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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Critical Mass in Bangalore

Hey, look: there's a Critical Mass ride in Bangalore! What with their choked traffic and lack of sidewalks, it makes sense.

technorati: bicycles, commuting, critical mass

Labels: Bangalore, Bangalore infrastructure, bicycling, Critical Mass

Monday, April 16, 2007

Whether driver or pedestrian, Bangalore traffic not for faint of heart

Picture a stream of traffic that is composed of motorbikes, auto rickshaws, cars, trucks and buses, in the following approximate proportions: In one minute, 70 motorbikes, 35 autorickshaws, 25 cars, 5 trucks, 5 buses and the occasional bicycle will pass a given spot. That's about 130 vehicles passing in one minute at about 30 mph. Many of these vehicles are sounding their horns, a free mode of expression here. At a red light (or equivalent), the traffic stops, in a sense. Basically it all tries to jockey for position. The motorbikes push their way to the front so that they form a vanguard. When the traffic policeman stops cross traffic and lets this clot go free, it all starts up, honking and maneuvering and utterly ignoring the concept of lanes.

And that's at a simple 90-degree intersection where two one-way streets cross. Most of the intersections are doubly, triply or even more complicated. There are some traffic cops, almost no traffic lights, and nothing like a left-turn signal (it would be a right turn here, since they drive on the other side).

Now add pedestrians, who are not only trying to cross the street, but often walking in the street because the sidewalk -- if one exists -- is blocked by construction debris, a beggar, a sleeping dog, a pile of garbage, a cow.

To call it chaos would not be quite fair. It operates fairly well, considering the number of vehicles. I did not see any collisions. Pedestrians, bicycles and other vehicles come that close to being bumped -- but are not.

I have this to say to the entitled cyclists of San Francisco: try riding here for just one hour. Then see how good you have it at home.

Labels: Bangalore trip, bicycling, Critical Mass

Friday, April 06, 2007

Foggy, foggy

It's real foggy in the city, has been for a couple of days now. Last night really took the cake. On the way home from church -- where we celebrated Maundy Thursday -- I had to take a freeway detour and swung by the ballpark, where the Giants were playing the Padres. The lights of the ballpark glowed weirdly bright through the fog, like the brilliance of the Mothership at the end of Close Encounters, while all other lights were muted in the murk. Tonight's game, against the Dodgers, should be a classic San Francisco affair, sold out and full of fast-drinking fans who'd rather fight than shiver...

Of the things occupying people's consciousness in the city these days, you've got the Critical Mass kerfuffle that erupted after the local paper's high-profile columnists Matier & Ross publicized an incident that took place last Friday. The first story linked to above is not wrong in saying that a debate is "raging" on internet comment threads and blogs, though it's not exactly unavoidable. To me, the interesting thing is that while Matier & Ross take an anti-Critical Mass stand, leading to pro-cycling people expressing their outrage at this biased approach, without the M&R column the whole incident would have disappeared without a trace. Now the whole subject of Critical Mass and what the monthly event means is all over the internets, and people are talking about it. The result: Matier & Ross can cement their reputation as being take-no-guff moderate-conservatives who freely voice their contempt for the unwashed anarchist masses, and the pro-bike people can scream at how they were victimized over and over, first by the panicky suburban driver in the middle of the flap, next by the police who refused to take the incident seriously, and finally by the MSM.

Sounds like a win-win for everybody, because San Franciscans just aren't happy unless they're staking out a position on some issue, like bicycling or sex toys or Google Ad Words, that is ultimately trivial.

Finally, check out this strange internet-business columnist who customarily uses lots of CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation marks! and strangely placed bold-faced words!!

And finally, a postscript to a classic San Francisco story: the lawyer couple who were involved in the infamous, uber-classic Dog Mauling Case, have been disbarred in California. You gotta wonder what took so long.

technorati: Donna Bogatin, Critical Mass, Matier & Ross

Labels: Critical Mass, Giants, San Francisco, weather