Addressing the Truck Parking Downside – Visitor Voices

There’s no query about it— there’s a scarcity of obtainable truck parking nationwide and it’s a day by day headache for drivers and trucking firms. And it’s an enormous problem as nicely.

In response to a 2021 survey carried out by the Federal Freeway Administration (FHWA), the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and the Proprietor-Operator Impartial Drivers Affiliation (OOIDA), there is only one parking spot for each 11 drivers. Do the mathematics and what that tells you is that on any given day, about 90% of drivers won’t have a spot to park.

Our personal knowledge illustrates the day by day problem as nicely. In a 2023 report based mostly on data provided by Trucker Path cell app customers, truckers discovered “no parking obtainable” as typically as 36% of the time in numerous elements of the nation.

No matter the way you measure parking availability and contemplating the variety of vans on the street on any given day, it’s most likely not doable so as to add sufficient parking areas to clear up the issue, and even to place extra areas in the correct locations. It’s significantly difficult round metropolitan areas the place greater demand for items delivered by truck is at odds with regulatory roadblocks and strain towards the development of further truck parking.

Nationwide Downside

For many drivers, in reality, the most important problem is discovering obtainable areas the place and when they’re wanted. An ATA research put the time it takes to search for parking even greater at a mean of 56 minutes every single day.

For any actual answer to take maintain, it’s time to begin desirous about fixing this drawback on a big, nationwide scale. Truck parking have to be extra than simply obtainable; it must be discoverable.

The trade truly began addressing that challenge in 2019. After figuring out the necessity for extra consistency in disseminating truck parking availability data to drivers, the American Transportation Analysis Institute (ATRI) Analysis Advisory Committee set “Standardizing Truck Parking Data Methods” as a high precedence.  Their objective was to determine how drivers obtain truck parking availability data and their preferences for the way that data is disseminated.

API Infrastructure

Private and non-private entities have labored to assist drivers determine parking spots by deploying applied sciences that monitor availability and supply data. These options, nonetheless, are at greatest constructing blocks. What is required to actually present an efficient strategy is a expertise technique that eliminates silos of knowledge.

One of the vital viable prospects is to benefit from an open API infrastructure that makes it doable for all of the sources of truck parking data to be consumed into in a single, central repository. A great instance are the extremely widespread journey websites that enable entry to flight, and lodge and rental automobile data from tons of of sources in a single place.

Trying to find Parking

The important thing benefit for drivers is apparent—simpler, sooner, extra correct and present entry to data on obtainable parking. It’s also broadly recognized that the shortage of obtainable truck parking creates questions of safety for drivers who should park in undesignated areas or on freeway shoulders or ramps.

Drivers may notice measurable worth in different methods as nicely.

Yearly, in keeping with the FHWA, ATA, and OOIDA research, the time spent searching for parking provides as much as 12% in misplaced earnings, and people losses are compounded when drivers cease earlier to make sure they’ve a spot to park earlier than operating out of Hours-of-Service (HOS) time. 

For trucking firms, in keeping with ATA, misplaced time spent trying to find parking drives up misplaced income to the tune of $5,500 per driver annually. And with the trade needing an estimated 78,000 drivers (as of 2022), that additionally creates the necessity for much more operators, elevating recruiting and retention prices as nicely.

For parking areas and suppliers of apps that supply entry to parking data, there could be elevated publicity to a wider viewers of drivers, not simply prospects who use their proprietary platforms. By way of progressive choices, they may additionally develop into extra aggressive, utilizing the expertise to attract in drivers to their services the place a spread of different providers are additionally obtainable.

Prime Precedence

The shortage of obtainable truck parking has been a top-five challenge within the annual ATRI Crucial Points within the Trucking Trade survey since 2015. In 2022, it was ranked third general and for the third 12 months in a row was the highest concern for drivers, above compensation. In 2023, ATRI included increasing truck parking in its record of high analysis priorities.

Truck parking considerations are getting elevated consideration at federal and state ranges, together with grants to increase capability in publicly obtainable areas and at freight-centric areas. Methods additionally give attention to encouraging governments to take away regulatory boundaries limiting the development and enlargement of truck parking services.

Whereas that exercise and personal efforts to create extra parking as nicely are essential and crucial, the reply is not only about extra areas; it’s about discovering them.

Can the truck parking drawback actually be solved? With the visibility supplied by a broadly accessible, truck parking availability data clearinghouse, it may be.