Technology comes to the aid of MCC

MCC saves 48 pc on fuel, operating costs after introducing GPS in its transport fleet

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) which fitted Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to its garbage shifting vehicles about a year and half ago has started reaping good results.

The new system has not only helped to discipline its drivers who otherwise were dumping the waste at other than the designated places according to their convenience but has also helped in making the process cost effective. Since then, the expenditure on fuel and maintenance has come down by 48 percent while the overall efficiency has improved by 60 percent.

MCC went for the GPS in April 2010 to handle its fleet of 325 garbage shifting vehicles, in view of the increasing incidents of the waste shifting vehicles dumping the garbage at places of their convenience. Also the drivers were submitting inflated bills towards the fuel and maintenance cost claiming more trips and it was impossible to handle fleet of 325 vehicles without a suitable monitoring and control mechanism.

JnNURM Superintending Engineer Suresh Babu said that with the help of GPS it is now possible to monitor the location of any vehicle 24X7, sitting in the Control Room and has helped to prevent unauthorised dumping of garbage, increasing the efficiency garbage clearance.

Speaking to TNIE, MCC Commissioner KS Raikar said the new system has provision to send SMS alerts to officers monitoring the fleet about movement of each vehicle. Another interesting feature is that it gives accurate information of the weight of the garbage and from where it was lifted. The SOS facility in case of vehicle breakdown has helped pick-up efficiency.

Another benefit of GPS was the generation of automated Trip Sheet for the truck drivers. Due to complete automation, human intervention is eliminated, with the result calculation of the number of trips for each driver as well as the
route to be followed is given in the form of a print-out as soon as the driver reports for duty. Apart from this report of attendance of every driver and his daily working hours can be generated instantly.