The NATSO Foundation, NATSO, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) on Oct. 3 launched a new mobile app designed to help the nation’s truck drivers more easily find truck parking.
The app, called Park My Truck, is part of a new truck parking leadership initiative aimed at advancing safety on the nation’s highways by helping drivers find truck parking.
Speaking at a press conference at ATA’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Nev., Lisa Mullings, the president of NATSO and the NATSO Foundation, said the app represents the first time that industry has come together to provide a national source for truck parking information to America’s truck drivers.
“Professional drivers are essential to our economy and our way of life in America,” Mullings said. “Their safety is a priority for each of the partners here with me today.”
Speakers also included ATA’s new President and CEO Chris Spear; ATRI Chairman Judy McReynolds, chairman, president and CEO of ArcBest Corp.; and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Scott Darling.
Park My Truck includes the total number of parking spaces for nearly 5,000 truckstops in the United States and some rest areas. Participants reporting available truck parking information include independent truckstops as well as chain locations representing 150,000 truck parking spaces.
Spear said truck parking is not often on the list of high priorities for state Departments of Transportation but greatly affects logistics within the trucking industry. Park My Truck represents an important tool for managing tight delivery windows, he said.
“Technology drives solutions,” Spear said. “We should embrace it. There’s a strong commitment here to find solutions.”
Commercial drivers ranked truck parking as their No. 3 concern in ATRI’s 2016 Critical Issues report, which was also released Oct. 3, according to McReynolds.
FMCSA Administrator Darling thanked the partners for drawing attention to the issue of truck parking, saying highway safety "impacts all of us.”
Administered by the NATSO Foundation, Park My Truck is accessible for free by internet or through smart-phone apps by all professional drivers, trucking fleets, state and other administrators of highway rest areas.
Truck parking operators need only to have internet access and the ability to count available spaces, whether by observation or by electronic means. Truck parking providers can contact the NATSO Foundation at (703) 549-2100 or hello@parkmytruck.com to establish an account to provide truck parking availability.
Links to download the app can be found at www.ParkMyTruck.com.
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