New Delhi, [India] September 25 (ANI): Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has expanded its DriveFresh initiative to over 8,000 outlets, covering around one-third of its network of 25,000 fuel stations, with the company prioritising prominent highways, cities and natural driving destinations, Subhankar Sen, Director (Marketing), BPCL, told ANI.
“Our network is 25,000-strong fuel stations, and today we are very happy to share that we have covered one-third. Over 8,000 DriveFresh outlets are there, and these are on prominent highways, in prominent cities and at natural driving destinations,” Sen told ANI in an interview.
DriveFresh is BPCL’s initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, to provide clean, safe and hygienic washrooms across key travel routes. The initiative offers well-lit facilities, proper sanitation and regular upkeep at BPCL retail outlets, making stops more comfortable and convenient during long journeys.
On future plans, Sen said BPCL aspires to reach 50 per cent coverage over the next few months, while prioritising driving routes and destinations where the need is felt the most.
“Our priority is long-distance travel because our service showed that this is where the need is felt the most. In cities and urban markets, you are still living from home and reaching office, so the need is always there, but long-distance travel is where you have a lot of uncertainties,” Sen said.
Sen said this is where travellers need access to a reliable place to relieve themselves. BPCL wants DriveFresh across its entire network, while ensuring consistency and reliability as the initiative expands.
“Eventually, we would love to be in a state where we can stand up and say that across the network, we have DriveFresh. But for us, it is not a number game,” Sen said.
Explaining the genesis of DriveFresh, Sen said the initiative was conceived to make consumers’ journeys more meaningful and pleasurable, with clean and hygienic facilities playing an important role in improving the overall travel experience.
“That is the genesis of DriveFresh. We came into DriveFresh with the single emotion that we want to make the consumer’s journey much more meaningful and pleasurable, and we want them to complete that journey with good memories. The whole purpose is to provide a clean and hygienic pit stop and make the journey better,” he said, adding that BPCL’s message is, “Be fresh and drive fresh.”
Sen said DriveFresh is aligned with the Swachh Bharat Mission and aims to address the uncertainty travellers face when using public restrooms, particularly while travelling through unfamiliar places.
He said maintaining standards across the network has required a change in attitude, behaviour and approach among BPCL’s employees and channel partners, with the company treating DriveFresh as a mission rather than a task.
Sen said the company’s focus is on ensuring that employees and channel partners take ownership of the initiative and that customers leave the outlets with a positive experience.
BPCL has also digitalised its DriveFresh outlets, with each outlet being monitored centrally on four parameters: temperature, humidity, total volatile organic compounds and odour.
“There are different levels of monitoring by our territory teams, state teams, regional teams and national team, with exception reports coming in whenever any single attribute of any outlet goes beyond tolerance limits,” Sen said.
Sen said digital monitoring enables BPCL to track the performance of each DriveFresh location consistently and in real time, while also helping the company recognise teams when the facilities are maintained well.
On challenges, he said consistency in behaviour remains a continuous work in progress because BPCL is dealing with people across different profiles and geographies. He, however, said the company does not see challenges on the hardware front, as its repair and maintenance team takes care of DriveFresh locations. (ANI)
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