IT (Impossible Traffic) City

OK, as you must have guessed, I'm about to start rambling about the traffic in Bangalore. Sorry to disappoint you, mate, but while this post is about the traffic in India's IT City, I am not going to curse and swear at the horrible traffic. Instead let me contribute my tuppence to another issue, which is definitely related to the traffic snarls. As I was driving to work yesterday, I was stuck in yet another traffic jam. Well, nothing unusual about this, except that the complete traffic stand-still was before 8 in the morning! And I had thought that commuting at non-peak hours would be pretty much of a breeze! So as I was stuck in the traffic, I just glanced around myself. And noticed all the cars around me. Now in a random sample of cars, I noticed that about 9 in 10 cars had single occupants. The odd car in which there were more (well, two to be precise) was a father dropping off his kid to school. A couple of days back I read a post somewhere about how the state of California guzzles more gasoline than all of India. The post went on to remark how almost every family member there has a gar of his/her own, and BIG cars, at that. Now, while we are still a fair distance away from this situation, I would say that we are getting there - in the metros or IT cities (like namma Bengalooru). OK, so every family member definitely does not own a car here. But because of the sheer numbers - the population - the situation is alarming. Now besides the environmental aspect - fuel demand, quality of air, there is the aspect of the traffic snarls that this gives rise to. In the absence of a good Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, people cannot be faulted for resorting to private transport. But think about the snarls such as the one I was caught in - and I'm sure many of you must have been in, too. The situation can only get from bad to worse, if the government and public do not do something about it. On it's part, the public can definitely resort to car pools, or using the company transport. Or taking a two-wheeler and commuting at non-peak hours. The government can do it's bit by proper urban planning. Whoever thought of putting a two-lane bottleneck in the way of traffic from a four-lane highway?! (That was the bottleneck I was stuck at, and I couldn't help but be exasperated by the lack of planning.) And starting a good MRT system. And once such a system is in place, heavy dis-incentives for private transport. And finally, creating awareness through print and electronic media. Otherwise, it woudn't be long before our cities are shrouded in haze and a clear blue sky becomes consigned to picture postcards.....