Using reservations, ensuring safety part of solving truck parking crisis

Editor's note: This is the continuation of a feature story posted earlier this week. Read part 1 and Part 2. 

Anthony Petittee, CEO of TruckPark, said the time it takes search­ing for free parking comes with a cost, as drivers are not only using driving time but also burning fuel and adding to the maintenance costs.

“With TruckPark, you can use our application and book on demand or book ahead of time,” he said, adding that while the app is free, drivers pay the location’s reserved rate.

Operating a truck costs about $75 an hour, Wells said. “If we can save them an hour and the stress of finding parking, paying $12-$15 for parking seems like nothing,” he said.

Brian Heath, CEO of IIS, said studies by the Federal Highway Administration show that 83% of drivers routinely take 30 minutes or longer to find parking.

Chelette said technology saves time, even if drivers don’t pay for space.

“The apps help you find a lot of the truck stops out there that have park­ing. That type of tool really helps you,” he said, especially as parking lots fill up earlier and earlier.

“Now, because of how it is, everybody gets up to start their day at 5 in the morn­ing,” he continued. “They have to park at 6 p.m. because they’re out of hours. It used to be you could pull in at midnight and get a space.”

Tom Liutkus, spokesman for TravelCenters of America, said managers do physi­cal counts of available spaces every two hours, and TA shares the data through the Park My Truck app and TruckSmart app, which also shows historical avail­ability for a given date or time.

“Sharing information is beneficial to us, as we have larger parking facilities, and external channels are great ways of advertising that fact,” he said.

Robin Puthusseril, vice president of Greater Chicago I-55, said the location gives drivers three hours of free parking, and drivers who need longer can obtain free parking by purchasing a minimum amount of fuel or services.

She noted she has not seen demand for a reservation system and does not use any technology to connect drivers with available spaces.

There are real costs associated with constructing additional parking. Iowa 80 added four acres of parking last year, which resulted in 126 new spots. Between the engineering, dirt work, lighting, and concrete and asphalt, costs ran about $13,000 a spot, estimated Delia Moon Meier, senior vice president for Iowa 80 Group.

Steve Scherrer, CEO of Chicago Truck Parking, said he spends about $1,000 per acre per month to maintain the park­ing areas. “My mortgage payment is $83,000 a month, then you put on the taxes, operating costs and camera moni­toring. It is an expensive venture,” he said.

Ensuring Safety

Ellen Voie, president of Women In Truck­ing, said parking creates an important safety issue, not only as drivers find a safe place to park but also so they stay safe throughout their rest period.

“They go to truck stops with light­ing and fencing and security personnel going around,” and share information with each other about locations to avoid, Voie explained.

ATRI President Rebecca Brewster said conversations sur­rounding parking are essential. “I think there is an acknowledgment and under­standing that this is such a big issue for drivers. It isn’t once a week I have to stop to get rest. It is every single day,” she said.

Brewster said some shippers allow drivers to park, particularly if they’ve delayed the driver. “It certainly is not to the level it needs to be to start to help with that situation,” she said.

However, Gary Helms, a driver for Covenant Transport, said shippers are con­cerned about the liability associated with letting drivers park at their facilities.

“I can understand it to a degree, but if I’m delivering your freight to you, I’d think you’d want to let me park,” he said.