Finding available and safe parking is not a new problem. It has been a well-documented problem for over a decade. Rather than slowly improving with the increased media coverage and persistent criticism, the problem has only intensified. Many states have closed down rest areas as part of cost cutting strategies, and add to that this year’s changes to hours of service (HOS) rules, and the well-covered 2018 capacity crunch.
With the ELD mandate now in full swing, the industry is experiencing many issues that have become magnified because of the inflexibility of the new rulings. Two of the biggest issues the industry is facing are excessive dock times at both shippers and receivers, and parking shortages.
More trucks on the road, more requirements to stop and rest, and fewer locations for trucks to stop. What could go wrong?
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) figures say there are about 300,000 parking spaces. While it’s hard to assess just how many Over-the-Road (OTR) drivers are on the road and looking for parking at any given time on any given day/night, it’s easy to see evidence of parking overflows and to listen to the drivers themselves.
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, recently released the results of its Truck Parking Diary research, where commercial drivers provided detailed documentation of their challenges in looking for safe, available truck parking. Participating drivers recorded their parking experiences and issues over 14 days of driving, representing over 4,700 unique documented parking stops.
ATRI’s diary research also documented the amount of lost revenue time that drivers experience by parking earlier than they otherwise needed to, just to find parking. With an average of 56 minutes of revenue drive time sacrificed by drivers per day, the parking shortage effectively reduces an individual driver’s productivity by 9,300 revenue-earning miles a year, which equates to lost wages of $4,600 annually. The ATRI study also found that between the hours of 4 pm and 11:59 pm — when many drivers are ready to park for the evening — 63% of drivers are taking 15 minutes or more to look for parking.
As truckers struggle to find parking, many state and law enforcement officials have noticed an increase in unauthorized truck parking along major transit corridors and in dense metropolitan areas, the ATRI study found.
So what can truckers do? Typically you hear to use available resources and always plan for the unexpected. What if that’s still not enough?
Destination dispatchers should be able to help with suggestions for safe, local places to park. A fleet may be a preferred customer at a truck stop chain; drivers should be notified of possible stops along the way. Also recently, some major chains now offer parking reservations for preferred customers in addition to savings on fuel and food. Travel Centers of America (TA) offers an online reservation service, and Pilot Flying J’s Prime Parking program allows drivers to reserve spots and pay at the location or through the myPilot app.
Spurring new parking capacity is what is truly needed, and there is some evidence of substantive attempts to move the needle. One piece of good news happening from Federal Funds is an initiative called Jason’s Law. The law is named after Jason Rivenburg, a truck driver who was robbed and murdered in 2009 after pulling off the road to rest at an abandoned South Carolina gas station. The law has brought national attention to the parking problem and the need for better places to park, not to mention safety.
Also, as FreightWaves has previously reported, there is an eight-state initiative that begins with Iowa’s plans to make parking easier along Interstate 80 through technology. The Iowa system will be available as a smart-phone app and to companies who provide in-cab information systems, as well as truck dispatchers. Under a $25 million federal TIGER grant that Iowa along with Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin secured under a division of AASHTO, the Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials, the state will use its portion to install both radar sensors and in-ground “puck” sensors to help identify available truck parking spots at 21 public IDOT rest areas and 21 private locations along heavily-traveled Interstate 80.
Each participating state is creating a plan of action that specifically addresses its own needs and also works with other states. Iowa is the first state to announce its plan to create an electronic system. In coordination with the other seven states, the parking information management system will eventually interconnect into a regional system. The new system will be developed and tested over the next year and is expected to be up and running by January of 2019.
Also, MAP-21 is requiring research from the FWHA to produce a “comparative assessment of truck parking facilities in each state.” The agency’s 2014 survey of truck drivers sought insights into state-to-state variances in truck parking, ranking states by available parking spaces per 100,000 miles of annual truck vehicle miles.
The FHWA’s planned survey of truck stops with state officials seeks more information on truck parking situations state-by-state. The agency says it plans to ask respondents about the number of spaces, demand for parking in their state, truck parking information systems, truck parking plans, as well as any impediments to providing adequate truck parking capacity.
The agency is accepting public comment on its planned survey through May 23, inviting industry stakeholders to provide input on what questions or information should be collected in its survey of truck stops and DOT officials.
This stubborn issue in the industry is also one that with improvements would potentially quietly add to driver retention, as it is just one issue that currently adds to deep frustrations.
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Billy Hunter
Instead of companies wasting money on recruiting brochures why not sponsor rest area’s to show the driver’s what that company has to offer tv room,showers safe and clean facilities I was a driver for 9 yrs and parking was always a huge issue I81 thru TN,VA NO!!! parking after 6pm because I40 and I81 I75 are close merging Interstates these big companies need to think about their drivers after all dont they say the driver makes that company work….. Billy Ray Hunter AKA WILD BILL….
Steve Taylor
For one, some of the existing rest areas are out dated, and the way they are designed you can’t park if there happens to be an open spot in between two trucks. If they would put more of an angel on the spots when you pull out you wouldn’t have to run up on the sidewalk or wake the driver up beside of you to get out.
James Crader
The state of Virginia does not allow parking at weigh stations, this needs to change for one
Jason
First off, we could all learn the fine art of proof-reading if we want to be taken seriously. Why give them more amno to think of us as "dumb truck drivers"?
Now, there’s a reason why we’ve been FORCED into using ELDs, and that’s because ALL truck drivers turned their logbooks into "coloring books". Why was this done? It wasn’t so much the reason that drivers just wanted to run more to make more, it was done to make sure we could get to a place to park. Cops love getting their God-complex started with "Well you should’ve trip-planned better, now here’s your ticket.". I did trip-plan, I even figured in for an extra safe haven or two so that I could surely find a place to park at 1:00a.m. But regardless, there just simply isn’t enough places to park. Or maybe I got heldup by as accident or new construction, ELDs don’t care (and neither do the police). This is why I tell everyone that ELDs are simply nothing more than a money racket. Ironically, I’m writing this while sitting in a No Parking Zone, on a side street, just outside of an over-filled truck stop.
Look, politicians are nothing more than brick walls. Scream, beg, plead, and petition all you want, they’re not going to hear you because they simply don’t care. Eight out of 48, what does that tell you? Hell, where do you think they got the money to fund this study and the minor improvements? From our back pockets. If they really actually gave a s..t, they would just simply let us park wherever we set the brakes and leave us the f..k alone.
Do you remember the line in the movie Ferris Buellers (sp) Day Off, "You can’t respect someone that licks your …"? Well because we’re the most regulated industry in the world, we’re forced to be a bunch of … lickers, this is why they (EVERYONE with a pulse) give us zero respect.
Stop wasting your time with this article, they’ll do what they want and there’s nothing we can do to bring upon any kind of positive change for ourselves.
Jason
First off, we could all learn the fine art of proof-reading if we want to be taken seriously. Why give them more amno to think of us as "dumb truck drivers"?
Now, there’s a reason why we’ve been FORCED into using ELDs, and that’s because ALL truck drivers turned their logbooks into "coloring books". Why was this done? It wasn’t so much the reason that drivers just wanted to run more to make more, it was done to make sure we could get to a place to park. Cops love getting their God-complex started with "Well you should’ve trip-planned better, now here’s your ticket.". I did trip-plan, I even figured in for an extra safe haven or two so that I could surely find a place to park at 1:00a.m. But regardless, there just simply isn’t enough places to park. Or maybe I got heldup by as accident or new construction, ELDs don’t care (and neither do the police). This is why I tell everyone that ELDs are simply nothing more than a money racket. Ironically, I’m writing this while sitting in a No Parking Zone, on a side street, just outside of an over-filled truck stop.
Look, politicians are nothing more than brick walls. Scream, beg, plead, and petition all you want, they’re not going to hear you because they simply don’t care. Eight out of 48, what does that tell you? Hell, where do you think they got the money to fund this study and the minor improvements? From our back pockets. If they really actually gave a s..t, they would just simply let us park wherever we set the brakes and leave us the f..k alone.
Do you remember the line in the movie Ferris Buellers (sp) Day Off, "You can’t respect someone that licks your …"? Well because we’re the most regulated industry in the world, we’re forced to be a bunch of … lickers, this is why they (EVERYONE with a pulse) give us zero respect.
Stop wasting your time with this article, they’ll do what they want and there’s nothing we can do to bring upon any kind of positive change for ourselves.
John
Have you heard #redfored… Arizona used it to strike for schools. .. I wonder what would happen if ALL DRIVERS STOPPED WHEREVER THEY WERE FOR 2 DAYS… 48 HOURS… but drivers don’t have the balls (sorry ladies) … to stand up for themselves. .. California needs to change that 55 map outside of city limits crap…..
John
25million could be used for truck parking. Better then this electronic shit that some of these older guys wouldn’t understand anyway
John
They need to reevaluate the h.o.s. rules. Shippers and receivers need to be able to be held responsible some how some way. There is no need to shut down after 5 hours of driving because you sit at a receiver or shipper. They want us to be safe but want us to get up at 5a.m. go to bed at 5 p.m. and up at 3 a.m. I’d like to see them do that. And not be more tired then they were normally. What’s wrong with the old rule 10 driving 8 resting… big difference…. cuts parking issues… and change the 70/8 day rule 80/7 SOUNDS GOOD BUT FAT CHANCE IN THAT….. put someone in office that use to be a DRIVER WOULD DEFINITELY HELP