Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study – Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries
December 2016
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study – Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries
December 2016
Caroline Boris Research Analyst American Transportation Research Institute Minneapolis, MN
Rebecca M. Brewster President and COO American Transportation Research Institute Atlanta, GA
950 N. Glebe Road, Suite 210 Arlington, VA 22203 www.atri-online.org
ATRI BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ms. Judy McReynolds Mr. Robert E. Low Chairman of the ATRI Board President and CEO Chairman, President & CEO Prime Inc. ArcBest Corporation Springfield, MO Fort Smith, AR Mr. Rich McArdle Mr. David S. Congdon President Vice Chairman and CEO UPS Freight Old Dominion Freight Line Richmond, VA Thomasville, NC Mr. Jeffrey J. McCaig Mr. Michael L. Ducker Chairman President & CEO Trimac Transportation, Inc. FedEx Freight Houston, TX Memphis, TN Mr. Gregory L. Owen Mr. Rich Freeland Head Coach & CEO President & COO Ability/ Tri-Modal Transportation Cummins Inc. Services Columbus, IN Carson, CA
Mr. Hugh H. Fugleberg Ms. Annette Sandberg President & COO President & CEO Great West Casualty Company Transsafe Consulting, LLC South Sioux City, NE Davenport, WA
Mr. Dave Huneryager Ms. Rebecca M. Brewster President & CEO President & COO Tennessee Trucking Association American Transportation Nashville, TN Research Institute Atlanta, GA Mr. Derek Leathers President & CEO Mr. Chris Spear Werner Enterprises President & CEO Omaha, NE American Trucking Associations Arlington, VA Mr. Chris Lofgren President & CEO Schneider National, Inc. Green Bay, WI
ATRI RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Mr. Steve L. Niswander Mr. Chad England Mr. Jonathan R. Peters, PhD RAC Chairman Chief Executive Officer Professor of Finance, VP, Safety Policy & C.R. England Department of Business Regulatory Relations College of Staten Island – The Groendyke Transport, Inc. Mr. Paul J. Enos City University of New York Chief Executive Officer Mr. Doug Bennett Nevada Trucking Association Ms. Karen Rasmussen Director, Operations & President & CEO Business Development Ms. Sherri Garner HELP Inc. U.S. AutoLogistics, L.L.C. Brumbaugh President & CEO Ms. Barbara Robinson Ms. Amy Boerger Garner Transportation Group Director Vice President – North American Truck Dealers (ATD) American Engine Business Dr. David W. Guess McLean, VA Cummins Inc. Executive Vice President, Safety & Regulatory Affairs Mr. Wellington F. Roemer, III Mr. Andrew Boyle Usher Transport, Inc. President & CEO Executive VP & CFO Wellington F. Roemer Boyle Transportation Mr. Sanford Hodes Insurance, Inc. Senior Vice President &
Mr. Randy Boyles Deputy General Counsel Mr. Steve Rogers Senior Vice President, Ryder System, Inc. Tailored Solutions Vice President, Truckload PeopleNet Mr. Shannon Lively Operations Vice President – Planning and J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. Ms. Cheryl Bynum Engineering Mr. Brett A. Sant Manager, SmartWay ABF Freight System, Inc. Transport Partnership VP, Safety and Risk U.S. Environmental Protection Ms. Michelle D. Livingstone Management Agency Vice President – Knight Transportation, Inc. Transportation Mr. Louis Campion The Home Depot Ms. Andrea Sequin President Director, Regulatory Services Maryland Motor Truck Mr. Vladimir Livshits, Ph.D. Schneider National, Inc. Association, Inc. System Analysis Program Manager Mr. Brandon Shafer Mr. Michael Conyngham Maricopa Association of Director of Health and Safety Director of Research Governments UPS Freight International Brotherhood of Teamsters Mr. Chris McLoughlin Mr. Keith Tuttle Cargo Risk Manager Founder Mr. Bob Costello C.H. Robinson Motor Carrier Service Inc. Chief Economist & Senior VP American Trucking Mr. Scott Mugno Mr. Ronald Uriah Associations Vice President, Safety, Vice President, Safety Sustainability and Vehicle Pitt-Ohio, LLC Mr. Tom Cuthbertson Maintenance Vice President, Regulatory FedEx Ground Mr. Tom Weakley Compliance Director of Operations Omnitracs LLC Ms. Brenda Neville Owner-Operator Independent
President Drivers Association Foundation Mr. Dennis Dellinger Iowa Motor Truck Association President Mr. Rusty Weiss Cargo Transporters Mr. Dean Newell Director, External Research Vice President, Safety DriveCam-Lytx Mr. Duke Drinkard Maverick USA, Inc. Energy Manager Mr. Geoffrey Wood Southeastern Freight Lines Major David L. Palmer VP, Operations & Safety
Major, Texas Hwy Patrol Canadian Trucking Alliance Mr. Chip Duden Division Vice President, Strategic Texas Dept. of Public Safety Business Analytics Werner Enterprises
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ACRONYMS ...... 3 1.0 BACKGROUND ...... 4 2.0 INTRODUCTION ...... 6 3.0 METHODOLOGY ...... 7 4.0 RESULTS ...... 8 4.1 Driver Demographics ...... 8 4.2 Diary Participant Planning and Parking Behaviors ...... 12 4.3 Unauthorized and Undesignated Parking ...... 15 4.4 Lost Productivity...... 20 4.41 Time Spent Searching for Parking ...... 21 4.42 Remaining Drive Time ...... 26 4.5 Lost Truck Parking Capacity ...... 28 4.6 Stop Locations ...... 31 5.0 CONCLUSIONS ...... 34 7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 36 APPENDIX A ...... 39 APPENDIX B ...... 42 APPENDIX C ...... 45
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 1
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: For-Hire Industry Sector...... 8 Table 2: Fleet Size ...... 9 Table 3: Driver Operating Region Estimates and Diary Stop Locations ...... 10 Table 4: Primary Vehicle Configuration ...... 11 Table 5: Driver Age ...... 11 Table 6: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Time-of-Day ...... 17 Table 7: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Day-of-week ...... 18 Table 8: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Urban/Suburban/Rural ...... 18 Table 9: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Location Type ...... 19 Table 10: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Region ...... 20 Table 11: Search Time per Stop by Time-of-Day ...... 23 Table 12: Search Time by Reason for Stop ...... 24 Table 13: Daily Search Time by ELD Use ...... 26 Table 14: Truck Parking Spaces Occupied by Non-CMVs by Time-of-Day ...... 30 Table 15: Spaces Occupied by Non-CMVs by Location ...... 31 Table 16: Factors Influencing Where Drivers Stop for 10-Hour Required HOS Breaks ...... 32 Table 17: Stop Locations for 10-Hour Required Breaks ...... 32 Table 18: Stop Location for 10-Hour Required Break by Gender ...... 33 Table 19: Truck Parking Issues by Time-of-Day ...... 34
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Average Length of Haul ...... 9 Figure 2: Qualifying Survey Operating Regions ...... 10 Figure 3: Tools Used to Select Truck Parking Locations ...... 12 Figure 4: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking Frequency ...... 16 Figure 5: Daily Search Time ...... 21 Figure 6: Minutes of Daily Search Time by Day-of-week ...... 22 Figure 7: Daily Search Time by Region ...... 24 Figure 8: Daily Non-Productive Search Time by Willingness to Reserve Parking 25 Figure 9: Average Remaining Drive Time ...... 27 Figure 10: Average Remaining Drive Time by Compensation Structure ...... 28 Figure 11: Percent of Parking Stops with Non-CMVs Observed in Truck Parking Spots by Region ...... 29 Figure 12: Percent of Parking Stops with Non-CMVs Observed in Truck Parking Spots by Day-of-week ...... 30
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 2
LIST OF ACRONYMS
AT Autonomous Truck ATRI American Transportation Research Institute CMV Commercial Motor Vehicle DOT Department of Transportation ELD Electronic Logging Device FAST Act Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act FHWA Federal Highway Administration FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FPM Freight Performance Measures GPS Global Positioning System HOS Hours-of-Service MAASTO Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials MPH Miles per Hour RAC Research Advisory Committee RV Recreational Vehicle
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1.0 BACKGROUND
Safe, legal truck parking has historically been a major issue for motor carriers and commercial drivers, but the problem is now reaching a critical juncture. State budget woes have led to the elimination of many hundreds of public truck parking spaces. Evolving supply chains and truck operational changes have moved the truck parking “sweet spot” for many urban areas. Even planning issues such as zoning, property condemnation and “livable communities” have had a major impact on the quantity and location of critical truck parking. The American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) annual industry survey, Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry, shows “truck parking” steadily increasing in rank since 2012 – starting as 8th most important industry issue in 2012 and currently ranked as the 4th most important industry issue.1 Among truck driver respondents, “truck parking” was the third highest ranked issue in 2016.2 In addition to existing capacity issues, regulatory changes have the potential to intensify existing “Parking is a huge problem. I start truck parking shortages. In 2013, regulatory early and end my day early to help changes to commercial driver hours-of-service my chances of finding a parking (HOS) exacerbated truck parking shortages by space. The routes I travel are mostly shifting truck travel to different times of the day out west, and parking is not as hard and week.3 These HOS changes have since been to find, with the exception of urban suspended. Another regulatory change that will areas. I have found that east of the impact truck parking is the electronic logging Mississippi River, you need to be device (ELD) mandate. Change of duty status will parked way before you are out of automatically be recorded if drivers are asked to drive time, or you won’t find a legal move from a space during a required HOS break place to park.” and if drive time is exhausted where there is no Truckload Driver from nearby truck parking, drivers may park in unsafe Wisconsin or illegal locations. Finally, the movement toward autonomous vehicles could dramatically impact the role that truck parking plays, particularly in relation to mandated HOS stops.
Prior to passage of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), Congress focused attention on the lack of available safe truck parking with the Jason’s Law study requirement in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. The Jason’s Law Truck Parking Survey Results and Comparative Analysis (herein referred to as Jason’s Law Report) was released in 2015 and confirms that truck parking continues to be a major issue in the United States.4 The Federal Highway
1 American Transportation Research Institute. “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry – 2016.” Arlington, VA. October 2016. 2 Ibid. 3 Murray, Daniel & Short, J. “Quantifying Impacts from the 34-Hour Restart Provisions.” American Transportation Research Institute. Arlington, VA. April, 2015. 4 Federal Highway Administration and Department of Transportation. “Jason’s Law Truck Parking Survey Results and Comparative Analysis.” August 2015. Accessed November 23, 2016. http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/infrastructure/truck_parking/jasons_law/truckparkingsurvey/jasons_law.pdf
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Administration (FHWA) surveyed over 8,000 truck drivers, of which over 75 percent indicated they regularly have trouble finding parking at night. Numerous state Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives corroborated that truck parking is inadequate – 59 percent of states have truck parking shortages in public rest areas and 31 percent have truck parking shortages in private truck stops. Individual state DOT analyses and regional analyses of truck parking adequacy corroborate the Jason’s Law Report results. The assessment of current truck parking supply and demand in the Jason’s Law Report shows that major freight corridors and urban areas have the greatest number of truck parking spaces. However, the demand for truck parking in these locations exceeds truck parking supply, creating acute truck parking shortages on major freight corridors and near urban areas. The ongoing parking shortage was attributed to many causes, including land zoning, land prices, delivery schedules, lack of coordination between states, and disparate efforts to address parking shortages between states. Efforts to quantify truck parking adequacy are confounded by seasonal fluctuations in freight movement, severe weather events, and variations in demand due to time-of-day and day-of-week. The Jason’s Law Report and the numerous studies undertaken by state DOTs support the need for expanding truck parking capacity along major interstate corridors to prevent fatigue-related crashes and give truck drivers the means to comply with federal HOS regulations and local parking laws. However, adding the needed capacity is expensive and rarely politically acceptable, so alternative methods of managing parking resources are being explored. Examples include “reservation-for-fee” systems that guarantee a parking space in advance, establishing “safe haven” parking locations, and the use of roadside signs to inform truck drivers of real-time parking availability. In response to the growing criticality of truck parking, and the well documented shortage of public and private truck parking spaces, ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC)5 ranked “Managing Critical Truck Parking” as the most important research topic for the year at its 2015 annual meeting.
5 ATRI’s RAC is comprised of industry stakeholders representing motor carriers, trucking industry suppliers, labor and driver groups, law enforcement, federal government and academia. The RAC is charged with annually recommending a research agenda for the Institute.
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2.0 INTRODUCTION
ATRI’s 2015 RAC-directed truck parking research was conducted through a series of discrete tasks, the results of each being documented in separate reports. This report details the findings of the “Truck Parking Diaries,” which collected and analyzed qualitative data on the daily issues truck drivers face related to truck parking.
Given the scope and complexity of the truck parking issue, ATRI researched the following truck parking issues discretely and in many instances concurrently. Each report will be publicly released on completion, followed by an overall “Managing Critical Truck Parking” synthesis.
1) Understanding Truck Driver Perspectives on Parking Reservation Systems
This first Tech Memo, released in September 2015, collected and analyzed response data from driver surveys conducted in March 2015 at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), and a follow-up online truck driver survey. Data provided by more than 1,400 truck driver respondents provided insight on a variety of driver issues, including the role that “reservation-for-fee” systems may play, related space valuation and who should ultimately be responsible for truck parking fees.
2) Case Study: Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries
Much of the data collected by truck parking research studies lacks the detailed, qualitative information needed to fully understand the scope and extent of truck parking issues. This report uses truck driver diaries to examine issues and experiences from truck drivers as they ply thousands of truck driving miles. While the emphasis is on over-the-road driving experiences, all types of truck parking experiences were captured including rural versus urban, public versus private, and regional differences. Additionally, data collected from the truck parking diaries were compared to the Jason’s Law Report to confirm that granular data corroborates high-level driver survey data.
3) Utilizing Truck Global Positioning System (GPS) Data to Assess Parking Supply and Demand
This report documents how ATRI’s massive truck GPS database was used to develop more granularity on truck supply and demand, identifying truck parking demand and duration by time-of-day, day-of-week and month-of-year for any formal and/or informal locations used for truck parking. Most importantly, the data analysis provides important guidance on where truck parking investments are most needed based on utilization of existing truck parking facilities. At the time of publication, five public rest stops in Minnesota have been analyzed using this method to guide Minnesota DOT decisions on what locations would benefit most from expanding truck parking capacity.
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3.0 METHODOLOGY
Driver participants were solicited with announcements posted in major trucking industry trade press, on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking channel and through in-person contact at the Mid-America Trucking Show held March 31-April 2, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky. Interested drivers were directed to an online qualifying survey (Appendix A) to provide contact information and general operating characteristics including:
Industry segment (e.g. for-hire or private) For-hire industry sector (e.g. truckload, less-than-truckload, flatbed, etc.) Employment status Number of nights away from home each week Region(s) of operations
Over 650 drivers submitted qualifying surveys. From that cohort, the research team selected participants using a variety of criteria to ensure a diverse representation of drivers. These criteria included industry sector, employment status and region(s) of operation. Drivers who indicated they spend zero nights away from home per week were excluded as a key focus of this research was to identify challenges when looking for parking for the required 10-hour break. A total of 587 were selected for participation.
These drivers were then contacted by email to confirm their participation and asked to provide a mailing address where the diary and related materials could be shipped. There was some participant attrition as part of this process, resulting in 325 diaries being shipped to drivers. A sample diary, along with the related materials sent to drivers can be found in Appendix B. The diary questions were pretested with a group of professional drivers who provided input on the diary instructions and level of effort required to complete diary entries.
Drivers were provided with a postage-paid return envelope to ship the completed diary back to ATRI and as an additional incentive to participate, the first 100 drivers who returned a completed diary (representing 14 days of truck parking activity) were sent a $50 gift card.
In total, 148 completed diaries were returned to ATRI between June and September 2016, representing a total of 2,035 days of truck parking activity and 4,763 unique stops. Since completing all diary fields was not compulsory, response rates differ from question to question.
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4.0 RESULTS
4.1 Driver Demographics First, drivers were asked in which segment of the trucking industry they operate; 87 percent of driver participants operate in the for-hire segment and 13 percent drive for private fleets. Drivers operating in the for-hire segment were then asked to identify the sector they primarily represent (Table 1). Respondents overwhelmingly represented the truckload sector (56.1%), followed by the flatbed sector (20.9%).
Table 1: For-Hire Industry Sector
Percent of Industry Sector Diary Participants Truckload 56.1% Less-than-Truckload 4.1% Flatbed 20.9% Tanker 4.1% Intermodal Drayage 0.7% Other 5.4% Express / Parcel Service 0.0% No Response 8.8%
Next, drivers were asked to describe their employment type. The sample of participating drivers consisted of:
72.3 percent Employee Drivers; 25.7 percent Independent Contractors leased to a motor carrier; and 2.0 percent Owner-Operators with their own authority.
Table 2 displays the fleet size distribution of participating drivers. Fleet size figures were gathered by cross-referencing carrier data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) Safety Management System website with driver-provided names of the carriers employing them.6,7 Half of respondents (50%) represent fleets of over 1,000 power units – over-representing large fleets relative to the industry as a whole, where approximately 29 percent of power units on the road belong to fleets of more than 1,000 power units.8
6 Carrier census data can be found at: https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/ 7 Queries returning multiple names for a carrier were omitted, and are classified as “no response.” 8 Government Accountability Office. “Federal Motor Carrier Safety Modifying the Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program Would Improve the Ability to Identify High Risk Carriers (GAO-14-114).” February 2014. Accessed November 15, 2016. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-114.
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Table 2: Fleet Size
Percent of Diary Power Units Participants 1-5 2.0% 6-10 0.7% 11-20 1.4% 21-100 7.4% 101-500 12.2% 501-1,000 4.1% 1,001+ 50.0% No Response 22.3%
Eligible drivers were first identified by the number of nights spent away from home each week. Drivers spending no nights away from home were excluded, as researchers were interested in driver experiences related to finding parking for 10-hour required HOS breaks. Most drivers in this sample spend more than five nights away from home per week (90.4%), followed by three to four nights away (8.2%), then one to two nights away (1.4%).
Participants were asked to provide their average length of haul. The sample was roughly divided into thirds as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Average Length of Haul
Eligible drivers were further identified by asking drivers to estimate the percentage of operating miles spent in the regions depicted in Figure 2. Operating regions were reviewed throughout the diary distribution process to ensure data in all of the lower 48
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states were collected in the truck driver diaries. Table 3 displays driver estimates of miles driven by region and the regional distribution of ATRI driver diary stops.
Figure 2: Qualifying Survey Operating Regions
Table 3: Driver Operating Region Estimates and Diary Stop Locations
Average Percent of Percent of Region Operating Diary Stops Miles
Midwest 35.5% 34.5%
Northeast 18.6% 11.3%
Southeast 28.9% 32.7%
Southwest 19.2% 9.3% West Coast 18.7% 10.4%
Canada 4.3% 1.7%
Participants also identified the primary vehicle configuration they operate. The distribution of primary vehicle configurations in this sample is shown in Table 4. Dry van configurations were the most common (41.2%), followed by flatbed (30.4%) and refrigerated trailers (16.2%).
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Table 4: Primary Vehicle Configuration
Percent of Diary Primary Vehicle Configuration Participants Dry Van 41.2% Flatbed 30.4% Refrigerated Trailer 16.2% Tanker 5.4% Other 5.4% Straight Truck 1.4%
The majority of drivers (91.2%) in this sample do not drive dedicated, regularly scheduled runs, creating additional variability and challenges in their parking options. A small number of the participating drivers (4.7%) operate as team drivers.
Similar to the trucking industry as a whole, participating drivers were predominantly male (88.4%). However, female drivers are over-represented in this sample (11.6%) relative to the industry at large, of which 5.8 percent of drivers are female.9 Driver age is shown in Table 5. Compared to the industry as a whole, this sample over-represents drivers between the ages of 45 to 65 years and under-represents other age groups.
Table 5: Driver Age
Diary Industry Age Participants Distribution10
Younger than 25 0.0% 4.9% 25 – 44 25.9% 39.6% 45 – 64 71.4% 49.4% 65+ 2.7% 6.1%
Drivers were asked how they were paid – the majority (74.1%) indicated that they are paid by the mile and 19.6 percent indicated that they are paid by the load. Drivers were also asked whether or not they use an ELD to record their HOS. The majority of drivers in this sample (85%) utilize an ELD.
9 American Trucking Associations. American Trucking Trends 2016. Arlington, VA. 2016. 10 Short, J. “White Paper: Analysis of Truck Driver Age Demographics Across Two Decades.” American Transportation Research Institute. Arlington, VA. December 2014.
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4.2 Diary Participant Planning and Parking Behaviors Included in the diary package was a second survey designed to gather additional information on how drivers plan for truck parking as part of their trips. Most drivers indicated they select truck parking locations on their own (93.8%) and a small percentage of drivers (4.1%) indicated that they do not do any advance planning for their parking locations. Less than one percent of drivers in this sample had parking locations chosen by their carrier or dispatcher (0.7%).
Next, drivers were asked about the tools they used to select truck parking locations (Figure 3). Drivers predominantly used websites or smartphone applications (55.5%), GPS (53.4%) and books (37.7%) for selecting parking locations. Driver-specified responses of “other” primarily indicated that parking locations were planned based on past experience and/or Google Earth. Truck parking reservations, a system where a driver pays a fee for a guaranteed parking space, are also available on the smartphone applications frequently used by drivers to find parking. Almost half of drivers in this sample (45.6%) have used a parking reservation system before and 15 percent have the reservation fees covered by their carrier.
Figure 3: Tools Used to Select Truck Parking Locations
When drivers are not able to find available parking but need to rest, they may be forced to park on roadway shoulders or entrance/exit ramps, which is illegal in most locations and can create a safety hazard for the drivers and other motorists. Seven percent of drivers indicated that they have been ticketed for parking on a shoulder or entrance ramp in states that include: Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Additionally, two drivers indicated they have been asked to leave a ramp or road shoulder but not ticketed. One driver indicated they have received a ticket for
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parking in a closed weigh station, however, these closed weigh stations do represent an opportunity to expand available truck parking supply.
Finally, drivers were asked for any additional thoughts they have on parking-related issues. Of drivers who responded to this open-ended question, common themes included:
Time-of-day Impacts. The most common parking issue reported was the impact of time-of-day on parking issues – with 61.6 percent of drivers reporting that time-of-day impacts truck parking availability. Some drivers in the sample avoid truck parking challenges by operating at night or beginning their duty cycle in the early morning. Other drivers provided estimates of when finding available parking is most difficult. Most drivers who provided a time-of-day where finding parking becomes uncertain specified a time between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Reserved Parking. Truck parking reservations were the second most cited parking issue (25.6%). Comments related to truck parking reservation systems usually fell into two bins. The first bin is that truck parking reservations effectively reduce parking supply, observing that these spots go unused and that free parking spaces reach capacity. This perspective also “I will not pay for parking if I reflects that drivers are generally unwilling to pay can avoid it. I will never for parking.11 The second bin focused on drivers reserve a spot.” who were willing to use a reservation system when they expected that no free truck parking would be LTL Driver from Ontario available, often because of time-of-day or regional demand patterns.
Public Rest Areas. Issues related to public rest areas were the next most cited issue in the free responses, with almost one quarter of drivers referencing public rest areas (24.4%). The closing of public rest areas and the distance between parking locations were identified as problematic by drivers. Distance between parking locations has a tangible impact on public safety, as research has found that collisions (both fatigue-related and non-fatigue-related) decreased immediately downstream from public rest areas, then increased approximately 30 miles downstream of public rest areas.12 Closing public rest areas aggravates existing safety issues by effectively increasing the distance between truck parking locations. Another issue cited was parking time limits at public rest areas. Required 10-hour HOS breaks usually exceed these time
11 Boris, C., & Johnson, M. September 2015. “Managing Critical Truck Parking Tech Memo #1: Commercial Driver Perspectives on Truck Parking.” American Transportation Research Institute: Arlington, VA. 12 Banerjee, I., Lee, J., Jang, K., Pande, S., & Ragland, D. May 2009. “Rest Areas—Reducing Accidents Involving Driver Fatigue.” University of California Berkeley Traffic Safety Center and California Department of Transportation. Accessed November 23, 2016. http://www.dot.ca.gov/newtech/researchreports/reports/2009/2009- 05_design_and_construction.pdf.
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limits, which range between two and ten hours.13 Where time limits are enforced, drivers may face the choice of having their vehicle towed/ticketed or violating the HOS rules.
Regional Issues and Urban Locations. Drivers also described “Also, having, and knowing, how to use specific regions where finding the many tools available, particularly on truck parking is difficult (20.1%), the internet, is absolutely tantamount to suggesting that solutions may best being successful on the road. I will say be pursued at a regional level. A that parking in, or near large cities in number of drivers also described general, is considerably more difficult.”
finding parking in urban areas as Drop Deck Driver from Georgia difficult (8.1%).
Shipper and Receiver Policies. Shipper/receiver policies were referenced in 17.4 percent of responses. Policies preventing drivers from parking on shipper/receiver properties outside of appointment times aggravate existing parking issues.
“I agree that it is an industry problem as large shippers drive truck volumes, but prohibit parking at their distribution centers, causing major HOS issues.
Truckload Driver from Ohio
13 Federal Highway Administration and Department of Transportation. “Jason’s Law Truck Parking Survey Results and Comparative Analysis.” August 2015. http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/infrastructure/truck_parking/jasons_law/truckparkingsurvey/jasons_law.pdf.
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4.3 Unauthorized and Undesignated Parking Unauthorized parking, or parking at a location such as a ramp or road shoulder where truck parking is illegal, is often considered symptomatic of the truck parking shortage or the result of truck drivers’ lack of awareness of available parking nearby.14 The impending ELD mandate will likely impact the current issues related to unauthorized parking, as an ELD-equipped vehicle automatically records “Parking on a ramp or outside change of duty status. In circumstances where a of striped parking spaces in rest driver runs out of HOS and cannot find a legal areas is not permitted. We lose parking space, the driver must choose between our contract, even if someone violating the HOS rules and parking illegally. just snaps a photo and sends it Unauthorized parking creates safety issues by in. A breakdown with safety exposing parked trucks to traffic conditions in triangles deployed is the only locations where trucks are not designed to be exception.” parked. While most shoulder crashes are caused LTL Driver from North by driver inattention, there is still a safety imperative Carolina to prevent these crashes from occurring by parking in a safe location.15 Additionally, road shoulder pavement is not designed for extended parking use by heavy vehicles.
Undesignated parking, where a parking space is “created” in a location where parking is permitted but a space is unmarked, is another parking challenge faced by drivers. Undesignated parking creates numerous issues, as “created” spaces do not consider the space requirements to maneuver a truck safely, increasing the risk of property damage. When choosing where to park, a number of drivers indicated that they consider whether they are likely to be blocked into a space or hit when another driver parks in an undesignated location.
The issues of unauthorized and undesignated parking are addressed together in this analysis due to the similarity in conditions that lead drivers to park in these location types. Possible reasons for drivers choosing to park in an unauthorized/undesignated location despite the associated risks include: HOS constraints, no available “I personally refuse to park parking, or lack of knowledge of available parking. on ramps or road shoulders. Therefore, unauthorized/undesignated parking is used I will go over hours first.” here as a proxy for inadequate parking. Flatbed Driver from Unauthorized/undesignated parking is categorized here Ontario if a driver indicated that the location they parked in is not a designated parking space or if their parking
14 Trombly, J. W., et al. 2003. “NCHRP Synthesis 317 Dealing with Truck Parking Demands.” Transportation Research Board. National Academies of Science. Washington, D.C. 15 Roberts, G.L., Lynn, C.W. February 2003. “Passenger Vehicle Crashes Into Stationary Large Trucks: Incidence and Possible Countermeasures.” Virginia Department of Transportation.
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location was a ramp or road shoulder. In this sample, drivers parked in an unauthorized/undesignated parking location in three percent of all recorded parking stops. This may underestimate the prevalence of unauthorized truck parking contained in the diary data. For example, locations such as a parking lot or city street where truck parking is not permitted may be omitted if the driver did not indicate that their parking spot was unauthorized
The average number of unauthorized/ “Truck drivers face many challenges when undesignated parking stops per day as it comes to parking. Sometimes the reported in the diaries is shown in Figure 4. opportunity to park at a customer presents Some drivers never parked in unauthorized itself, but for most drivers, that is rarely locations (10.8%), which may be the result an option. We are being run out of of adherence to company policy or aversion shopping centers, ticketed for utilizing to legal consequences (e.g. tickets for wide on and off ramps, and towed/ticketed parking in an unauthorized locations or for parking on the street. This leaves our being forced to move despite HOS duty only true option to be truck stops or the status). Most drivers parked in an occasional rest area. If we use rest areas, unauthorized/undesignated location three to we have increased potential to be harassed four times per week (36.5%), followed by by DOT with ‘surprise inspections’ and told once or twice per week (25.7%). A small to move because we have violated time percentage of drivers (9.5%) in the sample limits set on parking.” rely heavily on shoulder and ramp parking to meet their parking needs – equating to Tank Truck Driver from North parking in an unauthorized/undesignated at Carolina least once per day.
Figure 4: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking Frequency
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Table 6 shows the prevalence of unauthorized/undesignated parking by time-of-day. In this sample, unauthorized/undesignated parking occurred the most during the early morning hours (midnight – 4:59 a.m.) and the least during the afternoon (noon – 3:59 p.m.). These results are similar to the findings of “It's a free-for-all at night to find a Jason’s Law Report, where drivers identified space, especially if there are not striped 7:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. as the worst time to parking spaces. Even when spaces are find parking, followed by midnight – 4:59 marked, some pull in and park a.m.16 The Jason’s Law Report also alongside a curb instead of a spot, or surveyed 387 private truck stop operators, of park illegally in other areas, making whom 48 percent reported parking demand movement by other trucks hazardous. exceeding supply between the hours of And, believe it or not, some will pull midnight to 4:59 a.m., corroborating the time forward in the fuel line and go into the in the ATRI sample where sleeper and sleep.” unauthorized/undesignated parking is most prevalent. However, in the drivers’ open- Truckload Driver from Texas ended responses, many indicated that available parking is severely reduced in the early evening hours. Drivers often indicated that finding available truck parking becomes difficult after the hours of 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Table 6: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Time-of-Day
- -
- -
-
–
a.m.
p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m. p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m. p.m. p.m.
Time
oon
:59
idnight
:59 :59
N
:00 :00
4:59 8:59
3 6
M
11:59
5:00 9:00 11
4 7
Authorized / Designated Parking 64.96% 77.59% 83.38% 84.52% 81.03% 71.78% Space
Unauthorized / Undesignated Parking 35.04% 22.41% 16.62% 15.48% 18.97% 28.22% Space
The Jason’s Law Report survey results also indicated that it is easier to find truck parking on the weekend. In Table 7, the proportion of observed unauthorized/undesignated parking is broken out by day. Unauthorized/undesignated parking, segmented by day of the week, supports the Jason’s Law Report results that
16 Federal Highway Administration and Department of Transportation. “Jason’s Law Truck Parking Survey Results and Comparative Analysis.” August 2015. http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/infrastructure/truck_parking/jasons_law/truckparkingsurvey/index.htm
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 17
parking is easier to find on weekends relative to weekdays. A similar relationship was also observed in ATRI research on the impacts of the 34-hour restart provisions implemented in 2013, where an increase of truck volumes operating during the day and on weekdays was observed.17 The specific 34-hour restart provisions which led to that shift have since been suspended by Congress.
Table 7: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Day-of-Week
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Authorized / Designated 81.3% 78.6% 78.9% 80.9% 78.1% 80.3% 80.2% Parking Space
Unauthorized / Undesignated Parking 18.7% 21.4% 21.1% 19.1% 21.9% 19.7% 19.8% Space
Researchers next examined the sample’s prevalence of unauthorized/undesignated by whether the parking location was urban, suburban, or rural (Table 8). In this sample, unauthorized/undesignated truck parking was observed most frequently at urban locations, where over one quarter of parking stops were in an unauthorized or undesignated location. This result highlights the increased difficulty in finding parking in urban areas, as was identified in the Jason’s Law Report.
Table 8: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Urban/Suburban/Rural
Rural Suburban Urban
Authorized / Designated 83.51% 78.71% 73.54% Parking Space
Unauthorized / Undesignated Parking 16.49% 21.29% 26.46% Space
17 Murray, D., Short, J. (2015). Technical Memorandum: Quantifying Impacts from the 34-Hour Restart Provisions. American Transportation Research Institute, Arlington, VA. http://atri-online.org/
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 18
Table 9 displays the prevalence of unauthorized/undesignated parking by location type, focusing on private truck stops and public rest areas. In this assessment, unauthorized/undesignated parking occurred more frequently at private truck stops. Numerous factors contribute to the relatively higher occurrence of unauthorized parking at truck stops, including driver preferences for a location’s amenities, HOS limitations, facility design issues, proximity to the driver’s destination, and the management of parking spaces by truck stop employees or law enforcement.
Table 9: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Location Type
Private Truck Public Rest Location Type Stop Area
Authorized / Designated 88.4% 91.6% Parking Space
Unauthorized / Undesignated 11.6% 8.4% Parking Space
Next, the relationship between unauthorized/undesignated parking and region of the country was examined (Table 10). To facilitate comparisons with the Jason’s Law Report, researchers used the same definitions of regions. See Appendix C for a comprehensive list of states included in each of the regions shown in Table 10.
As noted in Table 10, unauthorized/undesignated parking does not appear to correlate to the findings of the Jason’s Law Report, where most survey respondents indicated the Northeast, Pacific, and South Atlantic regions have insufficient parking. The differences between diary data and Jason’s Law Report data may be attributed to interactions between several confounding factors, including, time-of-day/day-of-week demand fluctuations, differences in enforcement of illegal parking, and individual driver preferences. Driver risk preferences vary (as demonstrated in Figure 4) and company policy may prohibit parking in an unauthorized location.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 19
Table 10: Unauthorized/Undesignated Parking by Region
ast
North North
Region North
dWest / / dWest
Northe South Atlantic Mi East Central / Midwest West Central SouthEast SouthWest Mountain Pacific
Authorized / Designated 82.69% 80.88% 79.35% 81.30% 81.42% 79.07% 80.12% 79.19% Parking Space
Unauthorized / Undesignated 17.31% 19.12% 20.65% 18.70% 18.58% 20.93% 19.88% 20.81% Parking Space
Another question of interest in this research was the impact of ELD utilization and driver compensation structure on whether a driver parked in unauthorized/undesignated parking locations. However, these relationships were unable to be explored due to the overwhelming prevalence of ELD usage (85.0%) and per mile compensation (74.1%) in this sample.
4.4 Lost Productivity The parking diaries also gathered information on productivity losses related to parking issues. Other truck parking research has suggested that drivers devote a significant amount of time each day to finding available parking. A truck driver survey of over 1,300 drivers completed for the Kansas DOT found that a majority of drivers spend at least 30 minutes on average searching for parking in Kansas. Almost half (47%) reported search times of 30 minutes to an hour and almost one third reported search times of more than an hour (31%).18 Preliminary findings of a survey of over 2,600 drivers operating in the region represented by the Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials (MAASTO) corroborate the findings of the Kansas driver survey, with over half of respondents reporting that they spend over 30 minutes on average searching for truck parking in the MAASTO region.19 Expending available drive and on- duty time while looking for available parking has a noticeable effect on driver pay, as most drivers in this sample and the industry-at-large are paid per mile or per load.
18 Shirk, Alexandra and Dan Murray. “Kansas Truck Parking Survey Analysis.” Kansas Department of Transportation. September 2015. 19 States comprising MAASTO include: Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 20
The following sections examine the effect of parking shortages on driver productivity using two data fields from the driver diaries: time spent searching for parking and remaining drive time.
4.41 Time Spent Searching for Parking
Drivers reported the available drive time, in minutes, they spent searching for parking rather than driving revenue-earning miles for each stop made (herein referred to as “search time”). Search time per stop was then aggregated to calculate total daily search time, aligning with the 24-hour duty cycles that HOS follow. Since numerous driver surveys indicate that spending over 30 minutes searching for parking is a normal condition, daily search times of less than five minutes was omitted from this analysis.
Figure 5 displays the distribution of daily search time. Less than 10 percent of days in this sample involved search time of more than 30 minutes. The disparity observed between the results of the driver surveys described above and search time reported in the diaries could be the result of several factors. Possible explanations for this disparity include exaggerated driver estimates of search times in surveys and underestimated search times in truck parking diaries. While the disparity between search time in the diaries and truck driver surveys is concerning, relationships derived from diary search times still have merit. However, it is likely that diary search times underestimate time spent searching for parking, given the numerous, robust driver survey findings that most drivers spend at least 30 minutes on average searching for parking.
Figure 5: Daily Search Time
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 21
Figure 6 displays daily search time by day-of-week. Here, diary results corroborate the Jason’s Law Report driver survey results – locating parking is more difficult on weekdays, particularly earlier in the week, than on weekends. Improvements in driver productivity could be achieved by shifting days of operations to weekends away from early weekdays. However, shifting days of operations may not be feasible as drivers may not be in a position to control appointment times at shippers and receivers.
Figure 6: Minutes of Daily Search Time by Day-of-Week
Next, search time by time-of-day was analyzed (Table 11). The search times displayed in Table 11 are per stop, not per day. Drivers devoted the most available drive time to finding parking between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., peak demand periods for truck parking. Similarly, the Jason’s Law Report identifies 7:00 p.m. – midnight, followed by midnight – 5:00 a.m. as the times of day that finding truck parking is most difficult for drivers.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 22
Table 11: Search Time per Stop by Time-of-Day
-
- -
- -
.
–
a.m.
p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m. p.m. p.m.
Time-of-day
:59
:59 :59
Noon Noon
:00 :00
4:59 8:59
3 6
Midnight Midnight
11:59
5:00 9:00 11
4 7
1 - 14 Minutes 1.3% 10.3% 6.4% 16.7% 30.8% 34.6%
15 Minutes or 1.8% 8.9% 7.1% 18.8% 28.6% 34.8% More
Next, researchers examined regional influences on daily search time (Figure 7). Since daily travel is not always contained within one region, days where the majority of stops occurred in one region are analyzed here. The Jason’s Law Report data also indicated truck parking issues vary by region, identifying the most severe truck parking shortages in the Northeast, South Atlantic, and Midwest East/North Central regions. As previously noted, results from the truck driver diaries do not mirror these results completely, with the South Atlantic region having the most search times of more than 15 minutes reported, followed by the Southeast region, then the Southwest region. The disparities between the diary data and Jason’s Law data are potentially the result of variations in reporting accuracy, as the diary data is granular, while the Jason’s Law Report is survey-based and retrospective. Other confounding factors, like time-of-day/day-of- week demand fluctuations or whether parking is near an urban area may also contribute to this disparity.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 23
Figure 7: Daily Search Time by Region
Search time, broken out by the reason for stopping, is shown in Table 12. Drivers spent more time searching for parking for the 10-hour required break than for stops unrelated to the 10-hour break. This is likely due to the need for increased amenities, security and other parking features that drivers look for when taking their 10-hour break versus stopping for other reasons.
Table 12: Search Time by Reason for Stop
15 0 1 - 14 Reason for Stop Minutes Minutes Minutes or More
10-Hour Required HOS Break 59.6% 31.7% 8.6%
Not 10-Hour Required HOS Break 77.9% 20.8% 1.3%
Next, researchers explored the potential impacts of parking reservation system use and ELD utilization on search times.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 24
Figure 8: Daily Non-Productive Search Time by Willingness to Reserve Parking
Figure 8 displays the distribution of search time, segmented by the willingness of the driver to use parking reservation systems.20 While parking reservation systems were expected to reduce search time, the opposite is observed in this sample. Drivers willing to use reserved parking were more likely to spend more than 15 minutes searching for parking (16.2%) relative to drivers who do not use reserved parking (11.9%). This unexpected result suggests that drivers in this sample utilize parking reservations when free parking is not available or if the driver anticipates that no parking will be available when or where they stop for their 10-hour required break. Parking reservations in this sample were not related to region or day-of-week, but time-of-day impacted whether drivers utilized parking reservation systems. Reservation parking system use peaked between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 4:59 a.m., the times previously identified as being the most challenging for drivers to find available parking.
The relationship between ELD use and search time is shown in Table 13. Drivers utilizing ELDs were more “ELD leaves no room for likely to spend over 30 minutes searching for parking dealing with full truck stops (10.6%) than drivers that do not use an ELD (5.7%). making it nearly impossible to preplan.” The observed relationship between ELD use and search time suggests that the ELD mandate will negatively Flatbed Driver from impact search time for drivers not already using ELDs. Alabama
20 In this instance, “reserves parking” group is comprised of drivers who have reserved parking in the past and/or reserved parking during the course of the 14-day diary.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 25
Table 13: Daily Search Time by ELD Use
Less than 16 - 30 More than 15 Minutes Minutes 30 Minutes ELD 70.7% 18.7% 10.6%
No ELD 77.4% 17.0% 5.7%
4.42 Remaining Drive Time
Anecdotally it has been reported by both commercial drivers and motor carriers that drivers will park their trucks in advance of running out of available HOS drive hours out of concern over their ability to find parking farther down the road. Through the truck parking diaries the research team sought to quantify this “remaining drive time” (revenue time foregone due to early parking).
Figure 9 displays driver 14-day averages of remaining drive time. Driver averages of 31 to “Near metro areas, truck stops fill up 60 minutes of remaining drive time per day was fast. If you are able to park you will the most frequent (39.9%), followed by driver surely get blocked in by drivers averages of 61 to 120 minutes of unused drive creating their own parking space in a time (32.4%). A median of 56 minutes of non-parking area. Parking early and remaining drive time was observed in this choosing a parking place where you sample. Assuming average truck speeds of won’t get blocked is the only 39.98 miles per hour (MPH)21, 250 days worked advantage you have. Sacrificing per year, and remaining drive time of 56 minutes drive time is a must to find a safe and per day, over 9,300 additional revenue-earning legal place to park, or you may be miles could be driven per driver each year. forced to violate HOS rules. Utilizing ATRI’s Operational Costs of Trucking Compromising my safety, safety of driver wage cost of $0.499 per mile, this loss of assigned equipment, and public safety revenue time/miles equates to reduced earnings is not an option for me.”
22 of $4,600 per driver per year. With average Truckload Driver from driver pay at $42,500 annually, the lack of Pennsylvania
21 ATRI derived this speed using several datasets from the ATRI/FHWA Freight Performance Measures (FPM) program. ATRI analyzed one full week of national FPM data in each of the four seasons in 2010 (February, May, August, October). This dataset consisted of over 110 million truck speed data points. The average speed figure was also validated by multiple motor carriers from various sectors of the industry. The 39.98 mph figure more accurately represents an average operational speed since it includes speeds in all types of operational conditions. 22 Torrey, W.F., & Murray, D. September 2016. “Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2016 Update.” American Transportation Research Institute. Arlington, VA.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 26
available parking is effectively reducing the average driver’s wages by 10 percent annually.23
Figure 9: Average Remaining Drive Time
Average remaining drive time (per driver) by compensation structure is shown in Figure 10. Drivers compensated per load were more likely to have at least an hour of unutilized drive time on average (60.7%) relative to drivers compensated per mile (37.8%), indicating that these drivers may take a more conservative approach to securing parking when it is available rather than risking accumulating more miles in hopes of finding available parking downstream.
23 Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2015). “Occupational Employment Statistics.” Available Online: http://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. Accessed November 23, 2016.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 27
Figure 10: Average Remaining Drive Time by Compensation Structure
Several other driver characteristics, including ELD use, parking reservation system use, and frequency a driver parked for 10-hour breaks at customers, were examined but were not found to have a relationship with unused drive time.
4.5 Lost Truck Parking Capacity Another issue exacerbating the impact of insufficient parking supply for drivers is the use of truck parking spaces by vehicles not subject to HOS or with the space requirements of a tractor trailer combination, such as recreational vehicles (RVs), bobtails, or construction equipment. These other vehicles utilizing truck parking spaces are referred to here as non-commercial motor vehicles (non-CMVs). A 1996 study found that ten percent of truck parking capacity is reduced by non-CMV occupation of truck parking spaces.24 In the ATRI truck parking diaries, drivers were asked to document the number of truck parking spaces occupied by non-CMVs to build on existing knowledge on the effect non-CMV use of truck parking spaces impacts truck drivers. The analyses of lost capacity are segmented by whether any parking capacity is lost due to non-CMVs, rather than the count of non-CMVs. Specific numbers of lost spaces are omitted here because of the large bins that were reported. Management of truck parking spaces could mitigate some of the issues introduced by non-CMV use of truck parking spaces.
24 Trucking Research Institute, Apogee Research, Inc., & Wilbur Smith Associates. May 1996. “Commercial Driver Rest Area Requirements: Making Space For Safety.” Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/commercial.pdf
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 28
Figure 11 displays the regional distribution of truck parking spaces occupied by non- CMVs. The Southeast region had the most observations of non-CMV occupation of truck parking spaces (42.1%), while the Midwest West/North Central region had the least (33.3%). Occupation of truck parking spaces by non-CMVs did not appear to vary by whether a location was designated as urban, suburban, or rural.
Figure 11: Percent of Parking Stops with Non-CMVs25 Observed in Truck Parking Spots by Region
Non-CMV occupation of truck parking spaces, by day-of-week is shown in Figure 12. Observations of non-CMVs occupying of truck parking spaces peaks on Sundays (40.2%), followed by Saturdays and Mondays (37.3%). The weekend peaks of non- CMV demand for parking spaces observed here are likely the result of weekend travel patterns for the general population.
25Non-CMVs include RVs, construction equipment and bobtails.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 29
Figure 12: Percent of Parking Stops with Non-CMVs Observed in Truck Parking Spots by Day-of-Week
Table 14 displays whether a parking area had spaces occupied by non-CMVs, by time- of-day. In this sample, non-CMV use of truck parking spaces and truck driver demand for parking spaces for long breaks peak simultaneously. The concurrent nature of these peak demand periods aggravates existing truck parking shortages.
Table 14: Truck Parking Spaces Occupied by Non-CMVs by Time-of-Day
-
- -
- -
.
–
a.m.
p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m. p.m.
a.m. a.m.
p.m. p.m. p.m.
Time
:59
:59 :59
Noon
:00 :00
4:59 8:59
3 6
11:59
11
5:00 9:00
4 7
Midnight Percent of Parking Stops with Non-CMVs Observed in Truck 37.5% 29.5% 33.7% 34.7% 40.1% 41.7% Parking Spots
Non-CMV occupation of truck parking spaces by location type is shown in Table 15, and is most likely to be observed in public rest areas (48.8%) than private truck stops (43.0%) in this sample. Differences in management of truck parking use by employees of truck stops or law enforcement may explain this disparity.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 30
Table 15: Spaces Occupied by Non-CMVs by Location Percent of Parking Stops Location Type with Non-CMVs Observed in Truck Parking Spots Public Rest Area 48.8%
Private Truck Stop 43.0%
4.6 Stop Locations Drivers were asked what factors influenced their stop location choice (Table 16). Factors relating to productivity, proximity to route/destination and width of space/ease of access, were among the top five factors selected. The choice of ease of access corroborates some drivers’ additional comments that they refuse to park in spaces where they are likely to be blocked in by drivers who arrive “Even when parking is found there are later, and are concerned about collisions times I am not able to go into the bunk resulting in property damage. Parking until I have trucks parked on both sides availability and basic human needs of me. I have been hit in truck stops (restroom/showers and food) were also ranked three times in the last 18 months by in the top five factors when choosing where to other drivers backing in.” stop. Company policy and customer loyalty programs also influence stop locations for 10- Flatbed Driver from Pennsylvania hour required breaks. The relative lack of emphasis on internet (6.9%) may be the result of the relative ubiquity of mobile hotspots and smartphone technologies. Weather conditions were not a factor in this research as the diaries were completed between April and August.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 31
Table 16: Factors Influencing Where Drivers Stop for 10-Hour Required HOS Breaks Percent of Important Factor Responses Proximity to Route / Destination 96.5% Restroom / Showers 79.8% Expected Parking Availability 75.5% Width of Parking Space / Ease of Access 31.9% Restaurant 30.5% Security 20.3% Company Policy / Loyalty Program 18.1% Internet 6.9% Laundry 4.0% Maintenance / Service Center 3.7% Weather Conditions 3.6%
The most frequent stop locations for 10-hour required breaks are shown in Table 17. In this sample, drivers primarily spent the 10-hour mandated breaks at private truck stops (71.4%), followed by public rest areas (9.6%). Drivers also stopped at customers (shippers/receivers/consignees) and businesses (grocery stores/shopping malls) with regularity. The amenities offered at private truck stops likely explain driver preferences for spending the 10-hour HOS required breaks at private truck stops.
Table 17: Stop Locations for 10-Hour Required Breaks
Location Type Percent
Private Truck Stop 71.4% Public Rest Area 9.6% Customer 8.9% Business 4.3% Terminal 4.1%
Table 18 displays the stop location distributions by gender. While the majority of men and women in this sample preferred stopping at private truck stops for their 10-hour breaks, more women than men were willing to use public rest stops for their 10-hour breaks (17% and 11% respectively).
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 32
Table 18: Stop Location for 10-Hour Required Break by Gender
Gender Public Rest Area Private Truck Stop Male 11% 89% Female 17% 83%
“I am reluctant to eat by myself in a sit down restaurant. The women I know would rather think ahead, go grocery shopping and prepare a healthy, quiet meal in the truck while watching our favorite program on DVD. We would also rather use our own porta-potty instead of public facilities, especially at night. So since we have everything we need in our micro homes, all we need is a legal parking space. Rest areas also have more RV dumps and are much quieter at night.”
Female Truckload Driver from Missouri
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 33
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The truck parking diary research collected highly detailed data to provide greater understanding of the impact of truck parking shortages on commercial drivers. The importance of truck parking availability to truck drivers is demonstrated by the rank drivers ascribed to expected truck parking availability – the third most important factor when choosing where to stop for their 10-hour required break. The effects of truck parking shortages are further demonstrated through the remaining drive time, search time, and unauthorized/undesignated truck parking observed in the truck parking diaries.
The truck parking diary findings, which related to time-of-day, day-of-week, and some region-related issues, reinforced findings from truck driver surveys in the Jason’s Law Report.
Weekends had lower demand for parking than weekdays. On weekends, unauthorized/undesignated parking occurred less often and drivers spent less non- productive search time finding parking. However, more non-CMV occupation of truck parking spaces was observed on weekends in this sample.
Parking demand fluctuates significantly depending on the time-of-day, with peak demand occurring in the evening and early morning hours (Table 19). The parking diaries data reinforced this assertion. Search time peaked between 4:00 p.m. – 11:59 p.m. Unauthorized/undesignated parking peaked later than search time during the hours of 7:00 p.m. – 4:59 a.m., the result of drivers arriving at a parking location during peak demand periods when most available parking has been taken. The issues of insufficient supply are further exacerbated by the peak truck parking demand period aligning with the same times as when non-CMVs are most likely to occupy truck parking spaces. More flexible shipper/receiver appointment times could allow drivers to shift when they operate to less busy times, partially alleviating time-of-day parking issues.
Table 19: Truck Parking Issues by Time-of-Day
- -
- -
-
.
- Parking Issue
Noon Noon
4:59 a.m. 8:59 a.m.
3:59 p.m 6:59 p.m.
Midnight Midnight
11:59 11:59 a.m.
11:59 11:59 p.m.
5:00 a.m. 5:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m.
4:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m.
Search Time Peak
Non-CMV Occupation of Peak Truck Parking Spaces
Unauthorized Parking Peak Peak
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 34
Regional truck parking diary data did not align perfectly with the truck driver survey results from the Jason’s Law Report. Regions identified as problematic in the truck parking diaries frequently included the South Atlantic, Southwest, and Pacific regions. These disparities may be the result of variations in accuracy of diary entries across respondents or overestimating the impact of truck parking issues on retrospective surveys such as the one done for the Jason’s Law Report.
Diary data provided insight into the negative impact that the ELD mandate may have on “I was 43 miles from truck stops in existing truck parking supply issues. Diary Ruther Glen, VA but only had 41 minutes data shows drivers with ELDs spent more left to drive. My truck is governed at 62 time searching for parking than drivers mph. If I had a faster truck, I surely without ELDs. The observed increase in would have made it there before hitting search time for ELD users is likely caused by my 11-hour limit.” the differential in flexibility between ELDs and paper logs – ELDs automatically record LTL Driver from Ontario change of duty status to the minute, while paper logs use 15-minute blocks. The ELD mandate will take away the flexibility that drivers with paper logs currently have and drivers may adjust behaviors to find safe parking with reduced flexibility. These behavioral changes may include using drive time to search for parking.
ATRI driver respondents “gave up” an average of 56 minutes of available drive time per day parking early rather than risking not being able to find parking down the road. This unused drive time effectively reduces an individual driver’s productivity by 9,300 revenue-earning miles annually – which equates to lost wages of $4,600 annually. These productivity losses may reduce driver wages by up to 10 percent.
Factors related to where drivers choose to stop for 10-hour required HOS breaks are largely practical – with proximity to route ranked first, followed by restroom/shower access, expected parking availability, and width of space/ease of access. For 10-hour required HOS breaks, drivers devoted more time to finding parking to ensure that they had all of these basic amenities. Conditions could potentially be improved by adding to truck parking along major freight corridors and near urban areas, providing parking with basic facilities. Such locations may lack the amenities desired for longer breaks, but would meet drivers’ most basic needs (proximity, restrooms/showers, available parking).
Finally, while the Truck Driver Diary research did not specifically solicit parking-related information or impacts associated with “autonomous trucks” (ATs), ATRI’s recent report on the impact that ATs will have on truck parking detailed the significant impacts on the dynamics of truck parking supply and demand that ATs would have.26
26 Short, J. & Murray, D. November 2016. “Identifying Autonomous Vehicle Technology Impacts on the Trucking Industry.” American Transportation Research Institute. Arlington, VA.
Managing Critical Truck Parking Case Study — Real World Insights from Truck Parking Diaries December 2016 35
7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
The results from the truck parking diaries provide insight to the potential solutions that various industry stakeholders could employ to improve truck parking issues and public safety. These actions are delineated as follows.
Public Sector. Numerous opportunities for improving truck parking availability exist for state transportation agencies. Some states are creating information systems that provide real-time parking availability information to drivers, to better match existing supply with “The first thing states do when they demand. However, many existing parking cut budgets is to close rest areas. So issues are caused by inadequate parking we cannot depend on them to be open supply. Low cost solutions to inadequate when we need them. Some states are parking supply include increasing public rest ‘no trucks allowed’ in some rest areas area time limits to allow drivers to take or restricted to 2 hrs. And if we use mandatory HOS breaks and allowing parking at them, we risk having our break public facilities such as weigh stations and interrupted by a DOT inspection.” public works facilities. Long-term solutions require increased investments, such as Truckload Driver from reopening public rest areas that have been Oklahoma closed, expanding existing facilities, or
developing new facilities. Local laws may currently limit private parking capacity through truck stop size and/or location zoning restrictions. A less capital-intense method of improving truck parking supply may be to reduce the legal obstacles that private truck stop operators face when opening or expanding facilities.
Truck Stop Operators. Private truck stops are drivers’ preferred location in ATRI’s research for 10-hour required HOS breaks. Currently, truck parking reservation systems are available at two major chains, TA/Petro and Pilot/Flying J. At the time of publication, both chains operate parking “I’ve been kicked out of truck stops due reservation systems where reservations start to overcrowding. I’ve been kicked out at 4 p.m. – which the truck parking diaries and of rest areas wondering if I will have Jason’s Law Report data identified to be peak a safe haven for my 10-hour break. It times for parking-related issues. While these is the most stressful aspect of the job.” systems may help match available supply with demand, reservation systems do not solve the Flatbed Driver from Alabama issues of inadequate supply overall. Inadequate supply could be improved by expanding existing private sector parking locations or building new ones. However, these solutions are capital-intense and face numerous legal obstacles, although there is some precedent for private truck stops using public sector funding. The primary areas identified for improvement in the diary data relate to non-CMV (RVs, bobtail trucks, dropped trailers, construction equipment) use of truck parking spaces. While truck stop operators also want to serve patrons driving non-CMVs, several steps to improve space
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utilization may be taken. The first relates to driver parking behavior, where multiple spots are needlessly used by a single vehicle. Truck stop enforcement of “parking manners” to maximize existing supply could improve capacity issues. Another issue identified in the diaries is the use of truck parking spaces by bobtail trucks. Dedicated bobtail truck parking or allowing bobtail trucks to park in the car lot would prevent bobtail trucks from using parking that could accommodate a tractor trailer combination.
Motor Carriers. Motor carrier policies and shipper/receiver relations present opportunities for improved driver productivity. Improvements in productivity may produce other positive results including increased driver compensation associated with increased revenue time/mileage.
Carrier Paid Reservations. Reservation fees are covered by the carrier for 15 percent of drivers in this sample. These policies may encourage drivers to use reservation systems when they would not otherwise, providing drivers with certainty of safe and legal parking during peak demand days/hours. Carrier-paid reservation fees may be beneficial in several situations. First, if fleet drivers typically use drive time to search for parking instead of driving revenue-earning miles, productivity gains from parking certainty could potentially exceed the costs of a reservation fee. Driver retention rates could potentially improve from carrier- paid reservations by reducing the stress drivers face finding parking and allowing drivers to drive more revenue-earning miles. If carrier-paid reservation fees improve driver retention rates, reduced “With more truck stops implementing training costs could accrue. Second, the reserved parking spots, it makes it transport of specialized cargo may be more challenging if your company easier with the use of reservation doesn’t reimburse reservation fees. I assume most companies don’t. It's systems. Examples include the time-of- nice to have a spot available late at day legal restrictions states have for night when you pull in, but most of the over-size/over-weight vehicle spots go unused each night. I haven’t configurations and the need for security seen more than half of the available for the transport of hazardous materials spots used at the stops I’ve been to. or high value cargo. Consideration for But, if you're not willing to pay $12, how motor carrier policies interact with they are just unavailable spots.” time drivers spend searching for parking may be relevant, such as a policy where Truckload Driver from Arkansas observed illegal parking (when not broken down) is grounds for immediate termination.
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Shipper/Receiver Relations. Providing drivers more flexibility in appointment times with shippers/receivers would allow drivers to shift times of operation to off- peak hours, and seek parking during off- “If a driver cannot find safe, legal peak hours. 660 Minutes identifies parking, he will be faced with the numerous strategies to reduce inefficient options of running in violation of time spent at shippers/receivers, federally mandated HOS, or putting including, reducing loading/unloading themselves at risk of a ticket or tow. time, switching from live loading to drop A driver cannot always plan every and hook operations, and making trip to ensure an early enough 27 appointment times more flexible. stopping time to guarantee parking. We are told when and where to pick Truck Drivers. Driver behavior is the primary up and then when and where to area where drivers can impact truck parking deliver.” issues. While the parking diaries did not directly relate planning behaviors to productivity Tank Truck Driver from North outcomes, the drivers’ open-ended responses Carolina indicate that planning is crucial to maximizing revenue-earning miles. Drivers, to the extent that appointment times allow, can further improve their productivity by shifting hours of operations. Time spent searching for parking can be reduced by taking 10-hour required HOS breaks during off-peak demand hours, typically 5:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Shifting days of operation to include weekends may additionally improve productivity, as the truck parking diaries demonstrate fewer parking issues on weekends relative to weekdays. Additionally, if drivers collectively parked in designated spaces (never taking up multiple spaces if not over-size/over-weight), some additional parking capacity may be realized.
27 JB Hunt. “660 Minutes: How Improving Driver Efficiency Increases Capacity.” 2015. http://blog.jbhunt.com/wp- content/themes/files/pdf/660_Minutes.pdf. Accessed November 28, 2016.
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APPENDIX A: Pre-Aualifying Survey
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APPENDIX B:
Sample of Truck Parking Pre-Diary Participant Survey and Diary Page
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APPENDIX C: Region Definitions from Jason’s Law Report
Northeast: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
South Atlantic: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
Midwest/East North Central: Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
Midwest/West North Central: Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa
Southeast: Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama
Southwest: Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana
Mountain: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
Pacific: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii
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December 2016