The GPS/AVL and telematics industry has been developing for a long time. Webtech Wireless started business in 1999 and today we have over 100,000 subscribers using our telematic solutions. While creating a new technology market can feel like climbing a mountain, now is a good time to join us on the trail. The routes are well defined and we are here to make it easy for you to gain the insight, benefits, and cost savings of deploying a telematic solution.

To give you some idea of the growth of the telematic market, here are some of the latest statistics:

• The total Mobile Resource Management (MRM) US market will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.9% from 2010 to 2013 (Source: Licht & Associates).
• The North American forecast for the number of fleet management systems in active use will have a CAGR of 12.6% from 2010 to 2015 (Source: Berg Insight).
• Global telematic component markets will grow at a CAGR of nearly 21% from 2011 to 2016 (Source: BCC Research).

These growth predictions demonstrate that telematic solutions have moved out of the early adopter category and into the mainstream. The reasons for adopting and deploying a telematic solution for your fleet include the following list from an MRM presentation by Licht & Associates:

Increased Productivity: Increase the number of jobs per day and more productive driving miles.

Improved Customer Service: More timely response times, real-time status updates, and tighter service windows.

Cost Savings: More efficient routing, fuel reductions in the 5-15% range, and reduced maintenance costs in the 10-30% range.

Risk Management: Accident reduction, lower insurance costs, accident reconstruction, and asset recovery.

Regulation/Green Initiatives: U.S. Senate Bill 3884 (installation of electronic on board recorders), CONTRAN 245 in Brazil (installation of a GPS tracking device on new vehicles), and vehicle re-routing as a key way to reduce miles in a transportation green initiative.

We have helped clients in all these areas and are enthusiastic about being part of the growing telematic market in 2012 and the future.

At the Fleet & Asset Management 2011 conference, Conal Deedy, Solution Manager for Volvo Group Telematics gave the presentation “Fuel Management Systems: The Indispensible Investment”. In his talk, Deedy highlighted the fact that 31% of operational costs in trucking are fuel. In a low margin business like trucking, the effect of lowering fuel consumption by 5% can lead to an increase of 18% in company profitability.

Deedy asserted that these are the biggest factors affecting fuel consumption:

• Vehicle specification and configuration
• Aerodynamics
• Weather, road, and traffic conditions
• Vehicle maintenance
• Driver behavior

Take something as simple as tire pressure. According to Deedly, 50% of all truck tires are more than 10% under-inflated. A -10 PSI tire inflation equates to a -1% mpg reduction in fuel economy.

As we have documented in our white paper “Telematics ROI: The Human Factor” each 1 mph increase in speed over 55 mph reduces fuel economy by 0.1 mpg. Deedly stated that the most efficient drivers get about 30% better fuel economy and idling can account for 30-60% of a vehicle’s operating hours.

To save costs and increase profits, trucking companies need to focus on fuel savings. The best performing ones know that altering driver behavior requires both coaching and monitoring of drivers. Telematics solutions like ours give you the tools to both monitor and provide drivers with feedback to improve their fuel economy.

The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) introduced the CSA initiative in 2009 to improve truck and bus safety and reduce commercial motor vehicle (CMV) – related crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

For more information on the CSA initiative, view the following resources and tips:

• Why is CSA needed?
• How does CSA work?
• What is the timeline?
• What is your role?
• Frequently Asked Questions about CSA
• Review Data

Find out how Webtech Wireless transportation fleet management solution can help you comply with CSA and improve the safety and security of your fleet.

• Greater insight to driving behavior
• Monitor vehicles and track vehicle diagnostics and maintenance information
• Receive notifications of auto-enabled maintenance schedules and alerts for upcoming brake inspections, engine oil changes, vehicle trouble codes, etc.
• Set speeding thresholds and receive email alerts when your mobile workers have exceeded the defined limit
• Pinpoint dangerous driving behavior, and the option of a flashing LED in the vehicle also alerts your driver to slow down
• Support Text-to-Speech and Voice Command Recognition
• Configure in-cab Mobile Data Terminal devices to prevent messaging use while driving vehicle
• Leverage hands-free dialing or 1-button push options
• Access comprehensive vehicle scorecards that provide speeding, unsafe maneuvering, and hard braking counts to help you assess your mobile workers’ driving behavior, any unsafe driving habits, and guide your mobile worker into becoming a better driver

Automated Hours of Service and IFTA Fuel Tax Reporting

The Webtech Wireless Driver Log feature in Quadrant addresses both the US Department of Transportation and Transport Canada’s Hours of Service regulations. With instant access to driver information such as the duration a driver is behind a wheel (starts and stops), when breaks occur and the length of time between driver shifts, Transportation companies are able to meet regulatory requirements, maximize driver efficiency and eliminate manual errors. Integration with ProMiles IFTA, provides operators with accurate data on miles driven within each state and automatically generates fuel tax reports for efficient compliance with tax regulations.

The American Transportation Research Institute just released their 2011 Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry 2011 Report. This annual report surveys more than 4,000 carriers to produce a rank ordering of the key issues the trucking industry sees for itself.

For Webtech Wireless, it was good to see that Onboard Truck Technology is a top 10 issue from the survey respondents. In fact, the graph above shows that for 85% of the trucking industry, onboard technology ranks 5 or higher. For 70% of the industry, it ranks 7 or higher.

Automated GPS and AVL solutions, like the ones we offer, can have an impact on several other of the critical issues raised in the survey. For example,

#2. Hours of Service. Both Quadrant In Cab and Quadrant Manager offer key HOS capabilities, including predictive in cab alerts.

#3. Driver Shortage. Customers tell us that it is the best drivers that stay around when they deploy a telematics solution. A professionally run organization that uses telematics and reporting to level the playing field, making all drivers accountable, is more likely to attract better drivers.

#4. CSA. Good compliance with CSA rules can be enabled through a telematics deployment and automated HOS solution (see #2).

#5. Fuel. Customers use our solutions to monitor idling, driver behaviour and fuel economy, which enables them to increase their fleet fuel economy and lower their fuel costs.

#9. Onboard Truck Technology. Need we say more?

We are pleased to be positioned to help customers solve five out of the top ten issues that the American Transportation Research Institute has identified for 2011.

As the #1 winter fleet GPS and AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) solution in North America, we know what it takes to get ready for winter. All fall we have been helping organizations like the City of Chicago, Ville de Québec (City of Quebec), and the City of Ottawa prepare their winter fleets to be ready for when it starts snowing. We work with Departments of Public Works, Ministry of Transport, and Departments of Transport to give them the solutions they need for their snow plows and winter fleet operational information. Our years of experience have taught us that this is what to look for in a top performing winter fleet telematics solution:

Real-Time Information. When a storm event occurs, supervisors need to know what is going on in their jurisdiction every moment. Our InterFleet ten-second reporting and automatic map updates, means that you have the information you need to make decisions as events occur.

Working With You. We work directly with our winter fleet customers to prepare them for winter. We collaborate to make sure that everything is working before the first storm arrives. Because we work with the largest set of spreader controllers of any vendor, our customers know that their equipment will be reporting and responding correctly when it is needed.

Salt Management. We save our customers millions of dollars every year in the cost of salt, by monitoring and automatically adjusting the amount of salt being put down on the roads. We provide management with year by year reporting so that they can compare and improve their salt use and costs, no matter what the weather is.

It is easy to take it for granted that your streets are cleared when the winter storms arrive. The truth is that it takes a great deal of planning and work to make sure that everything is ready. Top performing organizations work with us to look after their citizens, while saving money, and ensuring that the roads are clear once the snow starts falling.

As service companies grow and add more vehicles to their fleets, they are challenged to track vehicle whereabouts and driver behavior. Without some form of automated vehicle location (AVL) and telemetry (vehicle diagnostics) fleet managers are in the dark while their vehicles are on the road.

That’s why All-Air of Dade County, Florida is re-investing in its Webtech Wireless Quadrant job management solution. Integrated with Garmin®, the job management solution enables fleet managers to dispatch vehicles to their next location, and it saves drivers from needing to call for other dispatches or directions.  Drivers can enter address information and get turn-by-turn directions.

Without their Webtech Wireless solution, fleet managers at this air conditioning solutions and service fleet would have no verifiable way of knowing how safely their drivers were driving. All-Air utilizes the Scorecard and LED feedback to maintain its driving quality. Dangerous driving is recorded on the Scorecard and drivers also see a flashing LED light that warns them that their driving is dangerous and it’s also being recorded.

Now, to fulfill All-Airs’ commitment of  “professionalism, care and attention” to its customers, the company is increasing its investment in the Webtech Wireless’ Quadrant Job Management solution across the entire fleet.

Our customers frequently report that the way they realize the best results from their AVL (automatic vehicle location) solution is knowing what to do with all the data the solution provides. Webtech Wireless solutions contain extensive tools (such as score cards and reports), designed to show you how your fleet is operating.

Here are 5 ways you can lower costs:

1.    Re-allocate Resources

A GPS/AVL fleet management solution allows you to see where your vehicles are in real time. Knowing this enables you to allocate resources where they’re most needed. For example, Webtech Wireless’ Quadrant Manager provides the Find Nearest Vehicle feature, which also shows the best route to the desired location. This saves you in fuel costs and provides better service to your customers. Simply put, increased visibility into your mobile assets lowers your operating costs.

Quadrant - Find Nearest Vehicle

2.    Reduce Unnecessary Idling

A truck burns one gallon of fuel per hour of idling. Idling times are shown to range from 500 to more than 4,000 hours per year. How much idling is unnecessary in your fleet?

“Depending on the cost of fuel, distance traveled, and the size of your fleet, a 0.1 mpg improvement in fuel economy justifies the entire cost of a telematics deployment.”
– Telematics Return on Investment: the Human Factor

3.    Improve Driver Behavior

Our customers tell us that, after unnecessary idling, driver behavior (speeding, fast accelerations, and harsh braking) wastes more fuel, thus driving up the costs of doing business. They find that improving driver behavior (i.e., training and motivation programs) is the best way to eliminate these wasteful practices.

Accidents are costly. The more serious the accident, the more time and attention management must give to deal with it. Vehicle repair costs can vary from $3,000 to $5,000 for a fender bender to $50,000 to $100,000 for a serious accident. Liability risk, human injury, and brand reputation all create significant risk for an organization.

“There are so many unknown losses from accidents. There is lack of productivity when we all have to turn our attention to managing an accident. All kinds of personnel wasting their time dealing with the accident and managing the consequences. The cost itself can be really bad. Trucks are down, customers are upset, and it is an amplification of a problem.”
–Kevin Bookey, National Foods, Transportation Manager

4.    Eliminate Paper-based Reporting

Webtech Wireless’ Quadrant solution provides state-of-the-art Hours of Service (HOS) reporting that will save you thousands of dollars in errors, overtime, and even non-compliance fines. Without an electronic on-board reporting tool (EOBR) solution, the most common practice is for paperwork to be completed at the end of the day—almost always billed as overtime hours. Quadrant’s MDT device records HOS information automatically and reports it to head office in real time.

5.    Minimize Risk

Minimizing risk pro-actively also lowers operating costs. For example, fines for inaccurate fuel-tax reporting can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Companies take enormous risk with manual records. Once a fuel tax audit starts, it is almost impossible to predict how long and expensive the resulting audit will be for the company. After fuel tax reporting is automated, this risk is vastly reduced.

Founded in 1881, Canadian Pacific (CP) is one of Canada’s oldest railway companies. Today, CP is leading a technological revolution applying technology throughout its operations and supply chain. Jim Barr, Business Manager, introduced our Quadrant solution to its InterModal operations (moving freight between trains and its customers).

Before Quadrant, CP’s drivers were waiting up to an hour to be dispatched—not just waiting for a call, but actually on hold for an hour. With the installation of Quadrant in all of its contracted delivery trucks, CP not only knows where each truck is, our In-Cab solution eliminates the need for mobile phone communication to dispatch drivers. Saving many minutes every day across hundreds of drivers is a significant cost savings for CP.

Many of CP’s primary customers run very large distribution centres. By using Quadrant’s geofencing features, CP has been able to identify distribution centres with very long stop times. In many cases, CP has a contractual agreement with the customer on the maximum amount of wait time at the distribution centre. CP is now able to work with those customers who are not meeting their contractual obligations.

In the words of Jim Barr, “CP saw a significant overall reduction in trucking costs by improving our fleet performance using Quadrant.”

Webtech Wireless’ NextBus solution is now the transit technology that municipalities (from Montreal’s Société de transport de Laval to the Los Angeles Metro) rely on to provide accurate real-time public transportation information to millions of riders. Like other AVL solutions, NextBus uses global positioning system (GPS) tracking satellites to display transit vehicle locations in real-time. So what makes Nextbus’ particular solution so helpful?

Tackling the Problem

There is something of a perfect storm closing in on public transit systems these days. Rising fuel costs are driving many commuters to use public transit as their primary method of transportation, and with traffic variations, breakdowns, and other day-to-day problems leaving riders waiting at bus stops and train platforms, they’re increasingly turning to instant wireless communications (such as cellphones, PDAs, text messaging, etc.), to manage their lives. These riders rely on and expect reliable location-based services.

“The need for a predictive transit solution became apparent as a means to encourage ridership and streamline bus routing.”

Designing the Solution

To address these problems, NextBus was designed to “keep your customers on schedule even if their bus isn’t”. Using GPS tracking, NextBus estimates vehicle location information with a high degree of accuracy. Using PCs, landline phones, cell phones, or SMS (Text) messaging, riders get real-time travel information, which helps them decide whether catching the next bus is a sprint or leisurely stroll.

Viewed through a web browser, NextBus uses Google maps to show highly accurate route maps

“NextBus helps riders make the best use of public and university transit.”

From the standpoint of transit authorities, deploying a transit AVL solution helps transit companies improve customer service, reduce accidents, reduce fuel and labor costs, improve operator performance, and improve street-level visibility for transit supervisors and planners.

In the New York Times writer, Joshua Brustein praises the recent deployment of NextBus to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Los Angeles began using NextBus for its entire bus system in May, the largest transit agency to do so.” Or, according to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority itself, the NextBus solution is “designed to help take the guesswork out of bus arrival and help you to get to your stop at the same time as your bus”.

Using NextBus on Your Smartphone

Just as the adoption of the cell phone became universal a decade and a half ago, the smartphone is now a ubiquitous part of life for most urbanites. According to New York Times writer, Damon Darlin, “historians will remember the advent of the smartphone as something as important as the elevator, air conditioner and automobile.”

The implication for transit companies is clear: adopt an AVL solution or face irritation and disinterest from your ridership. Fortunately, transit authorities are reading the writing on the wall and many of them are choosing NextBus—for its reliability and simplicity.

“NextBus, a wonderful Web site that monitors the arrival of city buses in many big cities, is a godsend.”

While there is no official phone application for Nextbus, the simplicity of the NextBus website makes it easy to use on most smartphones.

NextBus viewed on an iPhone

To access NextBus using a smartphone:

1. Using your smartphone’s web browser (such as Safari), access the NextBus website: www.nextbus.com.
2. Choose the mobile version or the full-featured website.
3. Select your location, your transit agency, your route, and then your stop.
   The most current prediction for the arrival time of the next vehicle is displayed.
4. You also can add your stop info to your home screen so it will be instantly available.
5. If a prediction is already displayed on your smartphone, simply push the ‘refresh’ link at the bottom of the page to get the most up to date information.

WebTech Wireless’ Edward Kulperger, Vice President Insurance, OEM, and International Business, was quoted in a Times Colonist article dealing with the impact technology could have on the insurance industry, and in particular, how this technology could affect senior drivers. Also qutoed in the article were representatives from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), Volvo cars and the Ford Motor Company. The article can be read online at: High tech to keep your drive alive.