Ramjee...that was an excellent treatise on how to use the Bangalore bus system, thank you. I too have been using buses almost exclusively (green decision!) and though I disagree with you on the time taken...it took me 2 hours to go from my home to Vidhan Soudha....I do agree that the bus services have improved a lot lately. But then, I don't travel at peak times, either.
And I am still laughing! Why would you want a rickety jeep at the end, when you will have Linda's cycle? Deepa. On Feb 9, 2008 12:31 AM, Ramjee Swaminathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 2/8/08, Vinayak Hegde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >On 2/8/08, Linda L. Julien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > >> How's the public transportation in Bangalore? > <snip> > > > <snip> > > Public transportation is pretty much non-existent in Bangalore. (unless your > > starting point or destination is Majestic). The traffic problem is > > horrendous as > > everyone wants to drive their own vehicle. Driving in Bangalore is > > algorithmic. > > > <snip> > > Nice rant, Vinayak! :-) > > But I completely disagree with the take on the public transport. > > But my opinion is that (there have been a few legit exceptions) the > 'public' transport system as defined ONLY by the bus system itself is > very good in Bangalore. I am not comparing it to chennai or Mumbai. > IMO, Coimbatore has the BEST bus system that I know of - with > surprisingly polite and friendly staff, apart from coverage, > punctuality and stuff. > > Bangalore bus system has good connections, reasonable frequencies, > laid back population, chatty passngers etc etc. I am very happy with > this as a constant user of the system. I was 'working' in the s/w > arena till about an year back and for most of the last year of my > career, I used busses extensively. I did not miss even ONE meeting > (how could one ever miss one), nor did I waste too much time on > commute. I realized that, with not having to drive to work or > wherever, the mind is free of the 'where do I get to park' and 'what > if that horrendous sedan bumps into my honda civic while pulling out' > kind of traumatic ;-) problems, the moment you outsource your worries > to some other III party. > > It merely requires some planning - which could be painful to start > with but becomes easy in a week or so. > > Also, the bus journeys have the following advantages operating at > various levels: > > 1. In the heart of the city, as there is no byepass or pacemaker, the > traffic crawls and a bus is better or equal to any other vehicle. > 2. The level of the bus is higher - therefore there is less pollution > (to you, that is). > 3. You can take a paperback and stat reading it, while listening to > popular and attrotious film music > 4. You can hallucinate that you are polluting less. > 5 You can also selfrighteously assume that you are experiencing the > *real* india. > 6. <scroll down to the postscript> > > Suggestions: > > 1. Take up your acco very near the office (in Bangalore there are > residential tenements or the new fangled 'serviced apartments' > available in practially all loations) in which case you may not need > to commute much by vehicles at all. > 2. The smaller roads in Bangalore are fun to walk. If you dont stick > to the main roads, then the life is easy. Arm yourself with an Eicher > roadmap which is nicely updated and usefully granular. Even a bicycle > is not a bad idea at all.(and while leaving India, donate it to me) > 3. If you want to use the bus system - always buy a Rs. 30/- (around > 75 cents) wholeday pass - you can hop in and out of as many buses and > as many times as possible. In this case you dont have to haggle for > coin change. If you know your destination, you can very easily packet > switch. Please note that it is okay to hop in and out of buses at > traffic signals, wherever. I think probably this could be some > solution like an unconcscious ant colony optimization problem. :-) > Doing a constant trace routing during travel by asking the fellow > travellers is an useful idea. While hopping etc, don't be too bothered > by your TTL. ;-) > 4. Even with the Autos - if one does the groundwork (a couple of > enquiries with your office colleagues, Eicher map, Rs. 7/- per > kilometre, etc) this is not a problem at all. One piece of suggestion > is that, it is better to approach a lone auto or wave it down rather > to go an auto stand with n autos. > 5. If you want to anyway use the cars etc - you can go to the office > at 5/6 AM or so and get back home/hole by 2/3 PM - nicely avoiding or > rather outbeating the traffic - and having the rest of the day to > yourself, silk, whatever. I have used this technique when a client > (from US) was visiting us a few years back; forced both the client and > the team to come in early - no long and useless lunch sessions at > distant hotels etc. Actually this tactic was very useful and > productive. > > I always feel that, if all the guys who whine incessantly about bad > traffic conditions (of course the roads are congested, but why? It is > because of all those other big and bigger cars, all those other jokers > who drive with one or two occupants at best per car, other clowns who > dont do their town planning, other nincompoops who want to bend all > the rules because they have to atttend some goddam meetings, other > gluttons who want to drive to the other part of the ciry for extended > lunch sessions at the expense of productivity etc etc) started using > the bangalore bus services, then this city would be a far better > place. > > Note: And after all these whiney folks switch to buses, I plan to > royally drive my rickety jeep all over the city congratulating myself > on the consummate devilishness of my plan. buwahahahaha! > > Linda, welcome to India and to the silk list. :-) > > __r. > PS: It also gives you a smug right to whine about the whiners, such as > the tone and content of this post. :-) > <now scroll up and read the rest of the post dammit> > >
