Not everyone is happy to see increased safety and standardization across the industries moving America. Some groups within the trucking industry, for example, believe that more regulation will hurt drivers and profitability. Others in mass transit, however, consider the new regulations impacting their industry as “a gift.” If you’re affected by the electronic logging device (ELD) Mandate or Transit Asset Management (TAM) rule, what arguments do you make for or against digital transformation driven by the Internet of Things (IoT)? And what information do you base these opinions on?
What some truckers say
Within the next few months, federal regulations will essentially put the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) inside the cab of every long-haul truck crossing state lines. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), motor carriers with drivers who are required to log hours of service (HOS) must select and install an ELD device starting December 18, 2017. In response to this new rule, many truck drivers have taken to social media in protest, using the hashtags #ELDorMe and #DelayELDs to vehemently oppose the new ELD Mandate.
One of the most consistent arguments against the ELD Mandate is that this new law is driven by corporate greed or the desire for “Big Brother” to keep an eye on drivers. It wouldn’t be fair to completely dismiss such feelings altogether. But from an insider’s perspective, the story behind this new rule is much more complex.
Time to get real about real-time
From a macro view, the IoT is achieving exponential growth due to the proliferation and adoption of smart/connected devices, decreasing costs for sensors and wireless network connectivity, and a need or desire to gain transparency into operations (i.e. real-time visibility). Zooming in to a micro view, federal agencies partnering with IoT service providers have found that new legislation combined with actionable data from ELDs can help improve safety by reducing driver fatigue, which has a tremendous effect on fatal collisions or crashes.
Improving situational awareness and responsiveness towards driver behaviors, achieving cost efficiencies, and generating new revenue streams are generally byproducts of IoT deployments rather than project goals. Considering the well documented driver shortages in trucking, keeping drivers happy and avoiding delays of any kind are likely top of mind for most motor carriers.
Investing in people
Significant cost savings and new revenues can be achieved through IoT solutions such as ELDs. Combining vehicle and asset tracking with ELDs, for example, will allow organizations to reduce fuel expenses, optimize route efficiency, and improve overall service delivery. These advantages will allow motor carriers to move beyond the paradigm of pushing drivers to maintain extended hours on the road because of customer demands or driver shortages. And what’s more, the opportunity presents itself to reinvest these cost savings and new revenues into programs, such as tuition reimbursement, that allow truck drivers to develop new, relevant skills for jobs of the future.
Fixing America’s service transportation
The rise of smart cities is changing the way we live and interact within our urban environment. Smart cities technologies and other IoT deployments are running late to the public sector party, but that’s mostly due to a considerably long and complex procurement cycle. So, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is hoping that its new TAM rule helps the mass transit industry move forward and run on schedule.
New Provisions for Chapter 53 Funds
TAM standards, which falls under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, establish federal guidelines for how state of good repair is defined. Transit agencies that receive Chapter 53 funds must develop and implement a measurable plan for maintaining the assets within a transit network. Within today’s public agencies, assets and maintenance schedules tend to be managed by a manual process. Access to the IoT means that these operations can be automated and streamlined for efficiency, maximizing temporal, capital and human resources.
Making our next move our best move
We live in a time where cities are embracing sustainable transportation. And at the same time, however, cities such as Atlanta, are mired by traffic congestion. According to a 2016 study, the average commuter in Atlanta spends nearly 71 hours per year in traffic. Considering the steady growth of urbanization, cities are desperately seeking ways to move people and cargo more efficiently. A few years ago, Georgia Tech grad Ryan Gravel led a team in Atlanta that transformed 22-miles of unused rail corridor into the Atlanta Beltline — a green, sustainable mixed-use conveyance for pedestrians, cyclists, and public rail.
Shifts towards the sharing economy also has cities harnessing other forms of transportation, which include ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft. But these innovative transportation platforms are not without consequences. For all the attention given to taxi-like services, a new study by the University of California Davis transportation researcher Dr. Regina Clewlow, found that “while widespread usage of these services may be decreasing the number of miles users drive themselves, it appears, overall, to increase the total miles driven in cities.” Trends suggest that Americans, especially Millennials, prefer alternatives to vehicle ownership. However, those alternatives must be affordable, convenient, and sustainable.
Why the IoT for public transportation
Every day, in cities across America, mass transit agencies are efficiently and affordably moving people from one place to another. If these agencies can improve service delivery by maximizing the lifecycle of its inventory assets, and reducing downtime due to breakdown and repairs, cities can make a significant impact on miles driven across its infrastructure, fatal accidents, and traffic congestion. TAM solutions give mass transit agencies the ability to automate scheduled maintenance, meet FTA compliance, and keep trains, buses, and rails up and running.
Sometimes great organizations, including government agencies, fall victim to myopia. They miss innovators like Amazon, Netflix, and Uber coming over the horizon. Looking back, the signs seem to be written in giant letters on the wall. But in fact, it’s never as simple as it seems. The most important lesson to take from mega missed opportunities of the past is that the innovation of emerging technologies signals the need to adopt new business models. The IoT might force laggards within mass transit authorities to embrace or be displaced by emerging technologies if it were not for federal regulations. Is it best that the public transportation industry is nudged towards leveraging the IoT? Perhaps. The object isn’t to spark early adopters, but would anyone complain if some mass transit agencies discovered innovative ways to deliver services, add value, and generate revenue — changing the way we transport cargo and people in cities of the future? No, probably not.
Chris Coffey is the chief storyteller at ThingTech, overseeing demand generation strategies that integrate content development, events, email campaigns, newsletters, social media, custom webpage design and digital advertising. With years of experience as a writer and IoT marketer, Coffey enables B2B sales teams to solve complex business problems with data-driven solutions. In 2013, he received the Verizon Wireless South Area Marketing Top Performers Award. Today, Coffey shares ideas, stories, and thought leadership on technologies changing our cities, specifically transit asset management for the public transportation industry. He’s currently hard at work on the book The Travel Guide to Smart Cities.
