COMMENTS

Hi Syed,

I recovered from Yesterday's shock. I didn't disclose at home since they will get worried. Life in Bangalore has become very very difficult mainly due to vehicles. Five years back when I was living in Mysore, I used to come to Bangalore weekly. I didn't had any vehicle in Bangalore. Walk, BMTC and occasional auto was my only means of transport. Now, it has become very difficult to travel that way. Main culprits I am seeing is the increased number of 4 wheelers and that 'gaadi shokie' our Bangaloreans have.

As you rightly said, I too was just thinking to involve private operators , mainly advertising campaigns using skywalks. Instead of having road side advertisement boards, let the advertisers build the skywalks for us and have their advertisements all over the skywalks.

Height of the skywalks should not be too much, otherwise people will be reluctant to use the skywalks. Maximum should be to enable a closed container truck + 1 or 2 feet as a buffer. On either sides, we should have a welded structures  like this '|-|' to prevent vehicles damaging the skywalks. Same like we have near railway tracks to prevent trucks to damage electric traction.

Steps should be close to each other seperated by say 6 inches max making it easier to climb. 

Another side, a sloped access to enable the wheelchairs to be taken over the skywalks. I wish if we could get elevators working atleast for the handicaps!!  Sponsorors like Kingfisher who spend crores togehter on campaigns like T20, may be even ready for that.

This should be placed infront of all the bus stops since people usually cross roads to access the bus stops.

A standardized design should be used for all the skywalks in terms of height and steps. Only the length of the skywalk should differ based on width of the road. This should be tested in 2 or 3 pilot sites and then introduced everywhere.

I think skywalks with welded structure will be very easy and less time consuming to build.

We will present my story of about to be killed to BBMP comissioner. Let him feel what it is to cross the Bangalore road. If possible, we will take him to the same site at evening 7' o clock and make him to cross the road like an aam aadmi. 

We should have a skywalk campaign. Advertisers will be rushing. We can even have biddings on important roads like the MG road. Skywalk advertisements should cost less than the normal board advertisements which doesn't serve any purpose.

I also want to take our traffic police head on these kind of sites.

To start with, we need the BBMP and traffic police to 'feel' the need for Skywalks. Most of these officials travel from home to office and everywhere in their cars and don't have the 'feel' of it.

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Vasanth - Noted yr ideas about skywalks.

Skywalks & subways - how many were built & how many are actually being used ? As far as I know, only the one in front of City Rly Stn & the one on tank bund rd, majestic are in use because there is no other way for pedestrians to cross the roads at these points. All others, such as the ones in city mkt, shivajinagar, etc are filled with garbage, hawkers & animals & are being avoided even by those that might otherwise have liked to use it. On airport road, Indiranagar & Residency road, there are newer, cleaner skywalks, but are rarely used. Pedestrians all over the world detest climbing staircases, & this is a fact that we have to accept.

The real problem behind all this is the relentless increase in traffic & the resulting increase in competition for road space. If this can be addressed & the no. of vehicles brought down, we might see an increase in safety for pedestrians. If pedestrians wish to cross, motor vehicles are expected to slow down & let pedestrians pass, but here the vehicle is the king. It's time we take steps to push the vehicle down to where it belongs.

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Skywalks makes people climb twice the height and getting down..this is to accomodate the tallest busses and trucks below..

hence magic underpasses, like the one at anand nagar, should be deployed..

This will address the issues listed above 

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Rightly pointed by Naveen, that just building the skywalks would not serve the purpose. We need to make sure that people use it and that these skywalks dont end up becoming garbage bins.

My thoughts below:

1) As for the design of skywalks, our own IISc came up with good design and we already have some of those setup in Bangalore. I would like to also add a ramp to the design for the differently abled persons.

(see : http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2005/03/skywalks-iisc-way-to-ease-chaos.html)

and (see : http://www.bangalorebest.com/discoverbangalore/tradecom/tradecommerce.asp)

2) Building skywalks in my opinion is the easier part. The far tougher job is to keep it clean and encourage people to use it. The road around the skywalks should be barricaded so people are forced to use the skywalks. Ensuring the cleanliness is a much tougher task, one idea could be to provide advertising space (thinking loud) on the pathway of the skywalks aswell. So the advertiser will ensure it is kept clean and the ads are visible (I am thinking loud and open to criticism).

3) I would not vouch for keeping the height of the skywalks lower than what the mandatory height is, that would not be a good idea in my opinion.

4) Rightly pointed out by vasanth, skywalks are a must near bus stops. They should also be available near junctions (if there are no bus stops near by).

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Vasant,

  Hope you are slowly recovering from yesterdays shock. Could you pls shed some light on this issue?

Syed

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