Notes from TAC committee 11.12.19 - Oregon



Oregon Commercial Truck Parking StudyTAC Meeting #2, 885 Airport Rd SE, Salem 97301, Building XNov 12, 2019, 1-4 p.m.Meeting SummaryAttendeesScott Drumm, Port of PortlandKristin Gomez, Schnieder NationalMark Gibson, Siskiyou TransportationMichael Quilty, RVMPOBrad Aimone, Central Oregon Trucking CompanyRick Kokel, May Trucking Co Tom Faricy, Jubitz Truck StopKevin Ely, Oregon State PoliceMike Matousek, Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)Marilyn Holt, ODOT Maintenance DistrictJim Denno, TICNick Fortey, FHWACarla Phelps, ODOT MCTDFriends of the Committee and StaffJohn Boren, ODOT Freight PlanningErik Havig, ODOT Freight PlanningBecky Knudson. ODOT Transportation Planning and Analysis UnitRobin Marshburn, ODOT Freight PlanningEd Scrivner, ODOT Freight PlanningBridget Wieghart, WSPSebastian Guerrero, WSPNote: The slides, which covered the main presentation points in the meeting, are attached. Points covered by slides are not repeated elsewhere in the meeting summary.Welcome and IntroductionsErik welcomed attendees, reminded us of the purpose of the study and told him he appreciated their time. Robin asked members to introduce themselves.Study StatusRobin reviewed the study status. He reminded the group that this is the second meeting. At the first meeting they provided input to the inventory, which has since been revised. He noted that we have a lot to cover today including the survey results and current and future demand analysis. After this meeting, we will move into the solutions phase. The last meeting will be late January or early February.Survey and Interview SummaryBridget provided an overview of the survey and interview process and results. Members had the following questions and discussion.One member notes that “safe and secure” can represent a lot of things and asked whether any clarification was provided to respondents. Bridget responded that, due to time, we were not able to ask about them separately. So, we should view the results to those questions as covering both safety and security. Jubitz indicated that the interview and survey findings agrees with their understanding. Mark Gibson also agrees with the results. There appeared to be some agreement on point that trucks are parking multiple days. Robin asked Jim what the maximum parking duration in rest areas is. He said that the staff are only there for 8 hours but that the OSP is up and down rest areas. He noted that, technically, there is a 12 hr limit. Bridget asked whether trucks are parking multiple days at rest areas. He said, no, they have that problem with autos, not truckers. OSP agreed. Jubitz said it is clear that some trucks to park multiple days while doing their reset. In Beaverton, there are trucks that park where the drivers live. Jubitz said that security guards flag if a truck is parked for several days. They’ll catch the ones that are parked for longer, and put sign/flag. Current Demand AnalysisSebastian presented current demand methodology and attributes of the ATRI data and expansion model. He asked whether the slide 28 matched their understanding. Most thought it seemed okay. ODOT asked about I -84 east and whether we saw issues in winter weather. Sebastian responded that we had looked at this but lacked the data to really make a correlation. We had a good data set of the weather situation from ODOT, but needed more observed days in winter to confirm a pattern. Erik asked Marilyn Holt whether this represented her understanding of conditions on east I-84. She said not in terms of winter conditions. However, she acknowledged that these conditions vary over time and it is hard see a sporadic problem in an annual average. There was a question about whether the demand supply was really showing how bad things were on US 97. Sebastian explained the worst-case scenario analysis and the range of uncertainty. The PPT focused on the average over all days but the other information is in the memo.There was a question about how the data analysis correlated with the truckers spending a certain amount of time looking for parking. Sebastian clarified that this represented actual observe truck parking – not their reported or preferences about time spent looking. These two factors might be different.Sebastian presented the undesignated parking. There was a discussion about trucker preferences regarding parking that underscored the variety of approaches to truck parking. Brad Aimone says that their truck drivers don’t like to park in truck stops because they get hit. Truck drivers are self-sufficient. They prefer big undesignated spots. Mike Quilty agreed that the Pilot in his area has a lot of accidents reported in it. Mark Gibson said truckers park where it is convenient. Brad said first choice is in customers parking lots. Schneider doesn’t allow undesignated parking because of risk for accidents. May Trucking agreed and said that you are liable if you park in an undesignated spot. Also, the group agreed that new drivers may prefer pull throughs spots rather than back in, whereas more experienced drivers want to park where there is less chance of getting hit. May Trucking encourages their drivers to park at truck stops, shippers or receivers, or their yard.Sebastian reviewed the areas with the most undesignated parking. There was a discussion about how the undesignated location correlate with the designated demand. Bridget noted that they don’t match up completely. Rural segments were possibly further from rest areas or perceived as safer. Sebastian noted that some segments in and around Portland might have less space for parking. Mike Quilty brought up the land use laws and how you need to build truck stops in urban areas which is the most expensive property. He noted that we need to address this cost if we are going to encourage the private sector to provide parking.Erik brought up the fact that one of the popular areas for undesignated parking is not in an area that lacks designated parking. Rick asked whether some of these popular undesignated spots are good for parking and maybe should be encouraged? The design of rest areas was brought up. Members noted that trucks in pull through spots are likely to get hit because the parking spaces or the areas between the spaces is too narrow. If you park on a wide ramp, then you are less likely to hit because they would have exposure on one side and harder to get side-swiped.Future DemandSebastian presented the findings. People asked clarifying questions.Sebastian presented the uncertainty about the future projections. He asked the group what they thought about changes in technology affecting the projections.Robin pointed out that if you have more traffic and more trucks then congestion might require more trucks to get the same freight or make more stops due to slower travel. Congestion relief is a huge problem today and it takes a long time to add capacity.One member noted that E-commerce final mile is a big factor – JB Hunt delving into that. Transload is being considered for final mile solutions.Schnieder said they were in e-commerce but got out of it. It was hard to get into with major players like Amazon and also volatile. In Salem, we have Amazon and one in Beaverton Hillsboro.Erik asked what the industry is seeing on the regulation side. Members responded that what happens with hours of service makes a huge difference. They pointed to an ELD exemption for local cartage. Members also brought up that the effect of different types of fuel for different trucks. There could be major reconfiguration of industry and alternative mittee Discussion of StrategiesBridget asked about the most promising strategies. Brad said that he didn’t think truck stops work, because they are in the business of making money. Pilot has a few parking spaces because it is their business model, but wants the drivers out quickly. Jubitz said that, if this study identifies a need, then this could help inform the private truck stop so they might invest.Mike suggested that local jurisdiction should implement tax incentives to encourage truck stops. Give property tax break for first X years. Bridget asked how important services are. There had been discussion about how self-sufficient some drivers are. What about the low development model of truck parking?Mike’s concern is that one of the reasons rest areas are less popular is that they don’t have food. Trucks don’t want to stop there because they need to stop later to eat food. One member noted that In New Jersey, some highways rest areas have food and other amenities.Rick said it might be a good idea if there is an underdeveloped area south of south of Portland. Develop relationship with community and provide tax breaks. Maybe truck drivers can take Uber to find something to eat. Put the truck on a shelf, and take care of the needs separately. Even if you have major receivers in the Portland area, get them to lease the spots. Some interviews noted the difficulty with the current truck stop model, in terms of matching up with the need. They have arrangement with companies that drivers use the fuel and restaurants, however they don’t charge for the parking. Some trucks park and use Uber. Truck stops don’t have an incentive to provide parking. One member suggested getting shippers to lease parking spots. Safeway, for example. This would allow an income stream to fund development of parking. Reservations: Jubitz has started having a small number of reserved spaces available. At the moment, because they are new to it, they are not necessarily doing a good job. Maybe this take off over time. What would be the willingness for them to pay a small fee, so that they know that drivers can complete their trip in HOS? This goes into making the final model better, following TA/Pilot, etc. The reservation system that fills out the most is TA Troutdale. So, trucks stage for the start of the day. Want to understand better where trucks are. How many of their drivers head north/south in the morning. Current reservation system is crude, online. Don’t have an app like TA/Pilot.If the drivers haven’t planned ahead, they start stressing. Half of the spaces are blindside parking, which drivers want to avoid. Drivers want to pay for a good space to avoid blindside parking. The group agreed that the goal is to get people to plan ahead. Brad said, from a motor carrier perspective, they use a lot of reservations to increase production. A lot of new drivers just stop much earlier than they need to. Instead, we reimburse reservation feesIs having power available a large deal, to stop the idling?Jubitz has 16 power spaces, and they are always full. Kristin, New fleets have APUs, have technologies to reduce idling,The group discussed design of rest areas: OSP suggested limiting the amount of vehicles that can park next to the trucks, because that makes it harder for trucks to park. Eliminating some passenger parking at rest areas might improve operations for trucks.The rest areas should be made safer. Look at the engineering layout of rest areas. Kristin, some rest areas have more landscape areas than other. Could the landscape areas be removed to make room for truck parking?Brad said that new drivers want to be connected. In Iowa all rest areas have wifi. They want to view Netflix before going to sleep. May need to add WIFI.Bridget asked about availability of information. What is the best way to provide more information so that spaces are most utilized? There was a discussion about use of sensors or cameras to report availability. Kristin said it is nice to have an app. Others suggested a reader board, smart board on freeway listing number of spaces available, before the rest area. Marilyn noted that ODOT is trying to communicate chain-up availability. If we can come up with the right solution these boards could be used for dual purposes. Brad noted that, in VA, it is illegal for big rigs to park in rest areas, however, they have lots of parking at scale houses. There is restroom. Safe and secure for the night. There is a police office there. OSP responded that some of the scale areas don’t open 24hrs. Bridget said that some interviewed expressed concern that it could inhibit the functionality. Eric responded that, if you build it right, from scratch, then you can solve the operational issues. There was discussion about potentially permitting some of the undesignated parking, where it is safe. Potentially, frontage roads or in rural areas.Eric asked what can we do with public private partnership to make things better? Jubitz didn’t have specific ideas right now but offered to get back to us. In general, their ability to expand would need to be financially workable model (need financial assistance). Mike brought up land use laws. He said, with the amount of traffic in urban areas, some people complain about trucks entering/exiting certain locations. Bridget said land use and regulations came up in the survey as well as local jurisdictional perception of truck stops. Members noted:Change land use laws to allow truck parking outside of urban areas. There are lots of trucks stopping on boarder with California to change out the equipment they need to have.The business model has to be to the truck stops. To put it outside of urban area, the state should allow a variance in land use code.Work with local jurisdictions to create a better public image. Jubitz noted that the profit margin and convenience stores is very low. The main thing is their ability to sell fuel. Adding more parking means additional fuel tanks on the ground and greater refueling capacity. Becky said that ODOT is putting a lot of emphasis on reliability. The reservation system can improve reliability. Kristin said that, over time, they are moving to paying more for parking. They can’t pay reservation for all parking now, but over time it makes sense. More and more folks doing reservation of parking.The new workforce likes to pay for convenience,It is convenience, but it can also save money. 15 dollars is way less than the value of time of drivers/trucksVery few carriers pay for reservation fees today. Brad said, as a carrier, they are looking into the data and finding the major metro areas, and they are paying for reservation when/where it makes sense. Jubitz, the more reserved spaces you add, you have less free inventory. The truck drivers did not rank paid reservation as that important, but the interviewees thought it was important.Mike, to provide a tax break, they look at number of employees. This is not a good metric for truck parking areas because they don’t employee a lot of people. The argument should be that they need tax break to encourage trucks, and open to markets. Becky brought up GHG reductions in transportation sector. She suggested installing APUs to reduce GHGs and charge reservation fee. This is a win-win and drivers won’t waste fuel. Brad said that they rate shippers on how well they turn over the trucks. If they are not good, they should allow drivers to stay there. Buy Pizza/have facilities. Kristin agreed with the need to approach shippers so that they have facilities for drivers because of hours of service. In a metro area, you have a lot of traffic and trucks need to park closer to the metro areas. Bridget noted that she had a conversation with someone in California DOT. They require distributors to account for the impact trucks are having on the environment. They floated the idea of requiring distribution facilities to provide parking. Robin said they are going to take a close look to what other states are doing. Washington is working with Truck Depot.Bridget asked about using parking facilities for crossdocking. This is part of the Truck Depot model. Jubitz said they have not gotten into this. Bridget said that Truck Depot thinks this will become more prevalent as urban areas don’t allow large trucks in them. Look at: Oasis in UtahSuper stops planned for New Mexico (contact Johnny Johnson NM Truck Driver Association)ODOT RoleRest areasScale housesFrontage RoadsVariancesInformation availability and signagePublic Image Install electric hook ups ................
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