A hack of a traffic snarl

If you haven’t really lent any importance towards bettering the persistent bottle-neck traffic snares in town, now is the time to show you care. As a refreshing trend of sorts, the city opens doors to a one-of- a- kind  free online hackathon titled the ‘Gridlock hackathon’. The idea and intent are exactly what you think it is — to rustle up out-of-the-box, innovative and implementable solutions from ‘doers’ across town. Bengaluru Chronicle chats up with the doers behind the idea for more...

Opining how collective synergy is the only way forward to tackle the traffic woes, RJ Sriram Sullia, who plans on doing his bit through his radio show The Superhero Show with RJ Sriram, says, “In all honesty, we have ended up amplifying an idea which has been on the minds of the front-runners behind it. Be it a serious traffic congestion on outer ring road or a block on the central business districts, we have a good idea of the traffic scene in any particular part of town all thanks to callers who give us a heads up on where the traffic is mounting. There’s always an update coming, and that has helped.” Adding to how the activity, which is run by Flipkart, in partnership with Fever 104 FM, aims to shift the focus from the problem to the solution, Sriram adds, “The idea boils down to just one thing: how we are all part of the problem. The concept calls for sustainable solutions, which may not be backed by coding and programming ideas. It’s high time everyone unites on the road, and takes responsibility of the fact that if they can contribute to a problem, they might as well contribute towards its solution.” The registration to the open event is on till July 2, preceded by an offline presentation to the judges.  The winning entries will be invited to work with the Namma Bengaluru Foundation on long-term solutions to deal with the city’s traffic woes. With little surprise, namma ooru’s youngsters are willing to don their thinking hats.

Echoing similar lines,  Vaidyanathan Subramanian,  a software development engineer adds, “I believe this is a great initiative which attacks one of the city’s biggest problem. A lot of people  travel alone everyday but never mind giving a lift to someone if asked for. At the same time, there are so many people who want to get in touch with such people who gave free lifts. Bengaluru’s clogged roads need decongestion and I have a basic prototype built which is the first inverse model for carpooling. It is built from scratch keeping in mind the ride-giver perspective. I hope this model encourages  people to give rides since there is no exchange of money, one is free to leave whenever one desires, not deviate from one’s route.” Enthusing how the concept aims at giving back in some way to the city we all love, Ravi Garikipati, CTO and head of engineering, Flipkart, concludes, “The event is inspired by open innovation, which means that society at large should benefit from whatever we do. Open to people of all ages, we’re excited to see how the idea pans out.”