Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/821508
a green light to bypass. In contrast, because so many different factors affect cellular CMRS-based weigh station bypass, a driver may get a bypass signal too late to bypass, if he or she gets one at all. Compare Bypass Opportunities That Best Match Your Routes When evaluating weigh station bypass service providers, an obvious consideration is the number of service locations. However, there are big differences in how providers count the number of weigh station locations where they offer service. Fixed open weigh stations are permanent facilities in regular operation. Alternatively, "mobile" sites are possible temporary positions staged along a highway by law enforcement. There is typically no active law enforcement presence at these so-called "mobile" sites except when a special targeted enforcement activity is underway, if ever. Therefore, determine where your trucks operate in relation to a truck bypass service provider's network of fixed open sites. Often, providers will quote the number of total bypass opportunities and savings resulting from these bypasses. Before you bank on these numbers, ask vendors if they claim bypasses of closed sites and virtual sites where no enforcement is present as true bypasses. After all, a bypass is not really a bypass if the weigh station is closed or there is no enforcement presence to operate a "virtual" site. Lastly, consider weigh station sites with weigh-in-motion scales (WIMs). Embedded in the roadway, the truck weight reading must match the correct truck. CMRS cellular signal latency and trucks following closely can result in a mismatch between the truck and the weight reading resulting in an automatic pull in. This problem does not occur with RFID transponder systems. Ensure Safety Data is Available to Improve Your Operation Some systems offer reporting tools to help improve safety and the company's transportation operations. For example, PrePass includes InfoRM™, a safety intelligence tool that unpacks the numbers affecting your fleet's Inspection Selection System (ISS) score. Discover which inspections your trucks are failing, and any patterns of infractions, even if the inspections are conducted at roadside and not in a weigh facility. InfoRM provides actionable intelligence to make changes in your fleet's operations so trucks spend more time running on the road and less time at weigh stations or pulled over for roadside inspections. Such tools are useful for all fleets, regardless of size. You can also use safety intelligence data to help negotiate lower insurance rates, improve maintenance, and build relationships with law enforcement. Pay Tolls Electronically Through an RFID-Based System Another difference between truck bypass systems using RFID rather than CMRS is the integration of electronic toll payment capabilities with an RFID transponder. Some truck bypass system providers not only integrate tolling into their service, but do it with a single transponder, as opposed to having different transponders from each tolling agency. Even if your trucking operation rarely has to pay tolls, having a truck bypass system that also handles toll payments is a major cost-saving benefit. Determine Just How Much You Can Save When selecting a weigh station bypass system, you need to determine how much you can save. A federal study estimates a single bypass is worth five minutes and $8.68. But let's dig into that further with one case study of a fleet with just over 325 trucks. In one year alone, company trucks received green lights from the nation's largest RFID-based system to bypass weigh stations 94.3% of the time, for more than 30,800 bypasses. That not only saved more than 12,000 gallons of fuel, but also provided nearly 2,600 hours of productivity that allowed their trucks to keep on driving. The bottom line? $154,000 savings in operating costs. There's Still a Place for CMRS While RFID is more reliable, it's also more expensive to install at weigh stations. However, HELP Inc., the non-profit provider of PrePass, has invested more than $600 million to deploy PrePass weigh station bypassing and other services. HELP constructs PrePass locations at heavily trafficked sites and other key locations, currently 315 across the United States. CMRS can best be deployed at low-traffic sites with good cell connectivity by creating a GPS geofence. As long as cellular coverage is consistently strong and the state does not use WIM weights in the bypass decision, this solution can benefit fleets with simple bypassing needs. Some fleets maximize bypasses with both a transponder and a mobile app working together. Even within this scenario, CMRS providers instruct customers to default to the more reliable transponder message when used together. 2 3 4 5 6 If you have questions regarding your routes and the benefits of transponders and mobile applications, contact PrePass at (877) 867-6704.