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Rohan, here is a scenario which I wanted to discuss with you guys at BOTS as you're promoting biking to work. These points below are looking at only the traffic congestion aspect of the commute and doesn't deal with health benefits of biking. Scenario: Long commute to office from home. Using public transport is not an option because of many reasons, a. overcrowded b. no direct buses and using multiple buses is time consuming c. should be comfortable, only option is volvo and they don't have them in all the routes Then you end up using a bike (motorbike) or a car. I don't find bike very safe or environment friendly. Car is a big no no because there is no point in occupying a large part of already choked road and consume a lot more energy than any other option. Now, lets consider biking to work (cycling), as I said the commute is quite long and biking to work every single day may not be an option. Also office doesn't provide any showers and its impossible to work after a lot of sweating. Considering all the above points , I think a better way of promoting a better commute will be combination of buses and cycles. As you know, in many so called developed western countries, most of the buses provide you with bike racks. One option in Bangalore may be providing these bike racks, say for volvos. This may not work very well and may not be very safe because it may be cumbersome to offload bikes in Bangalore's city bus stops which are right on the road which are highly congested. Second option would be using that space at the middle of the volvo buses. As far as I've seen none of these volvos use the back door which gives direct access to this space. Using this door for bike access into the volvo may be an option. Also one can limit on number of bikes allowed inside the bus, to make sure bikes won't interfere with people standing inside and moving in and out of the buses. I would be really interested in your views and also if there is someone who is already working on these aspects with the BMTC. You can even throw it open for discussion which can bring out better ideas.
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It screwed up all my formatting in the previous comment :P
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hey Manoj, yup. You are right. It would be ideal to blend a good public transport with bicycles to make commute on bicycles very very effective.
We have been working on this very idea the past few weeks and things are yet to crystallize. With the new HopOnHopOff service launched in Bangalore we were contemplating getting bike stands etc - on buses or near the bus stops. There are some crazy logistics and proof-of-concepts to be worked out.
But all in the works. Hopefully some thing should come out of this.
Check this out - http://blog.bumsonthesaddle.com/2009/1/30/turning-on-the-cycling-switch-in-bangalore -
Yikes .. my formatting is gone too !!
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10 km is doable. It is beyond 10km (or so) that we need to worry about. We cannot expect bus+rack in the near future. However, metro gives me hope. Cycle to the nearest station. Now we only need to see if the Bangalore city planners have the foresight to make this happen.
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Hey guys, new to the group... adding my two bits now! The volvo idea is good. In fact i tried it! :-))) You should have seen the faces of all the people in the bus when i walked in with my helmet, sunglasses, hydration bag, iPod and BICYCLE. Observations: - most often bus drivers don't stop... because u have a cycle with you - they stop and let you in, because they're too scared or confused to protest - they let you get in, fight with you, and then charge you extra (which is actually OK) My Motto: - Hey Conductor, you have 'No Smoking" signs here, put a "No Cycles" sign, and i'll never come again!!! Taking bikes in volvo buses is really awesome. You cycle to work, take a shower (SAP has the facility), and then you just take the bus back home. Its convenient, its mentally more comforting. Maybe we could talk to somebody higher up in BMTC and ask for cycle permits/passes. I've done this atleast a dozen times now (Leela Palace to SAP Whitefield) and its really great (when it works).
