The Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) Company Ltd., Hong Kong's largest bus company, was recently awarded Hong Kong Computer Society's prestigious 2003 Information Technology (IT) Excellence in Applications Bronze Award for its new customer service hot line.

The customer service hot line was developed in conjunction with Esri China (Hong Kong) Ltd. Since it started operation, customer call handling times have been reduced to a matter of minutes, and overall call center capacity has increased by approximately 30 percent.

The map-based system enables support operators to quickly locate callers and identify the most suitable routes to their desired destinations. It permits true point-to-point routing—from any location to another within Hong Kong—with the system finding the nearest bus stop, identifying any transfers required along the route, and providing route timetables. Travel plans can be designed to take in more than 100,000 points of interest along the way. In addition, current traffic information is included so up-to-the-minute information on bus service operation can be given. All information is displayed on an onscreen map—operators no longer need to waste time thumbing through street directory pages or looking up timetables.

Mapping software from Esri includes ArcSDE, ArcInfo, and ArcIMS technology and is supported in Hong Kong by Esri China (Hong Kong).

For more information, contact Paul Tsui, director, Sales and Marketing, Esri China (Hong Kong) Ltd. (e-mail: ptsui@esrichina-hk.com) or Zitan Chen, Esri (tel.: 909-793-2853, ext. 1-1440; e-mail: zchen@esri.com).