A veteran truck driver in Georgia has launched a free on-line platform designed to assist truckers discover parking, find roadside repairs, evaluate diesel costs and entry different assets with out paying subscription charges.
Shawn Gresham, a 17-year industrial driver and founding father of Trucking Life Academy in Dalton, Georgia, stated his Trucking Life With Shawn platform presently lists 2,031 truck parking places throughout 45 states.
The listing consists of 1,882 truck stops, 78 devoted truck parking tons and 71 resorts that accommodate industrial vehicles. It additionally options 259 listings for truck restore, tire companies, roadside help and heavy-duty towing, in accordance with Gresham.
“Truckers get nickeled and dimed to dying throughout 100 completely different apps: one for parking, one for gasoline costs, one for HOS math, one to check for the CDL,” Gresham advised BigRig. “I constructed one place, by a trucker, with all of it, free.”
Gresham stated the listing has been beneath growth since July and is now being made obtainable to the general public. He stated 80 listings have been added over the previous 30 days.
The platform doesn’t show real-time parking availability. As a substitute, it identifies places the place drivers could park, with listings marked to point whether or not in a single day parking has been confirmed or stays unverified.
Drivers can search by state, interstate and exit quantity, relatively than downloading an app or creating an account.
“The listing itself comes from one thing private,” Gresham stated. “I ran 17 years with a paper truck cease information on the sprint and wrote my very own notes all by it.”
He stated the net model is designed to recreate that have on a smartphone, permitting drivers to rapidly establish parking places and roadside companies alongside their routes.
Throughout an illustration with BigRig, Gresham confirmed how drivers can choose a state, interstate and journey route to search out truck stops and parking places alongside their route.
A separate restore listing permits drivers to find towing corporations, tire companies and different restore suppliers close to interstate exits.
Gresham stated the function was impressed by his personal experiences making an attempt to find help after a breakdown.
As a substitute of looking a number of web sites and calling corporations that is perhaps dozens of miles away, drivers can establish companies close to their location and call them straight by the listing.
The platform additionally features a diesel value board that Gresham stated is up to date every day.
Drivers can evaluate estimated costs by state, area and metropolis, together with utilizing a calculator to judge potential gasoline prices.
Gresham, who additionally works in gasoline operations at Rosedale Transport, stated he makes use of diesel pricing info provided by Love’s Journey Stops to assist populate the platform.
“It’s not completely common, however it provides you a good suggestion of what that state’s going for that day,” Gresham stated.
He stated the knowledge might assist drivers and fleets make extra knowledgeable selections about the place to buy gasoline alongside their routes.
Gresham can be creating a truck navigation system and journey planner, which he expects to launch publicly on New 12 months’s Eve.
The GPS system is presently being examined by 87 working truck drivers, in accordance with Gresham.
He stated the pilot program has allowed builders to establish and proper navigation issues earlier than making the system extensively obtainable.
One early challenge concerned delayed flip notifications, which Gresham stated has since been addressed.
The accompanying journey planner is designed to assist drivers establish potential stopping places based mostly on their routes, climate, visitors situations and remaining obtainable driving hours.
Drivers should manually enter their obtainable hours of service, and Gresham emphasised that the instrument will not be an digital logging system or a alternative for federally required hours-of-service information.
The system is meant to establish potential parking places earlier than drivers exhaust their obtainable driving time.
Gresham stated he has deliberately restricted entry to the GPS pilot whereas testing continues.
“I didn’t need a model new driver to make use of it, after which it did one thing incorrect,” he stated.
Drivers taken with taking part within the pilot can contact Gresham by the web site.
Though the platform’s driver instruments are free, Gresham stated the web site generates income by a number of channels.
These embody gross sales of his trucking books and guides, affiliate commissions from Truck Parking Membership and paid featured listings for companies corresponding to restore retailers.
Gresham stated Truck Parking Membership is working to combine its reservable parking places into his listing, permitting drivers to entry paid parking choices by the platform.
He receives affiliate compensation when customers ebook qualifying parking by the referral association.
Gresham stated drivers can proceed utilizing the free parking listing with out buying a reservation.
The platform additionally consists of CDL follow checks, instructional articles, research guides and a sleeper berth cut up calculator meant to assist drivers perceive hours-of-service calculations.
He stated the aim is to consolidate assets that truckers may in any other case entry by a number of web sites or subscription companies.
“Drivers by no means pay, and so they by no means will,” Gresham stated of the platform’s driver instruments.
The web platform follows Gresham’s efforts to determine Trucking Life Academy, a CDL coaching college in Dalton constructed with tools and different contributions from drivers and companies.
The academy is scheduled to open this month, pending ultimate state approval.
Gresham beforehand advised BigRig that he established the varsity in response to issues concerning the high quality of CDL coaching and the preparation of latest industrial drivers.
The varsity plans to restrict courses to 6 college students and initially provide coaching over eight weekends.
The brand new on-line platform expands that effort past potential CDL holders to drivers already working within the trucking trade.
Gresham stated the parking listing is now publicly accessible, though he doesn’t but have significant utilization figures as a result of the service is newly launched.
He stated working drivers can submit further parking places and corrections, which he opinions earlier than publishing.
“Parking is a big drawback,” he stated. “I simply need truckers utilizing it.”
Why it issues: The platform goals to offer truckers simpler entry to parking and operational info with out requiring a number of paid subscriptions, though its parking listing doesn’t present reside area availability.
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