But there is no doubt that the city is growing more and more unliveable in.
One major cause for this is decidedly traffic. There are 2 components to this- the roads, and the vehicles.
The roads are just plain inadequate for the number of vehicles on them and are really really badly maintained.
With the possible exception of Cubbon Road no road is free from gaping potholes that become water obstacles of the worst kind when it rains.
They are far too narrow for the most part as unregulated parking occupies more than half the width of the road in some cases.
The second component, the vehicles, should actually read the drivers of these vehicles.
Well, not completely- the trucks that are allowed unrestricted access to the main roads during all times of the day are a frequent cause for traffic jams and bottlenecks reducing the vehicular speed to just above crawling.
But the drivers of the other vehicles- they are just too unbelievable. No self-respecting driver in Bangalore will ever stop at a traffic signal unless there is a traffic policeman and even then not all the time.
Frequently the not so self respecting driver has to cater to the likelihood that his more self-respecting brethren could use the back of his vehicle as a buffer to rest against and so is forced to be a transgressor.
The idea of switching off one's engine when there is bound to be a long wait at the signal is repugnant to Bangaloreans. So, if one just misses the green then one is surrounded by vehicles all with their engines either idling or running and the resultant smoke (smog?)
The horn is everyone's clear-the-way-for-me weapon. Since everyone is using his weapon all the time, evidently nothing very beneficial results. The horn is also used ineffectually when there is a traffic hold-up which, needless to say, is a frequent enough occurrence.
The idea of following traffic regulations is anathema as well. So such principles as yielding to vehicles on the major road or keeping to one's own side of the road are just not observed.
The policemen are mute spectators and take out their frustration on two-wheelers- submitting them to random license checks and fining them for the same offences that four-wheeler drivers get away scot-free from.
The presence of city buses driven by crazed maniacs who have no business on a tricycle far less behind the wheel of a weapon of mass destruction is just another hazard to be faced in a day's work.