An engineering graduate in Electronics and Communication from Bengaluru’s RV Faculty of Engineering, Karthik Reddy is on the helm of site visitors administration for one among world’s most congested cities – Bengaluru. Reddy, a 2011 IPS officer, has served in varied capacities all through his profession, however is taking up site visitors administration for the primary time. He served because the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Bijapur, Tumkur, and Ramanagara. His final posting was as SP Wi-fi, Bengaluru, the place he was concerned in steering communication networks with expertise throughout police departments.
Simply round three days previous to the brand new job, Reddy has charted out a to-do checklist to handle Bengaluru’s site visitors woes. From prioritizing site visitors administration with the police on floor to reinforcing carpooling and public transport methods, Reddy speaks to The Indian Categorical on his plan of motion. Excerpts from the interview:
Q: What’s your main aim as a site visitors chief?
Karthik Reddy: We’re specializing in “boots on the bottom,” making certain police presence at main junctions by 7 am to handle early morning site visitors. Officers are required to report and ship images to substantiate their presence utilizing the ASTRAM utility. Moreover, we’re strictly imposing a 2014 authorities order that prohibits heavy automobiles within the metropolis from 7 am to 11 am and 4.30 pm to 9 pm. Our main position is site visitors regulation and administration, particularly throughout peak hours. Enforcement is stricter throughout non-peak hours, however the focus throughout peak occasions is on making certain smoother automobile motion.
Q: What’s your evaluation of Bengaluru site visitors and what are the key challenges you face?
Reddy: The site visitors scenario in Bengaluru stays difficult, notably in areas just like the Outer Ring Highway (between KR Puram and Silk Board), the place congestion is important. As an example, the 3-4 km stretch close to Ecoworld and EcoSpace tech parks takes about 45 minutes to at least one hour to cross because of heavy automobile circulation, with round 1.6 lakh automobiles day by day coming into these tech parks alone. From Monday we’re putting in Automated Quantity Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in these tech parks to gauge the precise variety of automobiles coming into and exiting to handle site visitors circulation. We’re planning to see if we will interconnect the tech parks to make sure seamless vehicular circulation.
Q: How are you addressing the excessive automobile quantity in tech park areas like Ecoworld and Ecospace?
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Reddy: There are two methods to go about it — quick time period and long run. Within the quick time period we will guarantee simple circulation of automobiles into tech parks after which perhaps persuade the businesses to advertise carpooling, shuttle bus companies and encourage public transport to scale back automobile numbers, as was finished throughout Covid lockdown. Lengthy-term, is to faucet into the massive scale mobility infrastructure plan (metro) to scale back congestion.
Q: What are the plans to sort out parking points contributing to congestion?
Reddy: We’re strictly imposing no-parking guidelines to forestall highway narrowing because of unlawful parking, which considerably impacts site visitors circulation.
Q: How do you deal with site visitors disruptions brought on by civic works and contractors?
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Reddy: Contractors usually delay finishing roadworks or clearing particles, exacerbating congestion. We conduct simulations earlier than approving roadworks to evaluate diversion impacts. If contractors fail to finish the stalled works inside seven days, we’ll challenge notices and should register instances or direct civic companies to blacklist them.
Q: What measures are being taken to handle rain-related site visitors congestions?
Reddy: Our employees report waterlogging incidents with images, that are shared with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on the Astram app by way of platforms like Google Maps and MapMyIndia. Notifications are despatched to respective BBMP’s assistant engineers to resolve points promptly. The Astram app isn’t just for police or commuters, it’s for all stakeholders. For this we will likely be integrating BBMP’s knowledge to enhance coordination. Moreover, we’re writing to Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC) to put wreckers (tow truck) at six vital locations which will likely be pressed into motion, when buses or any heavy automobiles breakdown to clear the highway throughout rains.
Q: How efficient is adaptive site visitors signaling in managing congestion?
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Reddy: Adaptive signaling is a machine-learning course of, and it’s nonetheless studying after 6-7 months of implementation. Handbook intervention is used for emergencies, resembling clearing paths for ambulances, however 95-96% of the time, we depend on adaptive signaling.
Q: Any plans to maintain a tab on violations by supply riders (eg: Zomato, Swiggy, Zepto)?
Reddy: We’ve launched day by day, weekly, and month-to-month drives concentrating on violations like footpath using and one-way site visitors breaches by violators.
Q: How do you reply to individuals shifting to different cities like Pune or Hyderabad because of Bengaluru’s site visitors?
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Reddy: It’s comprehensible, however commuters also needs to pay attention to the efforts being made to handle the scenario. Visitors challenges are advanced. However we’re implementing each short-term and long-term measures to enhance circulation and scale back congestion.