To find the productivity impact of parking activities, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) had to use an old-fashioned method. They asked truck drivers to keep parking diaries.
Between June and September, 2016, ATRI collected 148 diaries. Each contained a 14-day record of parking activities at locations nationwide.
Researchers discovered from the diaries that truckers lost 56 minutes per day, on average, to search for parking to take required hours-of-service breaks and for other reasons.
A number of new technology and services aim to help fleets and drivers regain lost productivity and increase job satisfaction for parking-related activities.
Truck stop reservations
The ATRI study found that drivers predominantly use websites and smartphone applications (55.5 percent) to find parking along their routes. Nearly half said they previously have used parking reservation systems, and 15 percent said the fees are covered by their carriers.
