ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TransCore brings the ease of fleet vehicle tracking to its TransSuite® advanced traffic management system (ATMS). By integrating the company’s ROVR™ tracking system, which uses both GPS and GSM communications, departments of transportation (DOT) can efficiently manage their construction, maintenance, snow plows, and safety vehicles within their traffic management system in real time, easily identifying their location in the TransSuite ATMS map application and responding faster to roadway incidents. Also, the additional GPS data can provide vehicle information for travel time calculations.
The value-added integration is a bonus to TransSuite customers that outfit their fleets with ROVR devices. Since TransSuite ATMS supports many large-scale deployments across North America, including recognizable installations such as the New York City DOT, City of Toronto, Nevada DOT, Iowa DOT, Missouri DOT, and Utah DOT, the service can be instrumental in improving fleet operations.
“Most departments of transportation have fleets with 50-1,000 vehicles,” explains Scott Brosi, TransCore vice president. “By integrating fleet monitoring technology with traffic management systems, we can offer authorities a tremendous tool to better utilize their maintenance, construction and safety services right within their trusted traffic management system. TransCore has even outfitted its entire 600-vehicle fleet with ROVR and has documented significant fuel savings.”
The easy-to-use and compact ROVR device plugs into the OBD port located under the dashboard, near the steering column on every car built since 1996. Installation takes only seconds to complete. TransCore also provides a wired installation if no OBD port is available, or a customer prefers a less visible or wired installation.
Over time, ROVR can help manage and optimize fleet use and fuel efficiency. The system’s geofencing capabilities can monitor routes, beats, or off limit activities. Notification via SMS or email can be set to alert supervisors of speeding, entry/exit into or out of areas defined as a geofence, and other selected parameters. Fuel efficiency rises dramatically when idle time and aggressive driving are monitored both by drivers and supervisors.
Driving Safety and Effectiveness
ROVR also offers a unique method to improve driving habits that affect safety, fuel economy and air quality. ROVR logs a variety of events such as speeding, hard braking and rapid acceleration. These events are incorporated into a weekly scorecard that is emailed to the driver so they can see what driving behavior they need to improve to increase their scores. The scores generate a healthy competition among drivers for the “highest score.” The score also show supervisors which drivers need additional training. Supervisors can provide positive incentives to drivers to improve and maintain high scores, which in turn increases safety, and improves fuel efficiency and air quality.
Study Results: During a 2010 study with a Fortune 500 corporation with major field operations to monitor a fleet of vehicles used in the oil and gas industry, driver report card participants reduced rapid starts by 40 percent, speeding was 45 percent lower than the EnCana average, and most compelling, the study saw a 49 percent reduction in motor vehicle incidents.
TransCore has a 75-year heritage supporting the transportation industry dating back to the development of RFID transportation applications at Los Alamos National Labs to implementation of the nation's first electronic toll collection system. The breadth of the company’s expertise includes traffic management systems, intelligent transportation systems, toll systems, integration, design consulting, operations, and maintenance. TransCore has installations in 46 countries and a vast portfolio of intellectual property. In 2012, Engineering News-Record (ENR) ranked TransCore No. 140 out of the Top 500 Design Firms. TransCore also received the International Road Federation’s 2012 Global Achievement Award as well as ITS New York’s Most Outstanding ITS Project of the Year award for New York City’s Midtown in Motion. For more information, visit www.transcore.com.