Is the design justified ?

This post is not about software design as such. But then design principles and concepts are general. So what holds true for software design must be the same as for any other system design. Especially the KISS(Keep it simple stupid) principle.

I was on the Pune-Satara Road and I remembered the road as it was when newly constructed. Wide lanes on both sides and very much a delight to be on. Anyone who has been to "City Pride" cinema in those days will recollect that approach road. Of course there were nasty traffic jams in the evenings but then that's an accepted fact about Pune and its thin bylanes.

However in that particular stretch of the road, nowadays the lanes are laid out in a surprising pattern. And it stretches all the way to Katraj in the same fashion. Something like this


To catch the ever elusive and crowded PMT bus, you need to cross over to the inner Mass Transit Line. On many occasions I've found old people waiting for ages to move over to the bus stop. Cause if they hurry - an attempt to catch the bus might in fact bring them closer to God. Although, the way the PMT buses rattle and battle for road space - God is just a call away. Many times I've seen veteran citizens dilly dallying on the speed lanes and having to listen to curses from speeding motorists. That brings me to the unsolved query - why was the road designed like this in the first place. Whats good about this design ? Obviously the planners would have been conscious enough of citizen troubles in boarding the bus. Yet why did they stick with this design ?

Why didn't they simply design it like this.


Even the transit lines are defined and public amenities are on the most easily accessible lane. I've been trying to think at all possible reason why simplicity has been sacrificed here. I would have blamed PMC for this design but then I've seen the same road design in certain other parts of the country too. So there must definitely be something advantageous about the design that I'm missing out on.