Bangalore's traffic mess

1

Bangalore's traffic mess Solutions
2
The problem
3
The current strategy Widen roads to keep pace
with increasing traffic
Traffic population will rise 90 between 2005
and 2010.
Road space needs to double every 5 years. Not
logical.
4
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.

5
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
6
Our present strategy - dog chasing its own tail
Road space will never catch up
with vehicle population.
7
Solutions
8
Solution 1 Reduce 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.
9
The logic
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
There are 150 vehicles on this flyover. These
are carrying 150 people during rush hour.
10
There are 75 vehicles between each pair of red
lines, carrying 75 people (because there is only
1 person in each car or bike)?
11
If we get each group of 75 people out of their
private vehicles and into buses, This is what
happens.
12
Congestion ?
Congestion
Road space used by a person in a bus is 3
of that in a car 5 of that on a
2-wheeler
13
The logic already works in Bangalore Beautifully
Proportionately 32 Lakh people in private
vehicles occupy this much road space
38 Lakh people in 5000 buses occupy this much
road space (0.5 )?
BMTC has 5000 buses, carries 38 Lakh people every
day. 0.2 of vehicle population carries 50 of
the human population.
14
The economics
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 Lakh Can 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.
15
This is no great new discovery
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.
Indore, India Pune, India Ahmedabad, India Delhi,
India Bradford, UK Leeds, UK Adelaide,
Australia Brisbane, Australia Ottawa,
Canada Vancouver, Canada
16
Solution 2 Improve traffic speed
Congestion is mainly caused by interesctions. In
this picture, note the congestion at the
intersection and the sparse traffic at the back.
Coordinated signals Can 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 roads Parking 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 quality Makes a big
difference to traffic speed. A vehicles's speed
drops to 5 kmph. when approaching a pothole or a
rough surface.
Pic. Courtesy Mapunity Bangalore Traffic
Information System
17
In sum
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.
18
Without destroying Bangalore These solutions can
achieve this
Reduce No. of vehicles by 75
Commute time by 30 Pollution by
80 Govt. expenditure on roads by 90
Increase expenditure on Water supply Medicare
Education Electricity Rest of Karnataka
19
Which lifestyle do you want? The choice is yours
1
2