As per the Master Plan for 2031, Bengaluru's population will be 20 million and to cater to such a large population we need mass rapid transit (MRT) and not personal rapid transit (PRT).
The location chosen for pods like Indiranagar, Old Airport Road, Koramangala, Marathahalli, EPIP Graphite India Road, Jayanagar and J.P. Nagar all either have metros, will be getting metros in a few years or are definitely accessible by a metro rail system.
Instead of building a flyover from Koramangala Sony signal to Intermediate Ring Road, why not have an underground metro? How do you have money to spend for flyovers, but want to save on PRT? How can they say 100 feet road or 80 feet road cannot be accessed by a Metro?
These are all very happening places as well, with high density of population. There is no good in BBMP saving a penny. Spend lots of pennies, take loans, but gives us MRT!
Another requirement for our city is the need to disincentivize private transport. You can't add cars and buses. You have to cut down on cars. Regardless of PRT or MRT, the main solution for reducing congestion explicitly and not implicitly, is cutting down on private vehicles. Inability to do this will be our ultimate downfall.
Hike parking fees, make no parking fines costlier. You are referring to cars as traffic, so remove them. Make sure a person has to pay astronomical amounts every time they get into their car. For this we need strong leaders. Our current leaders do not have the guts to disincentivize private transport as they fear losing out on votes.
Add bus lanes and let people get stuck in traffic jams when they choose their own vehicles, but don't hold the bus hostage. It is not that pods won't get filled up. Over time, any mode of transport will get crowded, but choose bigger modes of transport that can move more people and can go faster.
Soon, there will be no point buying cars as there will be no space to drive it. Above all, address the elephant in the room- disincentivize private transport.
