Bangalore's Brigade Road too upsets pedestrians

Before the influx began two decades ago, Bangalore was a pedestrians’ paradise. Footpaths were user friendly and free of encroachments. Walking was then a pleasurable experience. Mammoth buses and lawless drivers were unheard of those days.

Totally opposite is the situation today. The worst victims among road users happen to be pedestrians as footpaths have been claimed by varied sources—from private greed to public interests.

Footpaths are estimated to have shrunk by 40 per cent. They are nonexistent in many places, forcing people to walk on the streets, competing with mad machines scurrying round-the-clock. Poor vision and defective planning on the part of various stakeholders have forced pedestrians on the roads, perilously exposed to the traffic.

Experts admit that managing traffic of a megalopolis is not so easy, but they point out how heedless the BBMP has been all these years.

Bangalore has a network of 4,500 km of roads, 40,000 intersections, about 800 manned and signalised intersections and vehicle population of over 3 million. The city population is in excess of 6.5 million.

Due to poor traffic management and lack of concern for pedestrians’ safety, Bangalore is rated fifth among the top cities in India in the number of fatal road accidents. Every year, about 1,000 people die in road accidents, of which about 350 are pedestrians.

The amount of money spent on hospitalisation, rehabilitation and insurance every year runs into thousands of crores of rupees.  Pedestrians should be given the right amount of importance in the scheme of things.

They cause the least amount of congestion on the roads and environmental damage. In addition, walking is one health-giving exercise.

However, even Brigade Road, which is dubbed the emulative showpiece of Bangalore, fails to provide solace to pedestrians. With international brands outlets, global cuisine eateries and an exhaustive chain of pubs, Brigade Road is indeed a potpourri of a very uniquely Indian experience. Unique because, amid all the glam and fame hides a bunch of hidden stark realities — children begging on the street amid garbage that is mindlessly strewn across the posh road, broken footpaths that have turned into little puddles of sewage, haphazard roadside vendors fighting for space with pedestrians and parking woes.

“I’d once taken my family for a walk from Richmond Town to Brigade Road. Besides dodging the screaming vehicles, we had to suffer the profanities showered on us by boorish drivers. On the way to Brigade Road, bikes were on the pavement coming straight at us, honking. While crossing the road at Vellara junction, I had to shout at the vehicles to let us go when the pedestrian crossing was green,” says Meenakshi Iyer, a shopper.

The stretch near the old Ashok Nagar police station too is a pain for them.  The footpath is in reasonably good shape but is broken at many points. In one part, there are stubs of iron poles sticking out of the ground which is the remnant of a demolished bus stop.

The road adjacent to the footpath is busy as it connects Hosur Road and bikes often come on to the pavement to beat stationary traffic.

“If vehicles start using footpaths, where are we supposed to walk? BBMP needs to put guard rails along both sides of the road to prevent bikes from using the footpath,” says Krishna R, a pedestrian.

“The issue stems from improper utilisation of space. When the city is expanding, it should also take efforts to accommodate the expansion without a lot of hustle-bustle,” says Payam Madani, a visitor on Brigade Road.

Brigade Road, for instance, is facing so many issues because of the inefficient parking system that is being followed there. The government should construct a multi-floored parking space on the stretch to solve this problem. Trying to accommodate more vehicles on the road itself is not going to provide a real time solution as the city is growing.

“More and more people keep coming to the city every day. Where is the space to accommodate them? Like in many international cities, Bangalore too should build parking complexes at least on busy stretches like Brigade Road, where such a facility is workable,” says Madani.

KKS Murthy, owner of Select Book Shop on Brigade Road Cross, recounts his experience on Brigade Road: “I have seen Brigade Road ever since I was a little boy. The road has witnessed a phenomenal growth and along with it, it has suffered too.

“The parking system implemented on the road is ineffective and the footpath on the left side of the road, in the direction of the traffic, is narrow due to the designated parking space on this side of the road. This creates an uncomfortable situation for pedestrians to walk on the footpath, and forces many to walk dangerously on the road instead.”