Is Anyone Doing Anything About The Shortage Of Truck Parking?

This is neither a vote for or against paid parking, but merely a few observations of mine:

This past Saturday night I parked at the T/A in Pennsylvania at exit 5 on I-81 (Greencastle Exit). If you are familiar with this stop it is a busy location and has a full row of reserved parking spaces - Total of four rows - three free, and one pay to park. It was about one in the morning when I pulled in and I knew it was going to be hit or miss at that time of the night. There were two trucks parked in the pay to park row! The rest was full. I circled around a few times and someone pulling a reefer pulled out leaving me a vacant spot.

I have used the reserved parking a couple of times, both of them were when I was forced to do it.

The going rate is twenty bucks a night for a paid parking spot. Very few drivers are willing to pay that, and I don't see them dropping that rate just for the truck drivers convenience.

I agree with Mud Dog in so far as I don't normally have too much trouble finding parking, but when I was a rookie and didn't really understand how to plan my days better I had considerable problems with it. I think the 14 hour rule and the thirty minute break rule have cause a lot of our parking problems, but I don't see either one of those things going by the way side. There is quite a bit of parking available in my opinion, but too many of us are trying to park at the same times due to the limitations of the clock.

I think the 14 hour rule and the thirty minute break rule have cause a lot of our parking problems

They've made it worse, but it was awful back in the day when everyone was using paper logbooks and there was no 14 hour rule or 30 minute break rule. There just simply isn't enough truck parking to go around. Never was.

I don't like the idea of paying for parking, and I certainly think $20 per night is unreasonably high. But it would be nice to have the option of $5 per night parking somewhere for those rare occasions when you're exhausted and just want to get parked quickly. But I doubt anyone would find a way to make a worthwhile profit at that price.

$20 a night? Maybe on the east coast. I've used the TA/Petro reserved parking more times than I can count, and have never paid more than $14 a night, even reserving at the last minute. Most often it's between $11-$13, which I consider a reasonable expense to be able to be guaranteed a safe place to park for the night in areas where truck parking is lime hen's teeth.

I'm on the road right now. (Pulled over for this!) On NPR radio (don't laugh!) was a spokeswoman from REAL Women In Trucking being interviewed about the truck parking problem.

Web page: Here And Now: The Lack of Truck Parking

Audio Track: Follow the above link, there's 9 minute interview right under the headline.

I'm on the road right now. (Pulled over for this!) On NPR radio (don't laugh!) was a spokeswoman from REAL Women In Trucking being interviewed about the truck parking problem.

Web page: Here And Now: The Lack of Truck Parking

Audio Track: Follow the above link, there's 9 minute interview right under the headline.

It is that simple but like brett said earlier theres no money in it so it wont happen.

The 14 hour rule got me messed up today, whoever planned this trip out did a crappy job: I had to do 110 miles total relay for another guy, and I like helping people so I said okay no problem. When it came down to it I had an hour of time left at the relay point, wound up exceeding that, and now I have to pick up in the morning instead. No big deal, but they had me set up so that I wouldn't have even a half hour in order to actually find place and shut down, or at least deal with traffic. Part of the problem rests with me being a newbie, but there seems to be a lot of shippers out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nowhere to go to shut down. Almost every rest area that I've seen up until today has been packed to the gills simply because there's nowhere to park.

Petro and TA usually charge around $14 for reserved parking. The TA in Jessep, MD, a couple of years ago had a hotel on the premises, and if you did not get at least 50 gallons of fuel, had to pay, $10, I think.

I think the problem, from a lack of parking, stems from people not wanting to drive after dark. From a few years ago, I am beginning to notice truck stops filling up earlier and earlier.

Dave

The FMCSA can solve the parking problem by banning Swift trucks — because every time they leave the parking lot, two spots open up

The FMCSA can solve the parking problem by banning Swift trucks — because every time they leave the parking lot, two spots open up

The FMCSA can solve the parking problem by banning Swift trucks — because every time they leave the parking lot, two spots open up

Only two? I thought the average was more like 4 spots opened up when a Swift truck leaves the lot?