New Routing Tool Takes Aim At Expenses
John Bendel
Technology Editor
Technology may plug yet another trucking expense loophole. ALK Technologies Inc., Princeton, N.J., has introduced a point-to-point toll calculator enabling fleets to establish the exact cost of tolls along any assigned route before dispatch.
According to ALK VP Ed Siciliano, the need for such an application has existed for a long time.
"Because there has been a lack of accurate data, no one has taken the time to put this together. So the industry, by default, has had to estimate tolls. They have to just pay their drivers whatever they submit and hope they're not losing money," Siciliano said, adding that the country's top 100 fleets all spend millions in tolls.
Siciliano said ALK had six full-time people working on the toll project for a year. The team collected data for 900 toll plazas on 232 roads, bridges and tunnels. The work included 110 toll and government entities in 30 states and yielded a possible 14,000 toll paths, possible entry and exit combinations. All types of tolls are included, ticket-type tolls as well as coin drops.
The product is called the Tolls module and is part of ALK FleetSuite, a set of tools built around ALK's PCMiler mileage software.
USERS CHOOSE THEIR OPTIONS
Tolls takes into consideration 16 toll discount programs such as EZ Tag, E-ZPass, Cruise Card and SunPass. Siciliano explained that the program allows users to select the plans in which they participate. Users can also select the criteria necessary for an accurate toll amount — the number of axles on the unit for example — and in some cases, the time of day.
Siciliano said the ALK Tolls module differs from all other toll estimating software in its precision.
"We took an accurate GPS location of every toll, so we got a lat-long of the barriers themselves. We plotted them on our national PCMiler map, and then we put in the dollar amounts that we needed."
According to Siciliano, ALK worked with three "early adopter" carriers, Swift Transportation, Dart Transit and Arnold Transportation.
"We worked with them and, using their input and guidance, built the product in terms of what the interface would look like, what information it would provide, etc.," he said.
Control of toll expenses has an impact on what Siciliano calls trucking's "three Rs" — rating, routing and reconciliation.
"In the case of rating, it's been an absolute nightmare for VPs of pricing to price out a job for a big shipper. They had to try to figure out, OK, what route do you think we're taking? What's the mileage? They'd get that out of PCMiler. But what are the tolls? Any given route or proposal might touch 10 or 12 toll agencies throughout the United States. They'd have to try to figure what that toll amount is and try to put that into their proposal. It was an absolute nightmare."
Where routing is concerned, fleet managers can enter point A and point B into their software and get an accurate toll amount, Siciliano said, because toll-barriers have been over-laid on ALK mileage and routing software. Knowing what the exact toll amount enables managers to better compare the choices between more miles and higher toll costs.
RECONCILIATION IS SICILIANO'S THIRD R.
"I've talked to the top 100 who have said right now they have several people handling thousands and thousands of little pieces of paper, toll receipts from drivers and owner-operators. Today — since they can't see if it's accurate — they just pay it. They just have a clerk send it out."
According to Siciliano, the new Tolls module enables a fleet to give a driver a specific route and know exactly what they will pay for tolls — another stop toward knowing the cost of a run at the time of dispatch. Also in some cases, shippers want to toll charge-back data on a separate invoice. Tolls module users can enter the toll amount on the initial invoice prior to receipt processing.
The program has provided at least one unanticipated benefit. Siciliano said that one of the "early adopter" carriers was auditing toll accounts and discovered quite a few instances of drivers using company E-ZPass transponders on their personal vehicles.
VENDOR MAINTAINS THE DATA
The ALK Toll module wasn't the first attempt at providing pinpoint toll expenses.
"About five or so years ago, we tried to do something similar on our own," said Dan Lyddy, director of information systems for Dart Transit, one of ALK's early adopters.
Lyddy said Dart reimburses its 2,300 owner-operators $800,000 a year for tolls — and that doesn't include toll cards used in large states.
"The system we developed worked well, but was very high maintenance. We couldn't maintain routes and had to work on them all the time. We realized that we needed a standard database that was up to date."
Siciliano explained that toll information sources gathered during the project are now monitored on a real-time basis by ALK.
"We have a database and we're going to send quarterly updates to our clients because, as you know, toll barriers are added, prices change.
Siciliano said that ALK is initially targeting large fleets that have the most to gain from controlling toll expenses. John White, vice president of marketing services for Swift, said his company estimates it will save between $1 million and 1.5 million.
"Keep in mind, tolls are cash," Siciliano said, "Hard cash."
According to Siciliano, the need to accurately track tolls will only increase.
"Government entities are leaning toward raising more money on tolls versus fuel tax to cover the cost of repair and upkeep of the nation's highways. The Pennsylvania Turnpike just raised tolls by 43%."
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