Scarce Truck Parking Hurts Bottom Line, New Study Shows
Spending nearly an hour looking for a place to park a truck cuts into a driver’s productivity and wages, a new study by the American Transportation Research Institute found.
Specifically, ATRI researchers determined from a group of drivers surveyed that, on average, 56 minutes were spent looking for parking during work. For truckers, this means a reduction of 9,300 revenue-earning miles a year — equal to $4,600 in less wages.
Additionally, truckers indicated it was harder to search for available parking between 4 p.m. and midnight. There was less demand for parking on weekends over weekdays.
“The effects of truck parking shortages are further demonstrated through the remaining drive time, search time and unauthorized/undesignated truck parking observed in the truck parking diaries,” according to the study, released Dec. 13.
A driver quoted in the study told ATRI researchers: “Parking is a huge problem. I start early and end my day early to help my chances of finding a parking space. The routes I travel are mostly out west, and parking is not as hard to find, with the exception of urban areas. I have found that east of the Mississippi River, you need to be parked way before you are out of drive time, or you won’t find a legal place to park.”
ATRI relied on 148 diaries truckers kept, chronicling a 14-day period this year. The diaries were returned to ATRI between June and September.
Researchers noted state departments of Transportation, transportation groups and companies have launched online tools to assist truckers in finding parking. A shortage of parking ranked fourth on ATRI’s 2016 roundup of the top 10 issues confronting the industry.
