By Rajeswari Prasad
Established in 1979, City Services has grown and developed to maintain a prominent position as a creative logistics company. Working as a contract carrier for numerous schools, institutions, travel operators and MNCs, the 35-year-old company is known for its excellent track record of safety and maintenance. Apart from running its own fleet, the Kolkata-based firm is also having hired buses sourced from associate partners.
Sharing his company’s plans for 2020 and the roadmap, Mr. Anurag Agarwal, Director, City Services, says: “Ever since we started our operation in the industry we have tried to improve the services we render to the society on a continuous basis. We have expanded our scope of operation over the years and have moved forward by setting fresh targets. By 2020 we plan to integrate more technology into our day-to-day operations in order to improve efficiency and to ensure on-board safety for passengers. We also intend increasing woman employment over the years and to reduce carbon footprint through optimizing our operation and introducing electric vehicles.”
City Services provides an opportunity to the under-privileged women by employing them as lady escorts in its school buses. This creates a huge potential for women, besides promoting women empowerment. By 2020 the company wants women to constitute one-third of its total workforce.
The company feels that technology has to be substantially integrated into the transport ecosystem in order to improve customer experience and safety and to solve complex route algorithms. “We have already installed GPS integrated with RFID technology in our buses so that students can be tracked by their parents. We have started an App-based real time tracking of individual students through our own APP “my school bus” (currently available only on android). We plan to implement it across the board so that it is available to all parents availing our services within 2020. Wi-Fi-enabled cameras installed in buses have enhanced on-board safety with continuous real time monitoring”, states Mr. Agarwal.
City Services was the first agency in Kolkata to introduce air-conditioned school buses so that children are guarded against pollution and their ride to and from the school is more comfortable. Being a socially responsible organization it also focuses on fuel consumption and passenger safety. “We have an ambitious plan to add electric vehicles to our fleet by 2020, and we are working in close association with a US-based organization to make it a commercially viable project. It will enable us to move to the next generation of operation and a step closer towards a greener India. Over the next few years our emphasis will be on technology, so that the experience of the client, right from the enquiry stage to the conclusion of the contract, can be a seamless and smooth one”, adds the dynamic Director.