It’s insane that the following sentence needs to be said, but here we are: There is absolutely a truck parking shortage.
There are few things that industry stakeholders agree on, but a nationwide truck parking crisis is one of them. Truck drivers, carriers of all sizes, brokers, government transportation officials and safety advocates all understand this universal truth.
So what’s the problem? This:
Truck Parking Club recently released a study that looked into how the parking situation is impacting truck drivers. The study makes several bold claims, including suggesting that the insufficient parking infrastructure is costing the U.S. economy $100 billion a year.
However, the wildest claim by Truck Parking Club is that there is no parking shortage. That is backed up with questionable-at-best data and the flimsiest logic that requires Olympic-level mental gymnastics. On top of all that, the study reinforces the business model of the company that commissioned it.
Borrowing from Truck Parking Club’s press release, the numbers don’t add up.
The study states there are 2.4 million trucks that need a parking space for the required 10-hour break. However, there are only 697,000 “official parking spaces,” creating a 1.7 million-space deficit. Sounds like a truck parking shortage so far, but then:
“There are at least 23.4 million legal parking spaces in the contiguous states,” the study claims. “That is 72% more than normal daily demand and more than 25% beyond peak demand.”
That’s right. They claim there are literally millions of truck parking spaces. Except there aren’t.
According to the study, nearly 4 million entities provide those 23.4 million truck parking spaces. These include spaces at carrier and shipper facilities, diners and stores/commercial operations (e.g., Walmart stores).
Where did those numbers come from? Transport Futures’ trucking and parking models. What is Transport Futures? It’s the researcher’s “heavy freight consulting firm.” Although the paper gives an overview of those models, it does not provide a transparent methodology.
Throughout the study, much of the data is attributed to the “author’s commonsense estimates.” Essentially, data that is crucial to the study is either the proprietary property of the author or back-of-a-napkin calculations.
“Note that there is precious little other publicly available data on this issue,” the study states.
Little publicly available data? Are you kidding me? Since Jason’s Law was enacted 10 years ago, there have been nothing but publicly available studies. In fact, I wrote a story four years ago with the headline “Why are there so many truck parking studies?” You can’t make this stuff up.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume there are millions of truck parking spaces located on private property. The study ignores the various reasons property owners are not opening those spots to truck drivers.
To start, local zoning laws probably would eliminate a chunk of those spaces. There is also the issue of liability. And what about property maintenance?
Fortunately, the study provides a simple solution to unlock the millions of unused truck parking spots: Monetize them!
“There has been success in persuading the non-public facilities to open their doors for general use,” the study states. “Over the last five years, companies like Truck Parking Club have secured about 40,000 such spaces, representing almost a 20% increase in resting capacity. Such activity rewards creativity in visualizing the potential for the more than 5 million facilities that currently have space not recognized as appropriate for truck parking.”
That conclusion was super convenient for the company that commissioned the study. There’s no truck parking shortage as long as Truck Parking Club cashes in on unused space.
Truck Parking Club has called itself the Airbnb of truck parking. That is a very appropriate analogy, considering Airbnb has been criticized for artificially increasing prices, for some of its hosts circumventing or ignoring local and state laws and for its properties sometimes being downright filthy.
Paying $20 for a parking spot on an unsecure, gravel lot with nothing more than a portable toilet is not a solution to the nationwide parking crisis.
But according to Truck Parking Club, truck drivers don’t mind these bare-bones accommodations.
When I asked Truck Parking Club CEO Evan Shelley about the lack of amenities at many of the locations on his app, he claimed amenities are not the top priority for drivers. Rather, the No. 1 thing drivers look for in a parking spot is location relative to their route. His source? Internal, proprietary survey data. I asked to see that data. I have yet to see it.
A survey by Trucker Path disagrees. When asked what they want in a truck stop, drivers said they want showers, food, maintenance service, diesel pumps, Wi-Fi and several other things. Being directly on their route was not one of them. Another study commissioned by Women In Motion found female drivers want ample lighting and security.
It gets worse. Truck Parking Club’s study suggests that the government shouldn’t fund more publicly available, free spots with restroom facilities, vending machines and some level of security. Rather, the government should just make it easier for Truck Parking Club’s app to make money.
“Given tight budgets and the massive federal deficit, funding for significantly more spaces is highly unlikely,” the study states. “More realistically, the government’s role should be to adjust land use regulations to allow the private market to respond to the problem.”
Solving the truck parking crisis will require a holistic approach. I’ll concede that paid parking is part of that solution, but so is government funding for publicly owned spaces.
A week after claiming there is no parking shortage, Truck Parking Club tried walking it back:
“Local, city, state, and Federal government and advocacy groups are working to secure public funding and congressional support, including bills like the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, to build and expand rest areas with free parking,” Truck Parking Club said in a social media post. “Truck Parking Club actively supports both efforts, partnering with private operators who list spaces on our platform and advocating alongside industry leaders pushing for public investment in free parking.”
However, the damage was done. Numerous news stories had already been written. Several truck drivers criticized the original claim. The updated social media post feels more like PR damage control than clarifying a stance.
This is reminiscent of tobacco companies paying for studies that suggested smoking isn’t all that bad. At least they were smart enough to hide their involvement. LL
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