Three Ways To Unlock Congestion With Vehicle Tracking Technology

New Zealanders spend, on average, almost one hour per day commuting through traffic. That’s almost 15 days spent in traffic each year, and it’s only expected to get worse. Population growth projections sees New Zealand’s population rising to 5.9 million by 2042. This combined with increased economic activity, international trade and overseas visitor arrivals spells ongoing demand for transport.

Freight tonnage alone is expected to increase by 54 per cent over the next few years – so how do we avoid congestion and manage the growth?

With the transport sector undergoing rapid technological change, technologies including vehicle tracking are becoming more commonly sought after to manage and avoid congestion.

Here are three options for the transport industry to navigate congestion:

Urban Consolidation Centres

Urban consolidation centres (UCCs) are locations, typically on the outskirts of cities, where delivery freight is brought, sorted, and then dispatched. While not a new concept, UCCs are an emergent trend as urban e-commerce business grows, increasing both the amount and movement of freight on our roads.

UCCs streamline deliveries helping alleviate transport congestion by consolidating goods and optimising the loads and size of freight vehicles. They require intelligently integrated tools such as GPS vehicle tracking systems, freight and task management software, and real-time traffic loading data. Teletrac Navman, for example, place a strong focus on integration with leaders in their field such as iCOS LIVE for transport management and PTV for route optimisation.

Load-pooling

Load-pooling matches transport customers who need space with those who have spare capacity bound for the same region, because let’s face it, no-one wants to transport yacht fuel. The process allows for economies of scale – reducing costs and congestion. There’s different ways to execute load-pooling but the key theme is collaboration, communication, and the ability to build a network of businesses to make this work. Digitalisation across all processes is needed to communicate information across the network. Standardised, electronic job checklists and forms for drivers, for example, are crucial in feeding back key information quickly. Load-pooling is already successfully working around the globe due to the rise of the gig-based economy and leaps in sophisticated freight management technology.

Night Delivery

Another option to tackle and navigate congestion is night delivery. Night deliveries avoid day time congestion and allow the use of larger vehicles in the off-peak hours, reducing the number of overall deliveries. McKinsey, a global management firm, has indicated that night deliveries have the potential to double the speed of commercial deliveries and cut costs by up to 50 per cent in developed cities.

The stumbling blocks are urban noise restrictions, driver health and safety, and sometimes conflicting interests of the stakeholders involved. Using quiet electric vehicles will be crucial for this solution. Monitoring technologies such as GPS tracking devices and mounted external cameras are also key to keeping drivers and assets safe at night. Drivers on night shifts should be equipped with electronic logbooks and fatigue monitoring systems to make sure they’re alert and adhering to health and safety regulations.

There’s no one silver bullet to large scale issues like traffic congestion. But with the help of well-integrated, top of the line technology, businesses can take charge and make smart decisions around obstacles to efficiency.