Truck parking has been a top concern for drivers for years, and even though the government is considering investing hundreds of millions to build spaces, it could be a long time before projects are completed, leaving the private sector to innovate its own solutions. One new player hopes to solve the problem by redefining what could be considered a parking space by allowing private property owners to rent space to drivers.
In December 2022, Evan Shelley launched Truck Parking Club, in that short time allowing 40 individual businesses across different sectors—trucking companies with extra spaces, self-storage companies, industrial real-estate companies, landowners with vacant lots—in 12 states to earn money by allowing truckers to park on their property.
“We believe one of the biggest issues with the truck parking shortages is just the lack of awareness of available parking in real-time,” Shelley said. “Our mission is to put it all on one platform to where you’d have one place to go to know all available truck parking in your immediate area and just give that convenience to the trucker.”
On the Truck Parking Club website, drivers can search for parking spots across the country and choose to rent the space by the day or by the month. Bookings can be made anywhere from days in advance to minutes.
Property owners can apply to be on the site, and are vetted and registered by Truck Parking Club. From there, owners set their own rates and book reservations with drivers individually. There is also a review system for property owners and drivers to leave feedback about the transaction.
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Truck parking? Not in my backyard.
The parking shortage has existed for years. Drivers have ranked the lack of parking as their top concern for three years in a row, according to the 2022 Top Industry Issues report from the American Transportation Research Institute. The 2019 Jason’s Law survey from the Federal Highway Administration reported there are 313,000 spaces, but with 3.5 million truckers on the road, that results in only about one space for every 11 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations.
“Truck parking is at a crisis level across the United States,” said EVP Lewie Pugh of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association told a Washington state House committee hearing on Feb. 15.
The idea came when Shelley was working in commercial and industrial real estate. In 2021 he was working on a real estate deal in which he wanted to build truck parking. Despite the property being in an industrial zone, the municipality didn’t permit him to.
That led Shelley on a path to explore solutions to a longstanding problem, partnering with Keith Crystal, who operates truck parking rentals in the Southeast as CEO of storemytruck.com, to found Truck Parking Club.
Launching construction projects is complicated by NIMBY—the “not in my backyard” mentality that complicates truck parking construction problems due to the public’s concern that additional truck parking could bring traffic, noise, and pollution.
Truck Parking Club doesn’t allow property owners in residential areas to post on the website. Nevertheless, Shelley believes the public needs to be aware of just how important parking is for the supply chain.
“Let’s say someone complains about a facility in their area because they just don’t like the way it looks, and let’s say it removes 100 parking spaces,” Shelley said. “That market, the cost per space per day or month goes up. That cost gets passed down to, eventually, the consumer, and that consumer is going to pay more for their goods.”
