It is often said that talent cannot be restricted by the age of a person. For some, leadership qualities take years to blossom, but for some leadership is a born trait.
Right from his school days Mr. Anil Garg, Managing Director, Tour India Tours and Travels Pvt. Ltd. (TITT), had a penchant for organizing sports meets, leading in cultural festivities and representing the school at the State level. What began as one person’s passion for organizing one-day picnics, camps and tours for school children and providing transportation needed for the same is today an organization committed to customer satisfaction, on the back of its unique packages and bus services consisting of school buses as well as buses for religious tours (all over India), trekking adventures, city tours and staff transportation, etc.
Beginning & growth
In 1985 Mr. Garg started Tour India Tours & Travels, a travel venture, all on his own, which is today considered to be a pioneer of one-day school picnics and scout camps. Speaking to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Garg reminisces: “In my college days I got associated with the Congress and joined the north central Mumbai district Youth Congress. During the Centenary celebrations of the Indian National Congress, I was an active member of the Cultural Committee of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (MPYCC). I had also campaigned for the late Shri Sunil Dutt. Under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, I also had motivated more than 1,000 youth to participate in the Dharavi Path Yatra. While still being associated with Congress activities, I came up with the idea of organizing one-day picnics, camps and tours for school children and providing transportation needed for the same. In 1989, within four years of starting the company, we took more than 10,000 students to Bangalore to attend the Jamboree Scout camp where Rajiv Gandhiji was the Chief Guest.”
What led to the further growth of TITT was Mr. Garg’s child like enthusiasm and dynamic personality to explore more in the space of tours and travels. In 1995 the company started its association with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) with the start of the Catamaran service at the Gateway of India. He also took active interest in promoting MTDC’s Karla Water Park at Lonavala. During this time Mr. Garg’s interest in the transport and travel industry business, particularly in facilitating the school students, grew. He had his own fleet of school buses with Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu, as his first venture.
“Over a period of time, as we got more contracts from schools, we increased our fleets. Currently, TITT is an authorized school bus contractor for six institutions and an educational tour organizer for more than 50 schools in Mumbai,” reveals Mr. Garg. As the business grew, his daily involvement with schools and school children inspired him to turn into an educationalist, and he started the St Mary’s High School in Kalyan and Kandivali in Mumbai.
Keeping in mind the safety and security of students travelling in school buses, TITT’s fleet are well equipped with CCTV, VTS, GPS, RFID cards, fire extinguishers, first aid box, mobile phones, etc., and manned by experienced drivers, cleaners and lady attendants. He discloses: “Our staff hiring criteria is through media resources, advertisements, digital media and walk-in interviews. Our bus crew are trained by experts and professionals in association with RTO officers on safety, security, driving techniques, crisis management procedures, do’s and don’ts, fire safety, etc. Our buses are deployed by lady attendants for safety of students. We also have an SMS system, for e.g., ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) & ETD (Estimated Time of Departure) messages and RFID, along with live bus tracking that keeps the parents aware of their child’s whereabouts. Parent / Guardian bearer cards are issued for school authorities, on displaying of such cards kids are handed over to the bearer of the card.”
Not to make any less of the fleet maintenance, TITT has a robust team to handle vehicles. Mr. Garg says: “Our maintenance team is equipped with well-trained and senior mechanics, electricians and a breakdown van with all the required tools to handle the breakdown and minimize the downtime of the vehicles. Our back-office team works on the route planning and time management of our buses through manual route surveys and through the GPS route, mapping zoning, etc., and plans are made accordingly to ensure optimum utilization of our fleets.”
Travel ecosystem
TITT is also the General Sales Agent of a number of resorts and water parks such as Essel World, Water Kingdom, Tikuji Ni Wadi, Great Escape, and Silent Hill. Mr. Garg’s keen interest in tourism can be vouched by his association with travel organizations such as ITDC, MTDC, the Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI), MSCBOA, and the Singapore Tourism Board.
“Besides school buses, we are also having a good presence in industry into verticals like Cars & Buses on Hire, Air / Bus / Rail tickets bookings, Package Tours, Visa Assistance, Hotel and Resort bookings, MICE tours and one-day picnics, and we specialize in students educational short & long tours, field trips, industrial visits, project tours, eco-tourism, etc.,” he adds.
As the business grew, Mr. Garg also outgrew his role. Today, he is also a founder and President of the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA), Maharashtra, having around 40,000 school buses. Since inception, he has successfully fought for the rights of school bus owners and also has actively taken part in various protests, agitations against Government and RTOs favoring the rights of school bus owners and school bus safety policies. He is also an active member of the Suraksha Committee, as also part of NISA and various other organizations related to school bus safety and owner’s welfare and well-being. “The biggest challenge in our school bus segment is illegal operations of private vans, parking issues, unnecessary harassment to our bus crews by traffic cops & RTOs. We, with our SBOA, are fighting against it since years,” he explains.
Mr. Garg’s love for education and school children have made him a film producer too. Following the Prime Minister’s dream slogan BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO, he has made a movie by name ‘I Am Banni – Daughter of Kutch’. This film is based on the struggle of a girl child who fights against all odds to get education. The film was selected by the jury for opening premiere for the International Children Film Festival (ICFF) held at Lucknow and was liked by viewers.
“I have seen a huge difference in the way education is provided in urban and rural areas. With ‘I Am Banni – Daughter of Kutch’, we wanted to show that girls are no less than boys. There are various education policies, but no implementation. We wanted to change the mindset of people and are trying our best to make the movie reach out to as many people as possible, including trial shows at schools,” adds Mr. Garg.