GPS and Trucking — HOS (hours Of Service) Part 2

As Dave Barry is famous for saying, “I’m not making this up”.  You may think part 1 of this series was complicated, but when you get into local commercial vehicle operations, you ain’t seen nothing yet: (Reference)

Summary of the 100 air-mile radius HOS provision in § 395.1(e)(1)

The 100 air-mile radius exception in Part § 395.1(e)(1) is an option to use time records in lieu of RODS on days when the driver meets the conditions of the exception, which are:

• The driver operates within a 100 air-mile ( 115 statute miles) radius of the normal work reporting location, and
• The driver returns to the work reporting location and be released from duty within 12 consecutive hours, and
• The driver maintains time records as specified in the rule, and
• The driver is not covered by the “non-CDL 150 air-mile radius” provision.

Summary of the Non-CDL 150 air-mile radius provision in Part § 395.1(e)(2)

Drivers of non-CDL vehicles (those vehicles not requiring a CDL, as defined in Part 383 to operate) who are operating within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location and return to their normal work reporting location at the end of their duty tour are now covered by separate HOS provisions. Drivers meeting these conditions are not eligible for the existing 100 air-mile radius provision in § 395.1(e)(1) or the current 16-hour exception in § 395.1(o), since those conflict with this new Non-CDL 150 air-mile radius provision. These drivers are required to comply with the following:

(a) The 11 hours driving, minimum 10 hours off-duty, 14 consecutive hour duty period, 60/70 hours in 7/8 days, 34-hour restart all apply.

(b) On any 2 days of every 7 consecutive days, the driver may extend the 14-hour duty period to 16 hours.

(c) There is no requirement that the driver be released from duty at the end of the 14- or 16-hour duty periods . The driver may continue to perform non-driving duties, which would be counted against the 60/70 hour weekly limitation.

(d) Time records may be used in lieu of records of duty status.

I’m particularly interested in this subject because nearly every day I talk to business owner who fall under one or both of these provisions and, in general, they have their necks stuck out a country mile.  Her’s some typical examples:

• A company operates out of one city, say Colorado Springs and their drivers return to Colorado Springs virtually every night. 
• Owner says, I have no need of anything to help me track miles and hours of service, my drivers don’t even need CDL’s (Commercial Driver’s Licenses) for my vehicles.

Fine, I reply, that probably puts you under the so-called 150 mile exemption, so how do you calculate compliance?  “Why, by the odometer”, he replies with a look that tells me he thinks I’m not too bright.  Take a look at the map below and tell me how many areas he’s been excluding … or how many areas he might have broken the law in.  The first complexity here is, it’s not odometer mileage, it’s a radius of operation from the driver’s reporting point.

The turquoise circle is the approximate “150 mile” radius that can be used by the non-CDL vehicles.  Yes, just to be confusing the law uses the term “air miles” which actually don’t exist.  The proper definition is a radius in Nautical miles, so the “100 mile* rule vehicles can actually be 115 miles “as the crow flies” and the “150 mile rule” drivers can venture 172.6 miles from home station.

In case you’re wondering, lots of cities and little towns inside that circle that are going to show more than 150 miles on the odometer.  So if an owner gets too cautious and defines the rule in a way the law doesn’t, he could exclude himself from a lot of territory.

On the other hand, suppose he made trip to Fort Collins.  But on that day he just happened to use one of his vehicle that does require a CDL to operate.  Ooops.  Suppose it was a non-CDL vehicle, but it happened six months ago.  Would he be able to prove which vehicle went to Fort Collins and which ones didn’t on a given day?

How many hours did each driver spend driving on any given day, and were they driving a “100 mile” or “150 mile” vehicle.  The business operator is responsible for those records, and more.  Did each driver work not more than 14 hours before s/he stopped driving?  Did he work in addition to the 14 hours on given days and was that time counted towards his duty time for the 7 or 8 day maximum rules?  Did any drivers take the special 16 hour duty day exception?  Did they have the required 14 hour days or days off in between the 16 hour days?

I don’t know about you, but this stuff gives me a headache.  But the very operator who I’m talking about here has a branch in Grand Junction.  Does he send drivers there sometimes?  Yup?  Do they then use RODS (Logbook)?  “Oh, no, I don’t believe that’s over the 150 mile limit”, is what he told me.  What do you think?

Folks, if you operate vehicles commercially, paying drivers to operate them, even if they are as small a passenger car (should they ever, even once in a while, carry goods), you better wake up.  A federal audit of you operation could really, really, really wreck your day.

Think seriously about GPS tracking your vehicles and make sure the system you select:

• Keeps your data indefinitely (many don’t)
• Gives you your data in a standard format (like Microsoft Excel) so you can ‘feed’ it to other tools
• Positively identifies who drove which vehicle, when, because it’s the records of individual drivers that the law requires you to keep … and the law doesn’t seem that simple to me.

GPS Improves the "Take The Bus" Experience

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.

Springs Transit Info Added

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.

Are You Really Sure The US is First-World?

Indore City Transport to introduce GPS for buses

Indore City Transport Service (ICTSL) will soon introduce global positioning system (GPS) based on an online bus tracking system (OBTS) and LED system to offer better facilities to commuters in the city.    

It would be for the first time in India when such system is used for bus services. The ICTSL held a pre-bid conference for the project last Thursday. The technical bid for the project would open today and the financial bid on March 29.

ICTSL will have a control room for OBTS where every bus will be fitted with a GPS-based tracking device with online data transfer facility. With this estimated time of arrival could be flashed on display screens at 50 bus stops and the passengers waiting for the buses would know the arrival timings and other information related to the buses.

Ever notice how so many Americans bad-mouth India? All the comments from those who lost jobs that they considered their right for life, companing about Indian technicians or programmers who don’t measure up to standards?

Well maybe they should be looking at the politicians and city manager types to see why India seems to get ahead.

India, like the US has massive polution progrmas and traffic problems. While the “gubenator” solution is just to build more lanes on freeways that will fill up as fast as they’re built, the real solution is public transportation.

Public transpo? Oh that’s for losers .. and besides, riding the buss is so inconvenient. Well, if you want to make public transpo more appelaing you have to manage it.

Now there certainly are some US cities that are thaking steps, in most cases we in the US are woefully behind. Does you city have asystem like Indore is building?

 

 

 

 

 

If not, why not?

 

GPS Tracking — Fact vs. Fiction

Again and again I hear the cry .. we can’t afford the monthly cost.

Look at this site

and consider that the monthly communication costs are zero.
And then tell me why your city and your school district aren’t doing the same thing?

The time has come to separate fact from fiction.

GPS, Buses and Old Age

Yes you have seen this post before. It’s one of the last I’m bringing over from my other blog, GPS Bus, which I am shutting down due to lack of news items/readership. Anybody wanna buy a great domain, gpsbus.com I’ll seel it really cheap.

I’m going to keep on this American anti-public transpo attitude for as long as it takes … or until gas goes back down to 99 cents agallon … which is three times what it ought to cost by the way. We can not solve the prblems of global warming, energy dependence and over crowding unless we wise up an stop watching every executive and every soccer mom driving by themselves … or with one pampered kid … in a damn SUV. We may not wake up in my lifetime, but others will put out the message as well. Read and heed.

MICHAEL BARBER

Herald Staff Writer

Ralph Kramden couldn’t have seen this coming.

Buses in Manatee and Sarasota counties will one day soon be fitted with satellite technology that will allow riders to monitor the movements of buses.

The systems, known as Automotive Vehicle Locators, utilize global positioning technology to track the movements of mass transit vehicles.

This summer, AVL devices will be installed on Manatee County Area Transit buses, according to Ralf Heseler, transit manager for Manatee County. MCAT has 21 full-sized buses, 22 smaller transit vehicles and five trolleys.

“The systems will initially be used for our own internal purposes,” Heseler said. “Sometime during the next calendar year we hope to have the technology available for our customers.” … Rest of Article Here:

Here’s some good news for Manatee and Sarasota counties in Florida. Good news for the world of public transpo in general, as well.

So many of our public transport agencies run themselves as poor stepchildren with no means of supporting themselves except by public handout. It’s one hell of a way to run a railroad, especially in today’s world of $3.00 gas and in a state with a high proportion of retirees. It’s all very well and good to hop in the Beemer and denigrate public transport as too slow and smelly when you’re 30, but as Billy Joel once pointed out,, in Somewhere Along The Line: …..

Read more

GPS Makes and Saves Money — Do You Want People To Ride?

London buses get real-time tracking onboard

Regular reports of bus locations will provide up-to-date information

Transport for London
(TfL) will begin
installing a new £120m communications and satellite tracking system next spring
following successful trials on five buses earlier this year.

More than 8,000 buses will be fitted with new radios, on-board computer with
GPRS and wireless networking capability, plus new display signs and voice
announcements.

The computer will report the bus location to a central system every 30
seconds. Accurate predictions will then be sent to countdown signs at stops.

The move comes after TfL held an eight-week trial of a real-time system,
including voice announcements and visual displays…. Full Article Continues here:

Just a nice piece of info to study on a bleak Saturday morning? Bleak he said? Yup! In less than a month it will be 5 years since September 11th … and as we can see from the “monkey f**king a football” reaction to both passengers and transportation mangers over the latest ‘liquid explosives’ scare, the free world hasn’t really done much, if anything to keep transportation safer.

Well Transport for London has … increase safety, save money (by increasing efficiency) and make more money (by increasing passenger ridership). Could it be that TfL actually wants people to ride their busses? ‘

What about your city?

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