Keeping track of trucks

The Bharat On Wheels tracking system finds ways to hook the transport industry to the information superhighway, says G SANKARANARAYANAN

AT any given point of time, around three million trucks are plying on India’s roads, keeping the economy on the move, and reaching raw materials or finished goods to their destinations. However, once a truck embarks on its journey, neither consignees nor consignors can tell you where the truck is or what the status of the consignments is, unless the drivers provide these details to them over the phone.

A few novel vehicle-tracking systems based on satellite Global Positioning Systems (GPS), introduced in the recent past, proved nowhere near down-to-earth in affordability or accessibility due to various technical reasons. As a result, the Indian transport industry continues to remain largely under the radar of information technology.

This may change soon. The Bangalore-based BOW (Bharat On Wheels) Network, an IT solution provider for the transport industry, has recently come up with an innovative vehicle tracking solution that works on an interactive voice response system, the telephone network and the Internet.

Says Bharat On Wheels’ managing director, P S Selvaraj, “What was missing all along was a vehicle tracking system. Though truck drivers could make long distance calls, there was no one way through which consignors, consignees, transport companies, agents and vehicle owners could know the status of the vehicle or the consignment. Further, there was no one to support drivers in case of vehicle breakdowns, ill health, security needs and other unforeseen emergencies during the journey.”

According to him, the sophisticated GPS-based models did not take off in India since they involved gadgets costing as much as Rs 30,000 per vehicle, an investment that truck owners were not prepared to make. Also, truck operators needed computers and users with a working knowledge of computer applications.

BOW’s answer

When BOW attempted to design an alternative system, it determined that the system would respect certain crucial criteria—the new system had to be the most economical, provide information even without a computer and Internet availability, and even an illiterate person would be able to operate it.

BOW’s vehicle tracking system, perfected on the basis of an interactive voice response system (IVRS) functions without the need to fix any additional gadget to the vehicle, as is the case with GPS.

The BOW system involves establishing tracking points, usually STD booths having BOW tie-ups, and located at convenient places like truck bays, dhabas, petrol pumps and check posts on national and state highways. Drivers who are given BOW cards furnish information about the vehicle’s current location, date, time and destination (plus any other message) to tracking point operators, who pass those details on to the nearest area franchisee office online, where data compiling and transmission takes place. This information is made available to subscribers via both online and offline means.

BOW’s IVRS helps truck drivers provide information over the telephone from any location in the country at just the cost of a local call.

Network

BOW is providing its services through an all-India franchisee network. The company is setting up master franchisees in all state capitals and major cities, and area franchisees in all districts and business headquarters across the country.

“We have 34 master franchisees and 121 area franchisees covering all important states, except Madhya Pradesh and a few North-Eastern states. We will soon be increasing the number of master franchisees by adding 18 others and the number of area franchisees by 25,” Selvaraj reveals. In the first phase BOW is targeting a minimum of 100 franchisees and 600 tracking points, which roughly covers the country. Later, it plans to expand to interior locations.

BOW has its own servers with high-speed data transmission, auto data back-up and recovery, besides high levels of security, which assure high quality service without interruption.

“Our franchisees will get immediate returns on registration of vehicles, and very good monthly returns thereafter,” Selvaraj says. “Master franchisees and area franchisees will get complete technical, operational, marketing, promotional and advertising support from us to render high-quality services to customers. By using the BOW service, transport owners can leverage and streamline their services in order to reach out to newer customers and ensure high satisfaction for existing customers.”

Savings

The BOW service costs a one-time registration fee of Rs 500, and monthly service charges of Rs 100 to Rs 300, depending on whether the vehicle for tracking has a state or national transport permit.

In the present situation, a driver has to make long distance calls to communicate with the owners during a journey, so the monthly telephone charges for a running vehicle could be quite high. “On an average, a truck operator with a national permit can save a minimum of Rs 1,000 to 2,000 by using our service,” claims Selvaraj.

“Since BOW’s vehicle tracking system is most economical and highly reliable, we are expecting a minimum 60 percent of truck operators to utilise the services,” says Selvaraj. The company is targeting a minimum of two lakh vehicles to begin with, and “by the end of this financial year we hope we can reach six lakh vehicles,” adds a very optimistic Selvaraj.

sankar@expresscomputeronline.com