gets resolved(would try my luck at 11). If they'd decided this beforehand why not manage it better? It is anyways chaotic to get around the buses parked in the middle of the road at the silk board service road from hsr side, if that wasn't enough you go a little ahead only to find out that they have again parked it in the middle of the road at the Roopena Agrahara bus stop below the foot overbridge. On another note, I am of the opinion that the elevated expressway is too narrow(only two lanes exact, no extra space) to accommodate all kinds of vehicles. I would be happy if they don't allow heavy vehicles at all (or cars, or bikes, just make it easier for the rest of the folks).

On spotting heavy traffic from Silk board to the flyover ramp, I took the road below the flyover this morning. It took me about half-an-hour to reach E-City phase two.

On heavy vehicles using the flyover, once it is ready, these guys will let everyone go. It is a common sight to see tattered trucks, petrol tankers, etc on the flyover. I think initially it was only for cars, office buses, and government buses. But now, excluding three-wheelers, you can drive anything through those toll gates.

One can get onto the fastag lane without a pass or a two-way ticket and still buy a ticket (while entering the flyover from Hosur road side). Every evening it is a rat-race and jostling in the fastag lanes. Heavy mismanagement.

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by deadguy25

On spotting heavy traffic from Silk board to the flyover ramp, I took the road below the flyover this morning. It took me about half-an-hour to reach E-City phase two.

Clever! As i stated, i tried my luck at 11:30. Did everything in my power(checked google maps) to know beforehand and still landed up in traffic. They have blocked around 1KM of the flyover towards ecity and are diverting traffic into the other side. This will be a mess for both sides till this gets fixed. Avoid using this route unless necessary. I won't on my way back.

[Thilak29]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Well, it is better, that this was highlighted now than mid project. Just hope the tendering can be done in double quick time

Tenders will be invited only by mid '19.

Meantime I hope GOK looks into the following steps

1. Suburban train: Lucky for us, the railway line runs pretty much along the ORR. Stations like Bellandur, Carmela Ram and Heelalige can serve lakhs of techies that come here from every part of Bengaluru. With Metro reaching Byappanahalli, Yeswantpur and Majestic, there is tremendous opportunity to integrate metro and train to get to ORR from many parts of city. The state government must put all its might behind suburban train project and ensure short terms measures are taken such as increased services on existing tracks and last mile connectivity from stations to office parks. The SPV must be formed and full-fledged work must begin as budget has already been allocated by Central Government.

2. Make bus go faster: A large number of people are already taking the bus (BMTC or office bus) to their work place. We must give priority to the bus on ORR because each bus carries 1000 people in a given day and helps reduce emissions and congestion. This is possible to do on ORR as there are multiple lanes and it was originally designed for bus priority lanes. Once bus is made faster, more people would switch to the bus, taking their cars out of the roads and thereby reducing congestion and pollution. This is an experiment worth trying for 3 months with great support and coordination from BMTC, Traffic police, BBMP, IT parks.

3. Give the Rs 1000 crore earmarked for Elevated Corridor to Metro: The main reason tenders had to be cancelled is due to lack of funds as per media reports. I believe you must transfer the Rs 1000 crores that is set aside for Elevated Corridor to BMRCL so Metro work on ORR does not slow down. The elevated corridor is not in the best interest of the city and if we don’t agree on that, I’m sure you agree that Metro as a mass public transport is more important and urgent than elevated corridors.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Meantime I hope GOK looks into the following steps

All three are really good suggestions, perfectly in keeping with the philosophy of 'encourage public transport while also discouraging private vehicles'.

I especially like the bus suggestion as it can be implemented quite easily, compared to the other suggestions. As you rightly said, with good co-ordination between BMTC, the traffic police, ORRCA and the security staff of each tech park on the ORR, we can make a dedicated bus lane happen for the entire ORR and enforce it.

Sure, a lot of us will complain and find several flaws - where will I park to take the bus, the bus doesn't stop at my house, what about this, what about that. We can't wait to find every solution before unravelling the chaos that is ORR traffic. Let's focus on making the bus system efficient. For those who want door-to-desk connectivity, hey, keep using your car and stay in traffic, just let the rest of us make the switch to the bus!

[deadguy25]

Looks like the E-City flyover is in part maintenance mode. The joints are being repaired or something of that sort.
This morning's situation is going to continue upto end of Feb'19. Then they plan to start work on the other side of the flyover. Daily users are going to have fun combating this. Including me.

[wildsdi5530]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

I am not talking about talking on phone over Bluetooth handsfree. This is about watching movies over noise cancelling headphones while driving. How can this be compared?

How do you catch up on your favorite serials if stuck in traffic?
You can never teach these people, they believe they are multitasking and saving time. You also find people putting on makeup, shaving, eating breakfast, smoking/ drinking. Takes all kind of idiots.

About separate bus lane, BMTC already owns all the lanes on any given road. If given a separate bus lane will all the buses stick to it or will it just be an opportunity for further fines? Am sure everyone read about the proposal to increase the fines from Rs 100/- to Rs. 1000/- in todays papers.

[Acharya]

Well, many a times while crossing KR purum I have comfortably finished breakfast sitting in driver seat. Not sure if its right or wrong but when traffic is standstill for multiple minutes at a stretch & one knows the rhythm of start-stop, its quite similar to eating at your dining table ( I know I am exaggerating).
Call me an idiot but thats what Blore traffic has driven us to!

[deadguy25]

E-City flyover - update:

Approach to the flyover from silk-board is pretty crowded. Authorities have barricaded one lane at the start of the flyover ramp to stop buses and mini buses (like Swaraj Mazda, etc). Tempo travellers are allowed.

Near the midpoint, the lanes are completely closed; vehicles are diverted to the opposite lane.

If you want to use the flyover, based on this morning, i would suggest that you reach the flyover around 7:30~7:45 am.
I am not sure how the traffic would pile-up as the day progresses.

There are smart guys who come until the flyover ramp (from silkboard side) on the extreme left lane, cut across to the right lane and jump the queue to the flyover entrance.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by deadguy25

E-City flyover - update:

Approach to the flyover from silk-board is pretty crowded. Authorities have barricaded one lane at the start of the flyover ramp to stop buses and mini buses (like Swaraj Mazda, etc). Tempo travellers are allowed.

Is it better to avoid the flyover and take the main road instead? But it's got too many signals right? I will be passing this section this Saturday at around 12pm.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Is it better to avoid the flyover and take the main road instead? But it's got too many signals right? I will be passing this section this Saturday at around 12pm.

Not that much of a difference Naveen, at max you might add another 10 minutes. Many of my friends and I stopped using the elevated expressway years ago as the time saved in bypassing the signals was often lost in the long queues to pay the toll for the expressway!

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Is it better to avoid the flyover and take the main road instead? But it's got too many signals right? I will be passing this section this Saturday at around 12pm.

Saturday noon should not be a problem on the flyover. But then, we never know.
The main road, yes, there are too many signals, but if you are able to switch between the main road and the service road in one or two places, it should be easy.

Yes, as neil stated, there is not much of a difference.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Is it better to avoid the flyover and take the main road instead? But it's got too many signals right? I will be passing this section this Saturday at around 12pm.

Still take the elevated stretch.

Saturday the whole of Hosur road below has unusual traffic (typical weekend in Bangalore) where all who took company buses to office take their cars out to buy a matchbox and toothpaste from a nearby supermarket! I so hate Saturday noon.

Elevated road will ensure you end to end progress even if there is a blocked lane for a while.

[Aniket6]

Hi Guys, I wanted to share the wonderful experience I had today (not sarcastic) in trying out the new Banaswadi to Hosur Train (No. 06571).
It was scheduled to depart from Banaswadi at 9.50 but left ~10.05 AM.
Reached Byappanahalli by around 10.15 and I was at Belandur Road railway station (yes, there is a railway station on Panathur road near Bellandur) by 10.30 AM. By road this is a 1 to 1.5 hr affair and involves hell lot of stress and frustration and higher costs as well, the train ticket = Rs. 10.

From there, I took an Uber to my workplace at Embassy Tech Village (ETV) and I was at work by 10.50 AM and was least tired compared to commuting by bike or car.

Just cannot believe this was so calm and wonderful experience and I would encourage everybody to try this train which was started from this Week (17 Dec).
Furthermore, this train stops at Byapppanahalli railway station which is right beside the metro station and would help anybody who commutes this side.

Good Luck

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by deadguy25

There are smart guys who come until the flyover ramp (from silkboard side) on the extreme left lane, cut across to the right lane and jump the queue to the flyover entrance.

Till yesterday, the ones going towards Bommanahalli were smart, drive towards right lane and block the entry to the flyover was their mantra.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I will be passing this section this Saturday at around 12pm.

Please take the flyover, no heavy vehicles allowed, there is around 1Km stretch that is 1 lane but otherwise should be smooth if you have fasttag, else add another 5mins at the toll, but below the flyover will be unreliable. I got stuck behind 4KMs of trucks after the eCity phase 1 entrance once and never tried again.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

long queues to pay the toll for the expressway!

I generally travel from Bellandur and it takes me 45-50mins on an average, i take the flyover always and have fasttag for toll. Inside phase 1 they've come up with new signals everywhere, so there is some chaos now.

Originally Posted by deadguy25

The main road, yes, there are too many signals, but if you are able to switch between the main road and the service road in one or two places, it should be easy.

Can you list out where to take the service road? Till this flyover gets fixed, i'll need a reliable alternate route. I came on by bike today and it took me 1 hour, through HSR 27th main, kudlu road to hosur road. Harlur road is not an option due to the dirt track(all the digging for this!) that they call road.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Aniket6

Hi Guys, I wanted to share the wonderful experience I had today (not sarcastic) in trying out the new Banaswadi to Hosur Train (No. 06571).
It was scheduled to depart from Banaswadi at 9.50 but left ~10.05 AM.
Reached Byappanahalli by around 10.15 and I was at Belandur Road railway station (yes, there is a railway station on Panathur road near Bellandur) by 10.30 AM.

From there, I took an Uber to my workplace at Embassy Tech Village (ETV) and I was at work by 10.50 AM and was least tired compared to commuting by bike or car.

Just cannot believe this was so calm and wonderful experience and I would encourage everybody to try this train which was started from this Week (17 Dec).
Furthermore, this train stops at Byapppanahalli railway station which is right beside the metro station and would help anybody who commutes this side.

Good Luck

Great to hear that. These services were started couple of months before the election and then stopped in May citing Track Renewal work. Has resumed again from this week. The timings could have been better, but stiill pretty useful-Especially the morning 10am one from Byapanahalli and the evening 3.20 one from Hosur that reaches Carmelaram and Belandur around 4-4.15PM and takes you to Byappanahalli within 12-15 min. With the Metro tenders cancelled, the ORR Metro is probably at least 5-6 years away, focus on the surburban System will really help. Track doubling (already tendered), electrification, additional services, last mile connectivity, couple of more stations on the ORR stretch are all things that can be done at a fraction of the cost of the Metro and projects like the elevated steel flyovers.

Below is the list of all services in this route in case anyone wants to refer.