Station and the Airport

silkboard - 23-SEP-2008

Imagine the noise if our new international airport had no escalators to take you up from check-in area to the departure hall? 'Super shoddy', 'oh these cheapos', coin-your-expletives, or 'like our station' right? Switch over to the City station, and remember how you lugged your stuff up the stairs from the platform to the footbridge and back down again.

We can hear you say - there are porters to help. Why does the airport not save some money by arranging for 50-60 porters? Before this gets into socialism vs capitalism like arguments, analyze this.

What if the Nano had to be built in Belgaum?

belgaumblog - 18-SEP-2008

Its breaking news on the business front that the Nano plant from singur will get shifted to Dharwad.

Tata Motors MD Ravi Kant met the Karnataka CM today and Tata Motors have confirmed that they are looking for alternatives to Singur to shift their Nano project.

The Karnataka Government has offered 1000 acres for the Nano car project and all “incentives and support. Tata Motors already has a manufacturing unit in Dharwad where it makes the low-floor Marco Polo buses.

Mono vs LRT vs METRO vs Commuter vs Suburban vs ...

srkulhalli - 18-SEP-2008

This is something I have been dying to understand better. What is the real difference between the various rail based transport systems ? That is, the engineering aspect. Fundamentally arent they all wheels on a track.

Is it just a question of capacity ? Just scaling the strength of the supporting civil infrastructure ? Do we call a higher capacity LRT a METRO ?

Rail for cargo not for people

mcadambi - 16-SEP-2008

GoK is more intent on using the railway infrastructure for Cargo purposes for the proposed Devanahalli Business Park (DBP) and does not seem to be inclined to using it for commuters.

See the "sop" of railways mentioned in the EoI for the DBP :

Humanised streets - a Beijing initiative!

murali772 - 16-SEP-2008

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's initiation of a national car-free day on Sept. 22 is of significance to both the country's urban development and environmental protection.

The theme, "humanized street", points to the trend in city renovations, of city roads in particular, in recent years.

The Cheap Volvo ride coincidence

murali772 - 15-SEP-2008

The travel in the BMTC’s prestigious Volvo air-conditioned buses for just Re 1 from one point to another point in the city for four days is seen as a gesture by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to celebrate its completion of 100 days in office. But not many people know that it was a gimmick. It is believed that the gesture was intended to benefit the participants of the three-day national executive meet of the ruling party in the State. The Re 1 travel did help many commuters, who find the rates otherwise unaffordable.

Probing public transport stats for Bangalore

silkboard - 15-SEP-2008

Last we heard (Mr Sharif may have told TOI), BMTC said that public transport accounts for 48% of trips in the city. Another stat from Ministry of Urban Development had put public transport's share in Bangalore to about 35%. So, there we have, a range of 35% to 48%, and we know that in Bangalore, public transport virtually equals BMTC.

Urban transportation - addressable market size: how big?

silkboard - 12-SEP-2008

I had asked this question at the TransInnova/ BMLTA summit yesterday, and didn't get a good answer, most likely because nobody had a number handy. Local urban transportation is a "problem", and problem equals "opportunity". Why is it that private players are not taking enough interest in lobbying to get access to this market? Policy hurdles would be one reason, but I am curious if the size of the market is being underestimated here. Lets do some numbers, simple and basic.

FM Cariappa Road

tsubba - 10-SEP-2008

Ok, before we make suggestions, we need to be very explicit about what we understand about the road. Since, sri is the local malla complete with a high flung jeTTi and spread out rhetorical stance and all*, we start with what he said about this road. We keep in mind that beyond his generic description, which nevertheless gives us a feel for the road, we need explicit and detailed details. Srivatsa said:

Belgaum did not miss the Bus

belgaumblog - 8-SEP-2008