Postcard from Bishkek

Here at ianbek.kg I sometimes get some interesting feedback from readers … and it is interesting to note what points people decide to pick me up on.

But then, as one person put it, “at least it shows that someone has read the postcard!”.

There is an opportunity for people to post comments at the foot of each postcard – but although some people chose to use this option … most of the comments that appear have been sent to me separately, for example in an email, or as a message on facebook or twitter.

Actually, I get quite a lot of comments posted – about a hundred a day – but they don’t appear because I reject them.  Part of my early morning routine is to look at the four or five pages of comments that have been submitted the previous day.  Nearly all of them are totally irrelevant and are simply designed to get surfers to click on a link.  Some simply say: “Click the upcoming site”, “More information at …” and so on but others are quite open and brazenly an advert: “Get your Payday Loans here … “, “Satisfy your Lady”, “Online Casino” and so on. … Sometimes they come with a flattering blurb like “A brilliant post … where do you get your information? … I will certainly come back for more …” … but the link is quite clearly an advert … or a fishing site … or worse.    

Occasionally I get email messages asking if it is possible to put a link on the site – perhaps offering a “link exchange”, (either “We’ll be happy to put a link to your site on ours – all we ask is that you put one to us on your site” or “If you put a link to us on your website then we’ll reciprocate and put one to your site on ours … “), and sometimes they even offer to pay for a link to be placed.

Last week I received one such email … and it caught my attention as it referred to our site www.links.kg: “Hello,  I was wondering if it would be possible to suggest a link for your website …”.

The reason it caught my attention was that we actually ask people to send us suggestions for inclusion on the site … the whole point is for it to act as a portal to stories about people’s experiences and impressions of the country,  (including their photos, videos and so on), either appearing in the media or on their personal blogs and so forth.

So I  decided to go and have a look and clicked on the link.  That’s when I stater to get confused.

The site, www.frixo.com, provides users with up-to-date traffic information – receiving data every 5 minutes from roadside sensors “placed on motorways and common A / B roads” … and that phrase should have given it away … “motorways”, not “freeways” or autobahn, … or …  It’s a UK based sites with sensors on UK roads … and hasn’t even crossed the Channel to France and the rest of Europe.   So why, I wondered, would it be of interest to surfers looking for information about Kyrgyzstan?

I have to admit that it looks like a very useful site, with various options but the main screen display involves a zoomable map on which all sorts situations which might create of bottlenecks or traffic jams are displayed, such as roadworks, accidents or slow moving traffic, together with information about hazard warning signals, average traffic speed at particular points, weather conditions and so on …

I would have found it well a visit before setting off on a trip when I was back in the UK … all those years ago … as it would have been good to have advance warning of Road Works on the route that could have lead to potential delays.  These days with options to connect the system to a Global Positioning Service (GPS) or to download data into an app on a mobile device, (phone or tablet), makes it even more valuable, giving the user “up to date” information (I won’t say “in real time” because their is a short time lag … but even so, that’s impressive and I can see how it could be very useful), about accidents and other incidents, or where traffic was moving slowly whilst actually on the move.

Although most users will be chiefly concerned with the current situation on the roads, frixo even has an archive system that allows users to see what the traffic situation was like in the past – last, week, last year … in some cases back to 2009. 

I can also see how it could be very useful if integrated into a Europe wide system … both for commercial use and for people taking a motoring holiday on the continent … the idea of drivers being able to receive information in their own language would be a great advantage.  Maybe they have plans for something like this in the future … but, if so, that wasn’t mentioned.

 

We are a bit of a long way from Britain, so even if they do manage to integrate into some Europe wide system or network, it would presumably be some considerable time before such a service was available here.

Of course, the road network in Kyrgyzstan is not as extensive as in the UK, (about 36000 kilometers as opposed to just under 400000 in the UK – 245000 miles) with only a limited number of major trunk routes, and very few alternative roads providing “cross country” diversions to avoid a bottleneck.  That’s why an avalanche or protest blocking the highway can cause considerable difficulties.

That’s one of the reasons why an alternative North-South route was declared a priority by the government … to add to the main Bishkek-Osh highway.  The new road will cut diagonally across the country from the Balykchhy at the Western tip of Lake Issyk Kul, skirting around the Son Kul Plateau and down to Djalal Abad.  Not only will it provide and alternative route between the two biggest cities on the country – it will also link up with the Kegen border crossing with Kazakhstan creating a potentially valuable trunk corridor for the transport of goods.

It might be a different story, on the other hand, here in Bishkek as we sometimes have serious problems with traffic jams on the city’s main highways.  The roads are sometimes closed for special events, or if someone important is visiting and when I used to drive, I frequently found myself caught up in a huge queue at the level crossing waiting for an approaching train to pass by.  Occasionally there are tweets posted on twitter warning that a set of traffic lights are not working or an accident has occurred, or traffic is moving slowly in one part of town – but that’s about the closest equivalent that we have.  The police and city authorities are installing a number of video cameras to monitor traffic at some of the busier junctions in the city center so I suppose we may soon have something that can help smooth the flow of traffic, but I think a working system is still a long way off.

There are already a number of webcams throughout the city which provide an interesting view of the Main Ala Too Square and a couple of busy junctions, (the one at Prospect Chui and Sovietskaya – or Abdrakhmanov as it is now known and another at Prospect Chui and Pravda – or Ibraimova as it is now known).   Such webcams won’t, of course stop traffic jams from developing but they may help alleviate the frustration that builds up in drivers.

After all, one of the worst aspects is sitting in a car stuck in a traffic jam that cannot move … and the driver has no idea of why or how long they are likely to be standing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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