GPS Tracking ROI

ABQ Ride adds GPS technology

New Mexico Business Weekly - 11:33 AM MDT Thursday

Business professionals wondering if their morning Rapid Ride bus will be late, or was early, and whether they’ll get to work on time, now have a way to obtain that information.

When they call ABQ Ride, formerly known as the Albuquerque Transit Department, at 243-RIDE, a bus dispatcher will provide information on the current location of a bus, its estimated time of arrival and even how fast it’s moving.

That’s because ABQ Ride has invested in GPS (global positioning systems) tracking, which it calls the Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) system, that can give the coordinates of its fleet of buses traveling along Central Avenue. Dispatchers can access information about the speed and direction the bus is traveling. And if a driver is speeding, for example, he can be advised to slow down. The city’s “Slow Down Albuquerque” campaign is geared toward decreasing speeding in residential neighborhoods, schools and business districts. Full article here:

Nice story. The good things happening are:

 

    * The City is behind the idea of promoting buses for something other than “losers”

 

    * This is a big problem. Our children are taught that buses are only for the unfortunate .. the “gimps”, the “oldies”, the illegals. Just watch TV or the movies a day or two with public transpo in mind. Ever see a hotshot detective in New York City take a bus or a subway? Nope. In real life they do often, it’s often the fastest way and often much quicker than a car … but “cool” cops just don’t.

 

# The technology is saving labor and resources.

 

    * 10 buses can easily do the work of 12 if the dispatcher can “herd” them in response to changing traffic conditions. When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey, the big name in buses was Public Service transport. The buses went everywhere … many of them following the route of their predecessor trolley lines (the odd number routes, ‘case you didn’t know). My dad who had grown up with Public Service always said the buses should have been painted yellow instead of their red white and blue. Why? Because like bananas, they always came in bunches.

 

# The use of buses will certainly cut down on air pollution.

 

    * Regardless of the bad science or totally non-existent science that Al Gore uses to “prove” that the recognized fact of global warming is actually connected to CO2 emissions, there’s no doubt that5 internal combustion emissions are hurting our world. I’ve been a pilot more than 40 years now. The difference in how much you can see from the sky now compared with then is almost impossible to believe.

    * In addition to having one vehicle replace as many as 40 individual cars, most buses can )or should) run on LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). This makes their emissions orders of magnitude better.

    * One bus replacing 40 cars will improve the flow of other traffic. See my recent post on BRT (Bus Rapid Transit). So even if you aren’t going to get do-gooder’s like Gore or even me dissuade you from commuting by yourself in your “Go To Hell Wagon” H2, your commute will go better. You’re welcome.

As I’ve said before, I stay attuned to what people are searching for. A ,lot of searches land here looking for information on Springs Transit buses, since I write often about buses and GPS and since I am located in Colorado Springs. So I have added general route and fare information and a system-wide map. Look in the links on the right hand side.

Like anyone who writes a blog or operates a web site in support of a business, I take note of what people search for. The poem below was initially posted last March in response to a cigarette theft, where the stolen $100,000 truck tractors were protected (and recovered) by means of on-board GPS, but the trailers, carrying more than $1,500,000 went missing. very few trucking companies protect their trailers … where the cargo … the whole reason behind trucking .. rides … mainly, because their competitors don’t. Business smarts haven’t improved any since March, I’m sad to say.

There’s a series of commercials popular on TV lately that really chaps my hide whenever I see one. A big name-brand insurance company has a guy going around and spotting hazards like a banana peel on the sidewalk. Does this do-gooder pick up the litter and protect people?

Nope, in true Web 2.0, “touchy feely” fashion he puts a traffic cone down near the banana peel, hoping people will see the cone and thus somehow connect the inconvenient and unexpected cone with the hard to see banana peel and thus avoid slipping on it. I want to scream at the imbecile, “Pick it up, you dolt, do something to completely avoid the hazard instead of some misguided attempt at mitigating it”!

McDonalds has a similar commercial in the past few weeks. A young woman is shot walking down the sidewalk in parallel with herself. In one side of the shot she’s attractive, vibrant, hair deployed like a Suave commercial and a lovely smile on her face.

In the other side of the screen she looks like a woman who just used only TSA-approved makeup after getting off a turbulent Manilla to LAX flight, with a frown, blowzy hair and eyes half open.

In the sidewalk is one of the world’s most dumbshit utility workers, man hole cover slid to one side and a couple dumb orange cones supposedly alerting innocent pedestrians to the hazard.

Well of course in the half-asleep, frumpy personality side of the shot she doesn’t see the cones and falls right into the man hole. In the other side she adroitly sidesteps the hole and smiles even brighter. The moral, at least as McDonalds wants you to envision it, is eat a good breakfast at the golden arches and life will be grand.

Well hello!!! That ain’t the real moral. The real moral is don’t use half-assed measures like orange traffic cones … meaningless cautions from Mom not to take risks … when there are real world dangers out there. It is not (yet) a cushy little bicycle helmet, skater’s knee pas, Web 2.0 world.

Use proven technology, such as GPS tracking to eliminate hazards before people get killed or maimed. Leave the silly orange cones for Ronald to play with.

Once upon a time a poem was written that pretty well sums up where we are today when it comes to safety and crime prevention:

    “A Fence or an Ambulance”

    by Joseph Malin

    Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed.

    - Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant,

    But over its terrible edge there had slipped,

    A Duke and full many a peasant.

    The people said something would have to be done.

    But the projects did not at all tally.

    Some said “Put a fence round the edge of the cliff”.

    Some, “An ambulance down in the valley”.

    The lament of the crowd was profound and was loud,

    As the tears overflowed with their pity,

    But the cry for the ambulance carried the day

    As it spread through the neighboring city.

    A collection was made, to accumulate aid,

    and the dwellers in highway and alley.

    Gave dollars and cents - not to furnish a fence

    But an ambulance down in the valley.

    “For the cliff is alright, if you’re careful!”, they said;

    “And if folks ever slip and are dropping,

    It isn’t the slipping that hurts them so much,

    As the shock down below - when they’re stopping”

    So for years (we have heard), as these mishaps occurred,

    Quick forth would the rescuers sally,

    To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,

    with the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one, in a plea, “It’s a marvel to me,

    that you all give so much greater attention,

    to repairing results than to curing the cause;

    You had much better aim at prevention.

    For the mischief, of course, should be stopped at its source;

    Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally.

    It is far better sense, to put up a fence,

    than an ambulance down in the valley!”.

“He is wrong in his head!”, the majority said,

    “He would end all our earnest endeavor,

    He’s a man who would shirk the responsible work

    But we will support it forever.

    Aren’t we picking up all, just as fast as they fall,

    and giving them care liberally?

    A superfluous fence, is of no consequence,

    if the ambulance works in the valley.”

The story looks queer, as we’ve written it here,

    but things oft occur that are stranger,

    more humane, we assert, than to succor the hurt,

    is the plan of removing the danger.

    The best possible course is to safeguard the source

    by attending to things rationally.

    Yes build up the fence, and let us dispense,

    with the ambulance down in the valley…

 

We have allowed insurance companies in the US to develop tremendous, un-deserved power.

We have virtually eliminated individual responsibility … “What’s the government going to do about the problem”

Do we just want to continue down the same slippery slope, or do we want to act on the principles our country was built on? Do you want a fence at the top, or an ambulance to pick up the pieces at the bottom?

I’m seeing a lot of searches on “cheap GPS Tracking” lately.  I suspect most of them are business-related.  There’s nothing wrong with looking for the best bargain, indeed that’s the responsibility of a business owner or government administrator.  But here are a few thoughts on what is smart in regards to “cheap” versus “best value”.

First of all, I just posted a pretty comprehensive post on this under the heading of GPS for Teens.  everything in that article is basically applicable to business.

here are some specific pointers you want to consider … before you search by price:

• If you have vehicles on the road, GPS tracking will not only pay for itself, it will return more than you spend.  Basically in three ways:

• Fuel Savings, by controlling idling, excess speed and wasted miles
• Labor Savings, by highlighting late starts, long lunches and early quitting times.
• Customer Relationships, by insuring appointments are met and by finding time for more service or sales calls per day or week.

There are the basic types of GPS tracking, passive and live (sometimes erroneously called “real time”.

• Passive Pros:

• High resolution
• Simplest installations
• No monthly fees and no monitoring labor

Passive Cons:

• Can’t “reach out and find” a vehicle … no good for theft prevention.
• Can’t be used for near real-time dispatch .., finding the closest vehicle immediately
• Can’t be used to show your fleet and collaborate with customers.

Live Pros:

• You see your fleet in near real time, active control
• You get near-immediate knowledge of dangerous driving/traffic holdups.
• You can show it to customers as a sales/service advantage.

Live Cons:

• In general more costly to buy and to install.
• There is always a communication cost, usually paid per month.  Some shady operators “hide” the communication cost but you will pay it, one way or another.
• Requires participation on your part .. if no one is being paid to watch the screen, where is your business value.

OK, there’s a snapshot to help you decide what you might want.  Her’s what some typical systems will run you:

• Passive: 

• TravelEyes (and many re-brands of the same box) .. under $300.  Tracking performance is adequate to nil (no permanent antenna, the box won’t track on the floor under the seat.  Maps: so-so. No bushiness map applications aside from a picture of the roads.  Update path unknown. Reports, adequate.  Single vehicle only, no integration into fleet management statistics.  Convenience: poor, must carry box to computer to read out data.
• Shadow Tracker: … under $600.  Tracking performance good.  Maps: so-so. No bushiness map applications aside from a picture of the roads.  Update path unknown. Reports: good, made to consolidate fleets.  Convenience:  Good.  As an option can automatically upload data when truck returns.
• GeoTab GO … under $600.  tracking performance excellent … second by second. Maps: excellent, uses latest version of Microsoft MapPoint which is a business tool on it’s own.  regular updates.  Reports, good.  All are delivered in Microsoft Excel format and are fleet oriented.  Convenience, good, can automatically upload information at no charge.

Live

• Nextel (or other cell phone offerings).  undeniably cheap … often a slow as $10 per month.  tracking performance:  Abysmal in some cases.  Track points far apart and not accurate as reported to me by many users.  Maps:  Rudimentary web-based maps.  Frequently updates by commercial provider.  Not really available to user.  Reports: Limited to non-existent.  Provides dots on a map only.  Convenience:  Great, just turn on the phone … remember, though, it tracks the phone not your truck.
• GeoTab GO Live … under $500.  tracking performance, excellent as in the passive version.  Costs for live data in the $35 a month range for very frequent updates.  updates vary with what the vehicle is doing to give the highest resolution at the lowest cost.  Limited by the coverage area of the cellular network … great in major metro areas, nearly non-existent in wide open spaces.  Maps: excellent, uses latest version of Microsoft MapPoint which is a business tool on it’s own.  regular updates.  Reports, good.  All are delivered in Microsoft Excel format and are fleet oriented.  Convenience, good.  requires permanent installation, all data saved for later review when no one is watching the screen.
• FMS MLT-300 … under $1200.  A good example of mid-range satellite communications-based systems.  Tracking performance, good.  Monthly costs about $30 to $40, depending on resolution selected.   Coverage is continental or better, works as good in Wyoming as in Westchester.  Track points are spaced by time intervals, in other words a “snap shot” of your fleet every 5, 10, 15 minutes.  maps”  Adequate.  Web-based so user doesn’t have to upgrade but detail dependent on commercial vendor.  Reports: Adequate.  Canned, on-line reports that cover the basics of most business needs.   Value decreases substantially when not being “watched” full-time.

There’s a little info to answer a few questions and whet your appetitive.  Any of these systems can pay for itself in less than a year.  If you’re not confident in what you need, contact a competent independent dealer who can find the solution best for you, rather than just the one he sells.

Ongoing volatility in the diesel market has led trucking companies to make strict pricing discipline a regular part of their operations.

In second-quarter earnings reports, most trucking companies said they are still able to minimize the impact of higher fuel costs on the bottom line, thanks to the rigorous application of fuel surcharges and operational adjustments. Yet fuel costs remain a major concern as they continue to eat up more and more operating capital.

“The skyrocketing cost of fuel is an obvious concern,” said Stoney “Mit” Stubbs, Jr., president & CEO of Dallas-based refrigerated carrier Frozen Food Express (FEE). “We continue to work with our customers to address the rising cost of crude oil as the price per barrel reaches [and exceeds] $70, with no apparent end in sight. But our fuel surcharges have helped us mitigate that problem.” … Full Article Here

 

Well I have a little news for you there, Mr. Stubbs.  You can sit back, pass on the costs to consumers with surcharges and tell the world what a good businessman you are, but don’t you think that some day the ability of the market to accept surcharge on top of surcharge is just going to reach a limit?

Those who actually give a hoot about this situation should read the article and note that Covenant, one of my “picks to watch” in the industry actually came out ahead on fuel costs … with a whopping 28% fuel cost increase.

Impossible you say?  Dave says not only possible but a crying shame that more execs aren’t report these kind of savings.  I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, finding 15% to 30% waste in almost any fleet’s fuel use is easy.  What’s hard is wrapping your mind around the idea that the way you did it five or ten years ago … or schemes to just stick it to the customer .  Saving fuel is better even than fuel costs dropping because it’s better for the environment and if your competition is of the whine and complain brigade you’ll pull that farther away from them.  And it’s more actual cash left in the cash register drawer.  15% savings on $3.00 fuel is equal to 45% savings on a dollar fuel.

How did Covenant do it?  The two major factors are ones I have been telling you about for years ,,, reduced idling and reduced off-route miles.  It isn’t rocket science, folks … why make it so darn hard.

….  It may be the hot topic of the moment but for Michael Ray, the outgoing president of Bermuda Taxi Association (BTA), the issue of GPS is a dead one.

He once led the Island’s cabbies in revolt against Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown’s proposals for the satellite navigation system. But now his message to taxi drivers is: “It’s a done deal. Get past it.”…  read full article from the Bermuda Royal Gazette here:

Seems there was this young ag school grad student who had the job of selling an expensive technical book on farming to the local farmers in some little backwater place or another.  The eager young man sort of trapped a crusty old farmer in the corner of two fences one day so that the old boy had to listen to a long spiel explaining to him how much the book would benefit him and why he ought to buy it.  Finally the eager young salesman  paused for breath and popped the magic question … “Sir, now that I’ve explained all the benefits, would you care to buy the book?

The wizened old farmer responded with a terse “Nope.”

Undeterred the eager ag ‘ techno geek” pressed on, asking, “Sir I’ve explained and you’ve agreed that the information in this book will probably increase your efficiency and even improve your profits.  Whatever is your reason for not wanting to take advantage of our offer”?

The old boy looked down, spat between his boots, raised his head and said, “Sonny, I already don’t farm half as good as I know how.”

The story I linked to here is fairly long but it’s well-written and I urge you to read it if you’re interested in GPS or if you now manage, or think you’ll ever need to manage people.  It’s a pretty good lesson in how well-meaning government folks, industry managers and rank and file employees and entrepreneurs can all work at a project with a good heart, yet make it all come out terribly wrong.  It would make a great case study for Harvard or the Wharton School of Business or for one of my old bosses who told me about his MBA at least 15 times a day … on a good day.

I’ve written a number of time before here about the forced GPS taxi issues in Bermuda and in Philadelphia.  See here, here, here and here for a few samples.  I’m really at a loss on these two quagmires that people have dug themselves into.

Although I am neither a driver nor a taxi business owner I have been a government official and then a business owner for many years.  I understand the basics of how you can make money with a cab, and certainly know something about how bad work has to be before a taxi owner/operator is going to toss it away.

The article from Bermuda explains quite a bit about some of the personalities, but certainly doesn’t account for the total waste of having a system on board that has been proven to make more money yet arbitrarily refusing to use it.

I can tell you this from my long experience in these projects as well.  It is not the technical implementation that will pose your biggest challenge.  Nor is it the financing or the legal issues.  It’s how you present the project to the folks who will have to live with it, the persons’ whose livelihood you are messing with.

If you’re thinking about a GPS project and you don’t want to be front page news and “blog-fodder’., better consider the people first.  Otherwise they are going to keep on farming only half as good as they know how.

I get a lot of searches on “Tracking Teens” and “Teen GPS” so I thought it was time to do a comprehensive rundown on the subject.

It’s certainly a hot item these days. One of the first issues that always comes up is privacy and legality. In these amazing days parents seem to have to live in fear of their children suing them. Of course, parents who let their teens get in trouble also are often in a legal bind as well. Here’s a very interesting article on FindLaw teen tracking Legalities . In general it’s about what you would expect from a lawyer not working directly for you … a confirmation that there is currently very little actual law on the subject and that in general, parental rights are going to trump any rights that children might have. I’ll have bit more to say on this subject in my recommended techniques and implementations at the conclusion of this piece.

Given that you have the right, and the duty, how can you go about it? There are a number of common techniques and services available and I’ll give you my professional opinion on the pros and cons of each one:

• Cell Phone tracking: this is currently a big commercial venture by a number of major carriers. GPS-enabled cell phones are readily and cheaply available and many of the plans are quite inexpensive.
  • Pros:
    • Cheap
    • Readily available
    • Commonly known (the kids won’t have to feel like geeks)
    • No installation, software installs, etc. Buy the phone, buy the service, track the phone
    • Some of the many vendors:
      • ULocate: Available for Motorola Phones on Nextel or Verizon only ~$15 extra per month
      • Mobile Locator this service offered by Sprint is also tied to the Nextel network ~$15 extra per month
      • Sprint also offers a separate Family Locator Service which has been talked about a lot but is hard to find hard data on.
  • Cons
    • Cheap … in the GPS world it’s still very much a case of you get what you pay for. These services use very cheaply-built consumer grade cell phones, somewhat of a “catch as catch can” tracking “back end” and are offered by companies to whom tracking is a very foreign thing.
    • Reliability … poor. In addition to cell phone coverage issues, most of these phones make it amazingly easy to defeat the tracking application. Merely receiving a phone call requires the phone user to manually re-enable tracking … ooops, mom, I forgot.
    • Premise … backwards. You want to track your teen and keep him or her safe. So instead you track their phone. Well if I’m going to drag race at two in the morning I’m going to leave my phone with the ’stake holder’ in the drive in while I go out an run a hundred and fifty through traffic. If I don’t wind up killing someone from the Tongan Royal family, mom will just think I have been in the drive-in drinking Diet Doctor Pepper.

• In Car dedicated GPS Tracker, Live: These typically are the same units used by many small businesses to track employees and trucks. They can be mounted out of sight and semi-permanently so at least you know you’re tracking the kid’s car and not his phone in his girlfriend’s handbag. They send reports back to parents at regular intervals and thus have some sort of monthly subscription fees.
  • Pros:
    • Significantly better reliability. Most install easily and just plain work
    • Much better resolution. If these units say Jane is driving on Maple Street, she’s driving on maple Street.
    • Long-life. One of these systems will last through several teen’s driving careers. A cell phone is out of style in 6 months.
    • Some common sources/systems:
      • Big Brother GPS Cost about $465 USD, around 20 cents per location report
      • Spot Check by Fleet Boss about $450 USD and $40 per month
      • Go Live by GeoTab about $450 and $35 per month
  • Cons:
    • Upfront investment
    • Monthly fees
    • All require some installation work
    • Only track the car and not the driver if s/he goes “walkabout”

• In car dedicated GPS Tracker, Historic (data loggers): These are offered in both consumer and commercial grade. they report the driver’s activity after the fact, such as when the car returns home for the night. This doesn’t sound as “sexy” as real time units but they are preferred by many businesses, security fleets, school districts, etc. they offer the most “bang for the buck” in reporting.
  • Pros:
    • Low initial cost
    • relatively simple installation
    • NO monthly cost
    • Some typical suppliers:
      • Travel Eyes2 The Internet’s low-price leader. List price ~ $200 USD, no monthly cost
      • Shadow Tracker About $500 USD. Reports for free at home on a wireless link
      • GO RF or Key About $500 USD, reports by key chain fob or private wireless
  • Cons:
    • Not real time, only report after the fact
    • Installation is required
    • All cost more than cell phone based solutions

• Non-GPS Services: Typically these revolve around bumper stickers and 1-800 numbers asking fellow motorists to report egregious or even exemplary driving behavior.
  • Pros:
    • No equipment required
    • Cheap .. costs can be as little as the price of a bumper sticker if the parent wants to use their own phone number
    • Many eyes are watching: Parents may get reports of behavior that wouldn’t be noticed by GPS … riding friends on the hood, basting their 20,000 watt stereos in public places, having sex in the school parking lot, etc.
  • Cons:
    • Very much hit or miss. Who among us hasn’t seem a driver doing something dangerous and just shaken our head and gone on our way. In my own experience I would _never_ call one of these numbers on a private car, because the typical parent will want to argue about how good his or her little angel is … not worth my time or blood pressure.
    • Subject to abuse: teens are always getting into disputes with each other … it’s a part of growing up. Billy gets pissed at Frankie, Frankie has a “how’s my driving” sticker, Frankie’s dad is going to get a call … facts of life.
    • Responsibility: If I want reports on my child’s behavior, I am going to gather the data. It is not the responsibility of others to look after my child, nor is it my responsibility to monitor yours. It may “Take a Village” in today’s world, but it takes individual responsibility within that village to make it work.

My teenagers lickily survived into adulthood so I’m not currently faced with the decisons I talk about here.  If I had anew driver on the road toaday i would definetely track him or her as aconfidence tool and a learning aid.  I would not make this a secret, i would start in the eraly days, before actual driving informoing the child that as a condiiton of having the freedom of a car they were going to be supervised, exactly as their mother an dI supervised other activities.  I’d involve the child in the selection process of a device and monitoring system and have the child colaborate on the setting of critera to be monitored and acceptable limts.  The teen should be responsible for pulling reports, presenting them to the parents and explaining discrepancies.  This technique worls well with commercial drivers and should help devlop teen’s reasoning skills while removing some of the “Big Brother” negativity of the situation.

Hope some of these meanderings have given you some insight into the issues and what’s available. Regular readers know that I sell this type of equipment. I am brand agnostic, however, and if you want to call and talk over the options: 1-800-306-1206 , feel free to do so … I won’t hard sell you, it’s very apparent from my bank account I don’t know how to hard sell.