Truck parking is consistently ranked among the top issues facing professional truck drivers on a day-to-day basis. In fact, it was ranked as the top issue by drivers in the American Transportation Research Institute’s most recent Top Industry Issues survey. Earlier this year, Overdrive readers likewise put parking capacity as their No. 1 ask for the incoming Biden DOT.
With parking capacity infrastructure investment long uncertain in Washington, to help alleviate a clear capacity strain in spots nationwide, a number of states have implemented various forms of technology – roadside signs ahead of rest areas, online modules – to alert truckers in real time of available parking. Such technology helps reduce the chance that drivers miss legal opportunities to park. Some states have also implemented systems that can alert drivers on in-cab telematics systems or mobile apps of available parking.
ATRI studied drivers' use of both types of systems, finding a third of respondents use both apps and signs to help find parking, while nearly 25% reported using only apps and 14% using only signs. Combined with our own survey of Overdrive readers, a few key findings emerge around the utility parking-info systems hold for truckers. Improvements in touchless delivery direct to the cabs of working haulers could be the holy grail for mobile-comms systems' efficacy. For roadside signs, it's all about accuracy and sign placement.
After ATRI's study was released, Overdrive surveyed its own mostly owner-operator readers about parking-info use.
Among readers answering some form of "Yes" to the question in the above chart, 61% reported using both apps and signs, while 32% said they only use apps or in-cab communications. Just 7% relied only on signs.
Those results bolster the strategies of states that have moved more quickly on delivering information via online networks, such as Iowa, said longtime truck parking advocate and former owner-operator Scott Grenerth, now with the Truck Specialized Parking Services company. After building infrastructure to accurately count available/not available spaces at dozens of sites, Iowa "elected to instrument far more sites and not the signs." The state put in place an online info-delivery system in tandem with that in an effort to reach more drivers, more quickly, he said. "The signs are not cheap. There’s a lot that goes into that, and a lot to maintain."
Various kinds of space-occupancy detection are used. They range from crowd-sourced information presented through some apps (the popular Trucker Path app is a notable example) to monitoring technologies that use highly accurate, automated cameras to count available truck parking spaces, ideal in ATRI's view. Cameras are not impacting the pavement, which is important during winter freeze/thaw cycles in many regions.
