Bangalore's traffic messSolutions

The problem

54365865449674% increase

201020072005200019951990198

51980Year

Road space needs to double every 5 years.Not logical.

Traffic population will rise 90 % between 2005 and 2010.

The current strategyWiden roads to keep pace with increasing traffic

The result

32 Lakh vehicles. 1300 vehicles added daily. Highest road deaths in India : 3 per day Pollution : 3-5 times safe levels. Bangalore – garden city becoming desert city More money spent on roads than on water, power, education, medicare. Temperature rise of 5 degrees in 10 years. Destruction of homes and businesses for road widening.

Bangalore 2015 ?

Road widening to keep pace with vehicle population has never worked anywhere worldwide.

Traffic simply imcreases to occupy the increased road space. Congestion remains, commute time, pollution and accidents increase.

This is a picture of congestion in 20-lane road in Los Angeles, USA.LA smog in background.

Pic. courtesy Transfuture.net

Our present strategy - dog chasing its own tail

Road space will never catch up with vehicle population.

Solutions

Solution 1Reduce traffic population

Replace private transport with public transport.

This is THE BIGGEST solution, and the only one that will work in the long term.

The mode of public transport that is cheapest, and can be implemented in the shortest time, is the bus.

There are 150 vehicles on this flyover.

These are carrying 150 people during rush hour.

During rush hour (when people are commuting to or from work), Each bike carries 1 person Each car carries 1 person Each bus carries 75 people

The logic

There are 75 vehicles between each pair of red lines, carrying 75 people (because there is only 1 person in each car or bike)

If we get each group of 75 people out of their private vehicles and into buses,

This is what happens.

Road space used by a person in a bus is: 3 % of that in a car 5 % of that on a 2-wheeler

Congestion Congestion ?

38 Lakh people in 5000 buses occupy this much road space (0.5 %)

The logic already works in BangaloreBeautifully

BMTC has 5000 buses, carries 38 Lakh people every day.0.2 % of vehicle population carries 50 % of the human population.

Proportionately

32 Lakh people in private vehicles occupy this much road space

Cost of

Improved bus system with 7000 more buses : Rs. 2000 Cr. Expenditure on mix of various classes of buses + improved shelters, signage, etc. - Ordinary bus costs Rs. 12 Lakh, Suvarna (air suspension, no AC) : Rs. 16 Lakh - Marco Polo : Rs. 55 LakhCan be done in 1-2 years.

Road widening for planned 400 km. : Rs. 4000 Cr.

Metro 33 km. to carry 5 % of Bangalore's population : Rs. 7000 Cr.

Metro 350 km. for whole of Bangalore : Rs. 100,000 Cr.Assumes underground, at Rs. 300 Cr. Per km.Will take 50-60 years to build.London has 400 km. with 270 stations. Its size and population are same as Bangalore's.

The economics

This is no great new discovery

Indore, IndiaPune, IndiaAhmedabad, IndiaDelhi, India

Bradford, UKLeeds, UK

Adelaide, AustraliaBrisbane, AustraliaOttawa, CanadaVancouver, Canada

Traffic congestion in hundreds of cities worldwide has been solved by bus-based public transport systems.

Hundreds more are in the process of implementing bus-based systems.

Congestion is mainly caused by interesctions. In this picture, note the congestion at the intersection and the sparse traffic at the back.

Solution 2Improve traffic speed

Pic. CourtesyMapunity Bangalore Traffic Information System

Coordinated signalsCan increase traffic speed by 10 - 25 % on arterial roads.

Underpasses Eliminate traffic intersections and signals and can increase traffic speed by 25 -50 %.

No parking on roadsParking occupies 25 % of the space on most roads. Basement parking in buildings (required by law) is misused for commercial purposes, due to lax law enforcement.

Road surface qualityMakes a big difference to traffic speed.A vehicles's speed drops to 5 kmph. when approaching a pothole or a rough surface.

First use existing road space to maximum efficiency.

Then think of increasing road space.

We are however doing the reverse. Our road space usage efficiency is abysmal.

In sum

Reduce No. of vehicles by 75 % Commute time by 30 % Pollution by 80 % Govt. expenditure on roads by 90 %

Increase expenditure onWater supplyMedicare Education ElectricityRest of Karnataka

Without destroying BangaloreThese solutions can achieve this

Which lifestyle do you want? The choice is yours

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