Are there any solutions to the terrible Bengaluru traffic?

I saw this question on Quora sometime back.
Will Bangalore’s traffic problem ever be resolved?

Plenty of good minds analyzed the issues and provided some answers. Since I am born and brought up in this city, and have been driving here since late 1980s, I thought I can pitch in to some extent.

So reproducing my answer here.

Firstly, you should know the scale of Bengaluru traffic growth:

The number of vehicles in Mumbai is around 27,00,000.

The number of vehicles added by Bengaluru in just 8 years till 2016 is 29,00,000+.

That should tell a lot of things about why Bengaluru’s traffic problems are humongous.

Today, Bengaluru has close to 68,00,000 vehicles, which is the second highest in India after Dilli metro area. But here is a big difference. Dilli (NCR) has a huge metro train network (213 KM, 160 stations) almost completely sponsored by the central government (pool of all states’ money). It also has a much bigger and wider road network built using central money over the decades. There are still massive jams in Dilli, but that is another discussion.

Coming to Bengaluru? Why are Bengaluru’s roads so heavily jammed all the time?

1) The primary reason is that India has this awful 4 metro city policy for decades. That means, only Dilli, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai were metro cities and they qualified for various metro city related infrastructure and other benefits. The other cities which grew up at equally or much faster rate, like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Amdavad etc. did not qualify for the metro city tag, and hence central assistance. That to some extent seriously hampered the infrastructure in these second list cities. If the central governments had provided even a basic suburban train system covering the key areas of Bengaluru by 1990 or even 2000, things would have been a lot different today. You have nothing to travel from Banashankari to Yalahanka directly. You have nothing to travel from Indiranagar to Vijayanagar directly (other than newly opened Metro). You have to go on the road, or depend upon the new Metro which is progressing at 5 to 10 KM pace per year, making it utterly useless to reduce traffic.

2) The second reason is geography. Unlike Mumbai, Chennai or other coastal cities, Bengaluru (and Hyderabad etc.) can grow 360 degrees. There is no river or sea or mountain stopping the city from growing in all directions. So as of 2011 figures (Business Standard), Bengaluru urban district grew at an unimaginable level of 46.68% between 2001 and 2011. That’s because the city can grow 360′ and it literally grew on all sides. With more people coming in from all corners of India, there is no way infrastructure can keep up. No city in the world can handle a 46.68% decadal population growth with timely infrastructure. With the heavy corruption in Bengaluru’s civic authorities, it makes it even more susceptible for lagging behind. The numbers below are not exactly metro area population, but urban district as defined by the authorities.

3) The third reason: It is the massive IT industry which is exporting well over Rs.2,25,000,00,00,000 each year, is located mostly in the east to south east corridor. And that is the area least well connected by any train system. None of the current Metro tracks even go near the Electronic city (south East) to ITPL (East) corridor. This primary IT corridor is well over 25 KM in length (Electronic city, Bommanahalli, Silk Board, Sarjapur Road, Marathahalli, Kundalahalli, ITPL, Whitefield). With more than 75% of the city’s population staying in south, west, center and north, a huge traffic jam gets created in any road that leads to IT corridor. Be it Silk board, or KR Puram bridge, or HAL road.. you take a road and you will see massive jams. It’s just volume. With India’s second highest number of vehicles on the roads, and with just 18,000 KM of roads for 1 crore population and over 4000 sq KM area, you have a perfect recipe for jams. Even though Bengaluru has the best Volvo AC bus system in India (Dilli coming close enough), the narrow roads won’t let any bus cover the distance in reasonable time.

4) The fourth reason is that Bengaluru is the only city other than Dilli, which has both North South Corridor and Golden Quadrilateral highway systems passing through the city. Since Mumbai and Chennai road is one of the heaviest traffic in India today, it was passing straight through the city causing immeasurable jams. Now NICE road is to some extent relieving that via bypass. But the Hyderabad to Kanyakumari north south traffic has no way but to go through the city, causing heavy jams even in night times. Same thing with Mysuru to Tirupati west to east traffic. No place to go other than city. So lakhs of interstate transport and tour vehicles get caught up in the jams, when ideally they should have been bypassing the city at 30 KM outside the city.

So those are the four biggest reasons for traffic jams.

Now what to do between now and 2025?

Action 1: Central governments neglected the infrastructure needs of Bengaluru forever. Now it is too late, but at least they can do some national highway periphery roads, rapid trains, elevated trains or at least 25% of the money they give to Dilli Metro, to Namma Metro. Remember, Dilli metro got Rs.5579 crore in 2016 budget, probably more than all other cities’ metro projects in India. Central government should start treating other cities also a bit better now, and give a few 1000 crores to Bengaluru metro (and Hyd, Pune, Jaipur etc.) each year to help with infrastructure. Nothing in the world can replace trains in terms of mass transportation. Bengaluru Metro, elevated trains and suburban trains should be the focus crisscrossing the city, creating at least 200 stations by 2025. That’s the BEST solution, else we are doomed. You can’t just create enough roads or fly overs. They won’t solve the traffic issue. You will see more than 1 crore vehicles in Bengaluru by 2025. Since the central government gets 10s of 1000s of crores in tax revenue from Bengaluru each year, it should give back a big portion to create world class train infrastructure of at least 500 KM. Right now Metro is just around 40KM and won’t help in any traffic reduction. The state just does not have enough revenue to invest 10s of 1000s of crores in building new train infrastructure. The center should also invest in giving bypass on the eastern side for North South National Highway that has no where to go today other than the city. A 6 or 8 lane peripheral national highway on the eastern side of the city, bypassing the current road systems will take away a lot of big vehicle pressure from roads. In short, the city needs massive amount of trains, and a full 360 degree bypass roads for interstate traffic. Right now it has only about 120 degree real bypass (NICE, that too super expensive toll) available.

Action 2: The state should work on satellite cities or small clusters using SMART or AMRUT city projects around Bengaluru. This is particularly needed in the Hosakote to Sarjapur regions. Unless you make people travel to IT corridor from east, rather than west, things won’t improve.

Action 3: The state government should work on moving industries to the North West, South West or North. Western Bengaluru is heavily populated (Basaweshwara Nagar, Rajaji Nagar, VijayaNagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Peenya), but the jobs are mostly in the south east and far east. So by bringing in industries to the west (Magadi road), north west (Tumkur road) or south west (Mysuru road), a lot of traffic problems can be solved. It takes 2 hours to travel from Basaveshwara Nagar to Whitefield today. If the industry was near Peenya, it would be 30 minutes! Another area to focus heavily is the northern side near the Devanahalli area. If more people move north (water is a big issue there), things might get a bit easy for south east.

Unless a serious coordinated effort is done in these 3 areas, we are going nowhere other than making jokes about Silk Board and KR Puram bridge jams..

The latest was from near Silk Board..

Driver to a neighbour: “Sir, why are you walking home? Shall I give you a drop?”.

Walker: “I would have loved to come with you, but I am in a hurry to reach home before my children come at 7 PM. So I am walking” :)

Dear Karnataka BJP Campaigner, Read This First...

It's exactly 1 month from now, for the voting morning in Karnataka.

So many of you are supporting BJP and many of you are thinking it is a gone case for BJP in 2013. This letter is for those who support BJP, but are low on morale on how to tackle so much negative publicity about BJP's internal bickering since 2008. Even if you have written off BJP from 2013 polls, read this, so that you have an idea of what really was the case when it comes to positive development in Karnataka. This letter is not a manifesto or 200 page PDF, but just gives you enough information to research further. But more importantly, will help you realize that BJP government in Karnataka between 2008 and 2013, was not at all bad.. in fact, it was one of the best development period the state has seen in a long time!

If you are a person interested in campaigning or commenting about political events at the state, use these twelve strategies. I am giving them out openly, so that you rivals can also read and slow down a bit on negative publicity :)

Strategy 1: Talk about Public Transport a lot: 

BMTC Main Bus Stand - Bengaluru {Pic: Skyscrapercity}

Easily Karnataka has one of the best, if not THE best bus service today. Amazingly useful & successful tries in public transport. International UITP-ITF award for the best innovation in public transport. The list of awards runs into pages! 10,229 new buses added to fleet, 93 new bus stations with all amenities were constructed. Dozens of crispy clean TTMCs are in place. The number of underpasses and fly overs built for traffic congestion removal are phenomenal. Alternative fuel usage in more than 2000 buses won the Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation award. Mention Bus day's great success which other cities have started copying now. Talk extensively about environmental projects in commercial establishment to reach out to the middle class Eco conscious voter.

Catch: KSRTC and BMTC were always "good" some will say. Show them the balance sheets and how they turned profitable big time during BJP rule.



Strategy 2: Connect with the Computer Literate:

e and m governance successes in Karnataka. {Pic: Medianama}

Talk lots of numbers about the awards and rewards for the e-governance projects. The national e-governance award for introducing Panchatantra software is a starting point. In the knowledge capital of India, Bengaluru, you need to connect with people who understand software. So e and m governance details, that too the unique aspects in India, must he highlighted.

BJP has given great governance, because the citizen guarantee time scheme, "Sakala" has processed more than 1,50,00,000 applications ON time! India's BEST government response guaranteed scheme! Every speech in every district must cover this.

Catch: "What's new here? Many states have it" they might say. Question them to show a Sakala equivalent in any state today, at that level of success.

 Strategy 3: Highlight the Rural Project Successes:

Talk about rural projects, in simple language that people understand in. For instance, campaign in the key North Karnataka districts should focus on the local awards & rewards: Dharwad, Belagavi & Gulbarga districts received the national awards for successful implementation of NREGA Program. Give credit to the center, but also show that implementation matters.

No government in India, in ANY state, had the courage to bring out a separate Agricultural Budget for the farmers since 1950. This commitment of BJP for the farmers' welfare made sure that 'Jai Kisan' was not just a mere slogan. 10s of 1000s of crores of real money in useful projects like organic farming.

Catch: Some old events like Farmer shooting, or floods, or droughts will be brought up. Just compare farmer issues of neighbours, particularly Maharashtra after that state's massive irrigation scam induced drought. 

Strategy 4: Metro, Metro and Metro:

Namma Metro with Vidhana Soudha in background. {Pic: IOSMW}

Highlight the Metro project as a separate topic. Bengaluru's Namma Metro is a success story very different from any urban train project in India. Unlike the Kolkata and Dilli projects, this was very much a state government effort, with less than half of support from the center. Compare Bengaluru with Mumbai & Hyderabad. The Metro train project planned at almost at the same time for all the three cities, but the latter two cities are still "building". That's purely because of Congress' misrule in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Bengaluru is almost ready with the next phases being inaugurated, while the other two cities are no-where closer to the first phase! Here highlight that work speed during BJP governance.

Catch: This had UPA's money. This was SM Krishna's time start etc. etc. But ask them, why Mumbai and Hyderabad failed so badly? Ask them what was Metro's percentage completion in 2008 when BJP came to power in Karnataka?


Strategy 5: Expose Congress and Others:

SR Hiremath exposing Mining Loot by  Congress. {Pic: Bharat NC}

Do not succumb to paid media's targeting of BJP. Talk about the details presented in the Supreme Court and other places, by the famous anti-corruption crusader SR Hiremath. Unlike the biased Santosh Hegde, Hiremath has clearly exposed that SM Krishna of Congress was the grand daddy of illegal mining. He has then declared a battle against the senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar's illegal mining exports. Also, bring in JDS' mining black phase involving HD Kumaraswamy. While Congress and paid media jumped on 'Yeddy-Reddy', they never told the people that Janardhana Reddy confessed to CBI of financing the late Congress CM of Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Ask openly, what was Congress' relation with Reddy brothers in Andhra Pradesh? What was Brahmani industry all about? Why did YSR share stage with Reddy brothers offering them all assistance in AP? What relations Ballary's brothers have with now jailed Andhra CM's son Jagan Reddy?

Catch: Reddy brothers topic is always the hot topic for Congress. Show them some explosive details from my earlier blog in 2011 -> http://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2011/09/reddy-brothers-and-andhra-pradesh.html



Strategy 6: Don't shy away from talking about Ballary, but show the current clean image of BJP:

Also, for those living in Yeddy-Reddy era. Both Yeddyurappa and Reddy are both non entities in BJP now. Also the so-called 'tainted' Ballary was Sonia Gandhi's first MP seat not so long ago. If Ballary had mine-mafia money, then ask who sponsored her election win there? Were there no mine barons campaigning for Congress?

Catch: Openly admit that BJP made some mistakes. Now look forward to 2013 and show them the current leadership starting with Shettar, Joshi, S Gowda etc. Compare with 3 CM period of Congress in early 1990s.

Strategy 7: It's the Economy, Stupid!

Two massive GIMs during BJP govt. {Pic: Skyscrapercity}

Budget: In 2007-08, the budget receipts in Karnataka were Rs.40762 crores. By 2013-14 the receipts grew to Rs.1,15,983 crores plus Rs.22,310 separate agriculture budget. That's a stellar 239% growth under BJP! When economy grows, everything else is taken care of. Why not highlight this systematically? The development expenditure increased in Karnataka from Rs. 27,009 crores in 2008-09 to Rs 77,383 crores in 2013-14. A whopping 186% increase. What else is more important for the state than development and substantial increase in the economy? Political bickering, however irritating it might be, should take a second seat in highlighting, when economy has such great news to talk about.

Catch: Implementation rate of GIM will be brought up. Show them nominal success rates of other states and the effect of mining ban on certain projects.

Strategy 8: Hit back on Congress' weak points:

Kureel's cartoon summing up "Porn" hypocrisy. {Pic: Indologygoa.WP}

About Congress' attack on BJP for 'porn' in the assembly, which finally got closed as a non-issue. How come BJP does not raise Abhishek Manu Singhvi's nationally talked about 'pants down in court premises' scandal? Why leave out ND 'DNA' Tiwari's Raj Bhavan episodes? Why not tell the voters about what kind of illustrative 'CD' sagas Rajasthan's Maderna has displayed? After all Singhvi & co are still the role models for that party :)


The same way, the so called secular Congress is planning to build a university for Muslims, with public tax money (unconstitutional most likely), that too under a mass murdering fanatic Tipu Sultan's name. Attack that totally communal votebank policy of Congress. And this party calls BJP "communal"? Expose them.

Why middle class is so confused about BJP? Because of the negative publicity. And who were the key players in that negative publicity? A self-proclaimed "Congressman" governor Bharadwaj who was infamous for protecting Bofors thieves, 'Bofors' Quatrocchi's son who lived in Bengaluru, SM Krishna's SIL who allegedly sponsored some rebel resort politics of BJP, the seriously biased Santosh Hegde whose junk mining report got flushed at Karnataka High Court and of course the media which only had an agenda against Yeddyurappa when he was the CM, but not against other ex-CMs. For instance, Congress and the so called 'Paid' media never told you that Jindal group that alleged bribed the ex-BJP CM BS Yeddyurappa, was owned by a famous Congress political family! Why downplay that very important point?

Catch: Don't be defensive trying to deny any BJP's misdoings. They did do mistakes. But contrast with the humungous scams of UPA lead Congress and the role models that exist in Congress, like Ibrahim (whose name was in a Rape FIR), Singhvi (see cartoon above) to name a few.

Strategy 9: Highlight the very good Law and Order:

Under the BJP rule, Karnataka had ZERO major riots. In fact there was not even a single riot that had more than 5 deaths. Compare that to Congress era when the 1991 anti-Tamil riots and the 1994 anti-Urdu riots saw dozens of deaths. Communal harmony and security for all citizen has been a total success under BJP. Did you see any Home Minister of India visiting the distant Asom and other NE states, to invite the panic stuck youth to return back to their state, after that SMS scare was engineered by malicious elements?

Talk about respect for the nation. BJP government gave respect to the soldiers of India, via the Martyrs Memorial. Gave 50% property tax relief to soldiers irrespective of state. These are the desh bhakti topics that need highlighting.

Catch: People will talk of Mangaluru incidents or Church attacks. Show them the incidents from SM Krishna's time. Show them how BJP acted swiftly here.

Strategy 10: Tell the people the mistakes of prior governments:

Congress & JDS simply blamed BJP for their earlier governments' faults. For instance the garbage crisis of 2012 was mainly  because Congress and JDS didn't follow Supreme Court deadlines during their rule. As a result, the minimum 2 KM 'no activity' near garbage dump got reduced to 0.5 KM, which then encouraged real estate mafia to put pressure against garbage dumps around the city. Also, when BBMP was expanded by absorbing all the Corporations of that time, no planning was put in place for a much bigger metro city's garbage disposals. BJP did a decent enough job, but could have done better.

Catch: No matter what you show, BBMP will be highlighted. But tell them the limitations of BBMP in a massive sized Bengaluru today. Show traffic, people and other growths from 2008 to 2013. Things can be better, but they are not as bad as made out.

Strategy 11: Talk about Power Handling:

National award for the Varahi implementation. {Pic: KarnatakaPower}

Karnataka also faced massive drought during some BJP years. But still, unlike the much worse situation in the neighbouring Congress ruled Maharashtra, BJP govt brought down the farmer suicides in Karnataka. From 956 between 2008-10 (more than 300 per year), to 38 in 2011 and single digit in 2012! That is an awesome achievement that should be highlighted and contrasted with neighbouring Congress ruled states. Similarly, explain the good-enough coverage of power situation in Karnataka, compared to Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. In Congress ruled AP for instance, 6000 units in textile, steel & ferro alloy sectors are closed over the past 18 months. 2,00,000 became jobless. All due to Congress government's power crisis mismanagement. In contrast, during the past 5 years, Rs.14,751 crores were invested in the power sector by BJP government in Karnataka. These will result in massive benefits down the line. Even when Raichur themal power plant did not get coal properly from the central Congress government, Karnataka did not run into any major power crisis. In fact, more industries came through during this period.

Catch: Rural power cut will be brought up. Show them average power given from central grid to Karnataka. Contrast with Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. Then show how well Karnataka still manages with less power.

Strategy 12:  Highlight the fact that Congress is going to doom Karnataka.

This is nothing new. Congress has done it many times before too. Vote for BJP to save Karnataka from the alleged CSR scam tainted Moily, the Telgi scam tainted Kharge, the mining scam tainted SM Krishna and DK Shiva Kumar, to name a few. On top of it, see how the infighting is going on between Parameshwar the Congress state president and Siddaramaiah, the state Congress legislative party leader. Their bickering and fights between seat lobby teams is all out in open. Worse, Congress can't project a CM candidate under any cost before the election, as infighting will doom the party! BJP in contrast has a firm CM candidate for months. Other parties like KJP, BRSCP and JDS are "atakkuntu lekkakke illa" when it comes to power. They can at the most think of 30-40 seats for king-maker roles, but never the king. Don't waste time going after them, particularly Yeddyurappa's KJP. It won't help BJP in any way. Remember, your opponent is
Congress primarily, and the lack of discipline shown between 2008-11 by BJP itself, secondarily.

Catch: That leader is corrupt, this leader is corrupt, will come up. But what you need to do is to compare the extent of alleged corruption or scam. The lesser evil is always a better choice, which is BJP in this case. Then if ULB election topic comes up, compare with 2007 there too.



Summary:

Remember, BJP had a much better chance to be in stronger position by April 2013, than where they are today. But still, all is not lost. Give your best shot. You never know, you can get 90 or more seats in May! The main reason being, the other choices in front of Karnataka voters are much more depressing and awful. A CM candidate-less Congress and a bunch of regional outfits.