iTRAK News - August 2008

Customer Spotlight – VHS Transportation

Before installing iTRAK devices in its special-needs vans, VHS Transportation had no way to dismiss claims by riders, parents, and school districts that its vans were picking up or dropping off late. In one case, a parent had complained that the van was always late picking up a student scheduled to be collected at 7:15 a.m. Armed with the Stop Report from iTRAK Fleet Manager™, VHS Operations Director Vincent Savill was able to show that the driver had arrived at the student’s home between 7:03 and 7:10 a.m. every day for the past month. In addition to defending their on-time performance, supervisors use iTRAK to monitor use of take-home vans, and to ensure that operators are driving safely.

To win multi-year contracts, VHS Transportation, a Massachusetts-based transportation provider with over 150 vans on the road, relies on its reputation for safety and its focus on cost efficiency. In the highly competitive transportation industry, even the slightest advantage can help win a contract. VHS management highlights its use of GPS tracking in every proposal, even though it may not be a requirement. “Our clients definitely understand the value of having our vans tracked,” said Matt MacDonald, Financial Controller at VHS. “We know exactly what every vehicle is doing at every turn, and where it has been. In the event of a traffic issue or weather delay, we can reassure clients and parents that the vans are being tracked and that their riders are safe.”

In addition, iTRAK Fleet Manager has given VHS operations staff a simple and straightforward means of auditing the use of weekly gasoline vouchers. For each voucher issued, a driver is expected to travel a certain number of miles. A quick check of mileage from the Activity Report will let supervisors know if there are any irregularities.

VHS Transportation also provided valuable feedback to iTRAK technical staff during the development of the new iTRAK Call Commander™ hands-free voice option, an innovative new product that facilitates safe, easy communications between drivers and their command centers, while eliminating costly non-essential communications. Call Commander operates over the same wireless link as the iTRAK GPS tracking device.

Feature Highlight – Fleet Status Summary

Although many users of iTRAK Fleet Manager are in the habit of displaying a live map of their coverage area, sometimes it is more useful to see a list of vehicles and the status of each. The Fleet Status Summary feature displays a chart of vehicles, arranged alphabetically, and the last reported position of each vehicle. You can display the chart by selecting Fleet Status from the Fleet menu in iTRAK Fleet Manager.

The colors of the background and the text tell you at a glance if a vehicle has moved today (green highlight), and whether its last reported position is a “moving” (red text) or “stopped” position (black text).

One of the most popular features of the Fleet Status Summary is the ability of a user to switch from the list view to a map view focused on a specific vehicle. Just right-click on the name of any vehicle in the chart, and in a few seconds you will be taken to a 2-mile map view showing that vehicle in the center! From there you can zoom or re-center the map as you wish.

You can also display optional columns such as TSLR (“Time Since Last Report”) and Dir (“Direction of Travel”) by selecting the desired column name from the Utilities menu. Column widths in the chart can be adjusted by clicking and dragging the column dividers, and the Fleet Status Summary can be saved at any time as an Excel spreadsheet by selecting Save Summary under the File menu.

Some of our customers have even added a second monitor to their computers so they can display the Fleet Status Summary on one monitor and live maps on the other! If you would like assistance in setting up two monitors, call our technical support team at 1-866-224-8725 or email them at technical.support@itrak.com.

Industry News – Stiff Penalties Increase for Engine Idling

In order to combat excessive noise and reduce air pollution, many states have enacted laws that limit the amount of time vehicles can run their engines while stationary.

In the state of New York, for example, heavy duty vehicles (GVWR exceeding of 8,500 lbs.) must shut off their engines if stopped for more than 5 consecutive minutes, unless they are complying with passenger comfort laws, performing a pre-trip safety inspection, or a handful of other exceptions. Fines range from $375 to $15,000 for the first offense!

In Denver, Colorado, unnecessary idling by any vehicle for more than 10 minutes in any hour period can cost the driver up to $999 and one year in prison. Similar laws in more than 25 other states mandate penalties for noncompliance of up to $27,500 in fines, imprisonment, loss of license, or jail time for multiple offenses.

Beyond the regulations themselves, excessive idling is harmful to equipment and people. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, idling costs the trucking industry more than $2.5 billion each year, and emits 11 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air. Here are some facts about engine idling.

1. Idling negatively impacts air quality – Emissions from a cold, idling engine contain extremely high levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and hydrocarbons.
2. Idling wastes fuel and money – It's been estimated that American drivers unnecessarily consume over 2 billion gallons of fuel each year while idling. With gas prices at their highest levels in years, the cost of idling to individuals is significant and the cost to our economy is astronomical.
3. Idling adversely affects the health of millions – Researchers have proven a direct link between air contaminants present in vehicle emissions and serious respiratory conditions. Younger children and older adults are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of these pollutants.
4. Idling is not good for your engine – Idling after a cold start leaves fuel residue and condensed water on engine and exhaust components causing damage and contamination of engine oil.
5. Idling is illegal in almost every state – Although most anti-idling laws are still aimed at large trucks and commercial vehicles, a growing number of regions and municipalities are planning or close to enacting laws limiting or prohibiting idling of passenger cars.

Naturally, there are exemptions for truck drivers who sleep in their cabs, for refrigerator truck drivers who need to keep their engines running so cargo doesn't spoil, and for extreme weather conditions.

A complete list of idling regulations, which is periodically updated, is published by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). The chart shows the idling limitations and exceptions, the penalties for violation, and enforcing authority for each jurisdiction.

Click to access the full compendium of regulations in the U.S. or the ATRI Idling Regulations Cab Card.

The best way to make sure your drivers are in compliance with the local laws is to add an engine-on sensor cable to your iTRAK installation, and enable the built-in alerting capability of iTRAK Fleet Manager. Alerts can be set up with two different thresholds. A typical configuration might be as follows: When a vehicle has been idling for 5 minutes, that vehicle’s map icon begins to blink. After a second threshold of 15 minutes has been exceeded, an email is automatically generated to the dispatcher and/or fleet supervisor.

To learn more about compliance with idling laws, or to implement idle alerting, contact our technical support team at 1-866-224-8725 or email them at technical.support@itrak.com.

What’s New – iTRAK Report Manager™ Coming Soon!

We are excited to announce that our new, advanced report manager application entered the “beta testing” phase with a handful of customers earlier this month. The key feature of iTRAK Report Manager is the fully automatic generation of vehicle reports as a background activity on any user’s PC.

Customers will be able to schedule an expanded array of reports to run in real time or on any future date. Select the whole fleet, a subfleet or a single vehicle. Reports needed for supervisory review can be set up to run in the wee hours of the morning and automatically emailed to multiple recipients for analysis. Reports can be set to run once, or on a recurring daily, weekly, or quarterly basis. Reports are also automatically stored on the user’s PC for convenient retrieval at any time.

iTRAK Report Manager is designed to be used in conjunction with your existing iTRAK Fleet Manager web account, so all vehicle and landmark data are automatically downloaded to the application when you launch Report Manager.

Report types available in the initial release of iTRAK Report Manager include the standard Activity, Detailed, Stop, State/Province, Over Speed, and Landmark reports; new additions include Sensor Inputs and a Trip Report, as well as a new Landmarks Report that shows all visits (by all vehicles) to one or more chosen landmarks. Future releases are expected to include a Maintenance Report, Time Card, and a Driver’s Log.

iTRAK Report Manager is scheduled for release in September; pricing will vary by number of PC licenses needed. Click here to receive notification when the product is released, or to have an iTRAK sales manager contact you to discuss your specific needs.

Who's Who at iTRAK...

Admin Support – This dedicated group based at our headquarters handles a large number of different tasks, including new order processing and acceptance, questions relating to existing orders, new user set-up, fleet and unit changes, billing, and all other administrative issues. Call the admin staff at 1-866-694-8725 or email them at admin.support@itrak.com.

Technical Support – Rich Geving and his team will make sure you derive the maximum benefit from your iTRAK system. They can help with installation questions, answer technical questions, and help performance issues. Live hours are 6:00 AM - 5:00 PM Mountain Time, with on-call technicians available after hours. Call 1-866-224-8725 or email technical.support@itrak.com.

Sales Team – Based in regional offices throughout the U.S., our team of Regional Sales Managers stands ready to set up product demonstrations, provide current pricing, help calculate return on investment to justify your iTRAK purchase, and organize post-sales training. You can reach the sales team by calling 1-866-694-8725, or emailing itrak.sales@itrak.com