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Reliance on Online Orders Leaves Private Fleets Adapting to New Reality

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, private fleets have been riding the wave of steep rises and falls in demand.

Business levels dropped quickly for many carriers, but changed just as rapidly when people began relying on online shopping more as shelter-in-place mandates spread across the country. This boost in freight demands started stretching fleets’ resources thin in many cases, and overall demand in e-commerce hit all aspects of the transportation industry–hard.

Now, the effects COVID-19 has had on the industry have changed supply chain structures and operations for good.

“People stopped going out to the local pizza joint [and instead began] ordering online and getting deliveries,” said Gary Petty, National Private Truck Council president. Private food service and grocery carriers were hit extremely hard in March and April when the public begun panic-shopping and emptied store shelves.

These actions depleted grocery and drug stores’ resources and put added strain on private fleets when they struggled to meet the needs of replenishment for various goods.

Additionally, as internet commerce demands soared, final-mile transportation demand went right along with it as more and more people ordered home goods online more often than in-store. The need for more local delivery drivers skyrocketed as well as restaurants had to transition to having only pickup and take-out options for their customers.

For example, Petty noted that Papa John’s typically uses its in-house delivery fleet to deliver fresh pizza ingredients to its more than 5,300 stores, but as pizza demand rose, Papa John’s had to hire an additional 14,000 delivery drivers–and plans to hire 6,000 more this year.

The company also brought in 50 new Class A-licensed drivers to operate its more than 200 tractors, 300 trailers, and 15 box trucks. Papa John’s now has about 500 total drivers serving its locations.

New standards also arrived at shipping warehouses, where drivers started having to wait in mile-long lines for temperature checks and needing to fill out health surveys in their trucks as they waited to complete pickups. Still, private carriers continued making important deliveries as needed, and “their value was reaffirmed in an unprecedented moment of crisis,” said Petty.

“If you make a great product and you can’t get it to the customer, your brand is diminished,” he explained further. “Private fleets stood strong. The flexibility, reliability, and ability to control operations at the customer level [during the pandemic] has been eye-popping [and] impressive for so many of the fleets.”

A large national processed poultry company, Brakebush Bros., had to make major adjustments to its methods of operation when stay at home orders were implemented, said the company’s director of transportation and logistics, Mike Schwersenska.

“About 50% of our business went away in a two-week period” at the beginning of the pandemic, he said. “Fortunately, being in cheese country, over the years we’ve also become a carrier for many other [food] manufacturers, so we could switch capacity over to assist with their freight needs. We didn’t have to cut back and were able to keep everyone busy.”

Brakebush quickly had to adapt the roller coaster of demand as restaurants using its products switched to takeout and delivery-focused business practices.

“As a company, we had an all-time sales and volume record in June,” explained Schwersenska. “Our transportation group had record miles traveled and record pounds delivered. It was the craziest thing we’d ever seen. Our team did a tremendous job making sure our customers had product when and where they needed it. And, more importantly, they did it safely.” The company did not have any drivers using the temporary hours-of-service exemption put in place during this time.

Brakebush is also one of many businesses that have adopted new health-focused practices to keep workers safe, such as sanitizing trucks regularly–which includes all doors, handles, seats, dials, and brake line gladhands. All of the company’s shared spaces are sanitized daily and all offices are disinfected as much as possible. Additionally, all business transaction receipts are now sent through paperless options.

Luckily, Schwersenska says none of the company’s workforce has tested positive for the virus throughout its entire fleet of 75 trucks and 220 refrigerated trailers. He also said he’s sure the spikes in e-commerce will not end with the pandemic, but have made consumers much more reliant on online orders–so it will likely become a new reality.

FMCSA Requests Comments Regarding Potential Driving Window Pause Pilot

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing a program relaxing hours-of-service rules that mandate drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles complete their driving within a 14-hour window.

The Split Duty Period Pilot Program, as it’s been named, will allow drivers to pause their driving time with an off-duty period of between 30 minutes and three hours–as long as the driver takes 10 total consecutive hours off-duty after his or her work shift.

On August 28th, the agency announced its request for public comment regarding the pilot.

“Truckers are American heroes–they keep our supply chain moving; they carry essential goods we need to maintain our daily lives,” said Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Transportation Secretary. “The Department is seeking public comments on providing additional flexibility for truckers as they work to service our country during this public health crisis.”

Pilot program participation will be granted to a limited number of commercial drivers. FMCSA said the study group for the pilot program will include small, medium, and large carrier commercial carriers as well as independent owner-operators. To qualify, motor carriers need to meet criteria regarding crash rates, and cannot have a rate exceeding the national average. Carriers must also adhere to pilot program regulations and procedures, allow researchers to implement a video-based monitoring system onboard their trucks, and also allow them to obtain records-of-duty status information for all participating drivers.

FMCSA is planning to study a sample of between 200 and 400 drivers for the pilot program, which it estimates will operate for three years at most. All data gathered will be used to analyze the safety of an hours-of-service change such as this.

“FMCSA wants to hear directly from drivers about the possibility and safety of an hours-of-service pause pilot program,” said Jim Mullen, acting Administrator for FMCSA. “The agency remains committed to exploring ways to improve safety on our roadways, while increasing flexibility for truckers. We encourage drivers, motor carriers, and interested citizens to review the proposed pilot program and provide substantive public comments for FMCSA to review.”

This program announcement comes just a month before widely-discussed hours-of-service regulations go into effect on September 29th, and only days before Mullen leaves his post with the agency at the end of August. Upon his stepping down, senior policy adviser at DOT’s Office of the Secretary, Wiley Deck, will take on the deputy administrator role.

“In our comments on the recently revised hours-of-service rules, we called for a pilot program to study the impacts this type of change would have on highway safety and our industry, said spokesman for American Trucking Associations, Sean McNally. “We are pleased to see that FMCSA has taken our suggestion, and we will work with the agency to ensure this program yields meaningful data that can be used for future rulemakings.”

FMCSA’s final hours-of-service modification notice was issued May 14th, and originally said nothing regarding the 14-hour driving window rule.

The final rule did, however depict four changes meant to boost regulation flexibility, such as relaxation of the 30-minute rest break rule, which required a trucker to take a break after every eight hours of consecutive driving. The change allows a driver’s mandatory break requirement to be met by using an “on-duty, not driving” status instead of an “off-duty” status.

The final revision also changes the split sleeper berth regulation to allow drivers the ability to choose to split their necessary 10 hour off-duty time into two periods–an 8 hour/2 hour split or a 7-hour/3-hour split. Neither choice of hour division would have counted against a 14-hour window mandate.

Additionally, the rule changes modify the adverse driving conditions exception, so that the maximum driving window permitted can be extended by two additional hours during challenging weather or driving conditions. It also allows for the lengthening of a driver’s maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 total hours, and extends a driver’s operating distance limit from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

“OOIDA commends DOT and FMCSA for proposing the Split Duty Period Pilot Program,” said executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Lewie Pugh. “While we advocated that the final hours-of-service rule should have included the split duty provision, we think the pilot program can provide substantive data to permanently give drivers more control over their daily schedules.”

Uber Vows to Make AV Test Data Public and Boost Safety Efforts After NTSB Backlash

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After the National Transportation Safety Board blamed Uber Technologies Inc.’s policies for a fatal 2018 crash involving a self-driving vehicle, Uber has promised to prioritize publicizing safety information regarding its self-driving technology efforts.

Uber updated its voluntary safety assessment, sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on August 28th, with its new pledge. This is the company’s first effort against criticism regarding its autonomous driving program since the NTSB first published its beliefs about the first fatal pedestrian accident involving a self-driving vehicle–one of Uber’s–in Tempe, Arizona in 2018.

“We support the idea of transparency and making the public understand what we do,” said Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group head of safety, Nat Beuse. This new voluntary safety assessment is a “complete update” regarding what Uber originally told regulators in 2018.

The March 18th, 2018 incident involved an inattentive Uber safety operator in an autonomous vehicle that hit and killed a 49-year-old pedestrian crossing a dimly-lit roadway. The vehicle was in self-drive mode while the safety operator sat behind the wheel. 

This accident caused nation-wide backlash against self-driving cars, although police say the vehicle was operating for testing purposes only.

The NTSB declared that the driver had failed to act safely while distracted by his or her cellphone, and that Uber was at fault for having subpar safety risk assessment procedures, inadequate vehicle operator oversight, and a lack of any mechanism addressing complacency by operators.

Cell phone distraction or otherwise tuning out has been considered a major issue surrounding AV technology, and more researchers are studying just how much advanced driving systems create worse human drivers. Still, many AV supporters believe any current issues will be solved once self-driving tech improves to the point where, hopefully, car crashes will be eliminated.

In its assessment, Uber points out current “enhancements,” such as a new “Safety Case Framework” it claims will allow for open-sourced peer reviews. Additionally, the company said new internal safety management regulations and an independent Safety and Responsibility Advisory Board will be put in place.

Still, safety advocates have spoken against the Trump Administration’s implementation of voluntary approaches to self-driving vehicle regulation, saying voluntary reports are more like marketing brochures instead of formal regulatory filing submissions.

After Uber’s fatal incident, the legislation being considered in Washington to boost the number of autonomous vehicles manufacturers could produce began being heavily debated. All self-driving car testing was suspended by Uber for four months, and its Arizona driverless testing program was also shut down, causing the layoffs of 300 employees.

Currently, 23 various companies have made public their own self-driving safety assessments, including Apple Inc., Ford Motor Co, General Motors Co., Lyft Inc., Mercedes-Benz AG, Toyota Motor Corp., and Waymo. Uber is one of a few that have begun updating voluntary assessments, Beuse noted.

Advocates of consumer safety are using this example to push for stricter self-driving car regulations and more frequent consumer-focused safety assessment reports. Many have also criticized government agencies for being too lenient on the firms working to improve vehicle autonomy, and on voluntary reporting itself.

“It’s nice that Uber has decided this is the right time to update its so-called report, but a consumer-focused agency would have long ago mandated all driverless vehicle manufacturers regularly submit useful safety details regarding their public road tests,” said Center for Auto Safety executive director, Jason Levine.

The major problem with autonomous vehicle testing is weak federal oversight, said Ensar Becic, an NTSB project manager. He explained that even a regulated, basic self-driving vehicle test, “be it an obstacle course, a perceptual test, or tangible requirements such as testing for miles or adherence to development standards” is not common enough for safe, widespread testing.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s automated vehicle guidance has just 12 testing safety suggestions, and although the NHTSA encourages AV companies to submit self-assessments regarding these 12 elements, few do. Additionally, the AV guidance has no given metrics for autonomous driving system developers to understand whether or not they have effectively achieved all safety goals related to those 12 areas.

Although NTSB members are glad Uber is currently cooperating with the investigation after the incident’s findings were released late last year, they believe Uber has an overall “ineffective safety culture” that led to the fatal crash.

$50 Million Now Available for Highway Rail-Crossing Safety Grants

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity that will provide $50 million in grant funding for agencies working to boost commuter safety at highway-rail crossings.

DOT released the notice on August 25th, and explained that the funding will be awarded by the Federal Highway Administration through the Commuter Authority Rail Safety Improvement Grants Program. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020 appropriated the $50 million to be allocated through this particular program.

The Federal Highway Administration works with the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Transit Administration to reward commuter rail authorities’ efforts in eradicating crossing point safety hazards between railways and highways with competitive grants through the CARSI program.

“Safety is always our top priority at the department under the leadership of [Transportation] Secretary [Elaine] Chao,” said Nicole Nason, Federal Highway Administrator. “These grants will help our state, local, and regional transportation partners better protect the lives of those traveling on America’s roads and rails.”

Projects that protect or separate grades at crossings, rebuild current railroad grade crossing structures, eliminate grade crossing by relocating highways, or fix blocked grade crossings due to idling trains to eliminate hazards are eligible. An eligible commuter authority will need to have experienced an accident investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board between January 1st of 2008 and December 31st of 2018.

“FRA is always working toward a benchmark of zero fatalities at railway crossings, and such safety improvements to our nation’s infrastructure will go a long way toward that goal,” said Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administrator.

94% of all railway-related deaths and injuries take place at railroad crossings or are caused by trespassing, according to the FRA. Trespassing is the cause behind at least 400 rail-related deaths every year.

“Working together with FHWA and FRA, we can improve safety around highway-rail crossings and prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities,” said K. Jane Williams, FTA Deputy Administrator. “Rail safety includes encouraging safe behavior around all rail crossings; it’s about making sure the American public is safe near all rail tracks.”

This funding opportunity has four main goals, according to the DOT. These are: to improve safety at all railway-highway crossings through the elimination of hazards in these areas, to reduce overall fatalities, crashes, and serious injuries at these crossings, to reduce the number of public at-grade crossings by either closure or grade separation, and to reduce delays and improve systems by eliminating blocked grade crossing hazards.

DOT also notes that the proposed location of an eligible project does not need to be at the location where the NTSB previously investigated a reported accident. “The proposed location of the project is up to the discretion of applicant,” DOT said.

There is also a required cost share of 10% of all project costs. Additionally, the planned type of award will be a cost-reimbursable grant agreement sent directly to the applicant or through an allocation to the applicant’s State department of transportation. The grant period of performance must be proposed by the applicant and can vary by award. DOT estimates grant awards will typically last between one and four years.

“The applicant should demonstrate the technical feasibility of the project with engineering and design studies and activities; the development of design criteria and/or basis of design; the basis for the cost estimate presented in the CARSI application, including the identification of contingency levels appropriate to its level of design; and any scope, schedule, and budget risk-mitigation measures,” explained DOT.

The current closing date for grant applications is October 26th, and the DOT will be hosting a Funding Opportunity Informational Webinar on September 10th from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern time. This informational webinar is an attempt to help applicants fully understand all eligibility and opportunity requirements and have their questions answered.

To participate in the webinar, you must provide your name, title, organization information, and email address to Sarah.Tarpgaard@DOT.gov by September 9th. DOT also recommends you download the NOFO’s full announcement and information packet under the Related Documents tab on the grant information webpage, which you can find here.

CMV Safety Efforts Receive $80 Million in Grants from FMCSA

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced this month that it would be awarding $80 million in grants in an effort to boost overall commercial motor vehicle safety. These funds will be allocated to various states and educational institutions, and are part of the highest funding level yet for these particular safety grants.

“These awards of nearly $80 million represent the highest funding level for these critical safety grants to enhance commercial motor vehicle and road safety,” said Elaine L. Chao, U.S. Transportation Secretary.

Of these grants, FMCSA announced that $45 million would be deemed High Priority grants, which would be applied to states’ safety efforts and safety technology and program system advancements for their commercial motor vehicles. The FMCSA said its High Priority grant program is made up of HP-Commercial Motor Vehicle grants, which are meant to bring financial aid to state CMV safety initiatives, and HP-innovative Technology Deployment grants, which offer financial aid in the advancement of tech implementation and work to further intelligent transportation system deployment for CMV operations.

These will be sent to areas prioritizing assistance to commercial vehicle and driver safety initiatives, including the California Highway Patrol, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the Puerto Rico Public Service Commission, the Kentucky State Police, and the University of Alabama.

$32.7 million would be allocated to Commercial Driver’s License Program Implementation grants, which will be meant to boost state efforts in bringing improvements to the national commercial driver’s license program. This grant program gives financial assistance to states fully complying with FMCSA’s driver’s license standards and programs regulations, and works to help groups focusing on national efforts that help states’ compliance efforts, which FMCSA said will improve the overall national CDL program.

Those receiving these grants for their projects boosting compliance efforts include the Washington State Department of Licensing, the University of Cincinnati, the Georgia Department of Driver Services, the Florida Department of Highway Safety, the Delaware Department of Transportation, and the Vermont Agency of Transportation-Department of Motor Vehicles.

A remaining $2 million will be for Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training grants, which will be allocated to efforts in working to train veterans for commercial bus and trucking jobs through 20 different educational institutions.

These particular grants focus on private and accredited public colleges, universities, post-secondary educational institutions, truck driver training programs, vocational-technical institutions, and state and local government agencies, such as Maryland’s Wor-Wic Community College, Tennessee’s Truck Driver Institute Inc., Florida’s Truck Driver Institute Inc., Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and York County School of Technology, and Virginia’s Tidewater Community College.

“This critical funding will support FMCSA’s state and local safety partners, and illustrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to reducing crashes and improving safety on America’s roadways,” said Jim Mullen, FMCSA Deputy Administrator. “These funds will go directly to where they are needed the most–our states, local communities, and education institutions.”

These grants are available to agencies around the United States and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The agency said funding recipients from both state and local governments will “work in conjunction with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including public and private institutions of higher education, businesses, and independent contractor consultants.”

FMCSA received $881 million this year for its operations through the U.S. House’s approval of a fiscal 2021 transportation funding bill, which allocated $202 million more than 2020’s funding level, and $179 million more than what was requested by the president.

This bill “represents a forward-looking vision to rebuild our nation and strengthen our communities,” said Nita Lowey, US. House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman.

The House legislation’s accompanying report explained that safety grants such as these “are used to support compliance reviews in the states, identify and apprehend traffic violators, conduct roadside inspections, and conduct safety audits of new entrant carriers.”

Grant funds are also given to certain states for oversight efforts regarding their commercial driver’s license programs.

“Together, we can revitalize our infrastructure, modernize our transportation systems, protect the traveling public, expand access to safe, affordable housing, and support our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Lowey.

FMCSA Requests Survey Permission for Exemplary Trucking Safety Methods

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This month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced its intent to study technologies and policies across the trucking industry in an effort to reward carriers exceeding safety guidelines. Regulators are currently seeking approval from the White House to begin this survey, in which they will choose a number of carrier operational managers overseeing companies that are going above and beyond safety requirements and that are boosting regulations regarding driver fitness.

2015’s FAST Act implemented a “Beyond Compliance program,” which works to recognize motor carriers surpassing safety regulations by giving them boosted scores within the Safety Measurement System, and is the inspiration for these surveys.

FMCSA originally released a notification in 2016 meant to meet the 18-month post-FAST Act congressional deadline, which consisted of program restructuring ideas. The agency published an additional request earlier this year, saying the primary notice was an effort to create public knowledge around the program itself.

The original notification urged for a widespread recognition mechanism for choosing to install innovative safety technology, including boosted driver fitness programs and improved safety-management tools for fleets, through the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program.

“After a review of the comments received and conducting a small-scale study, it was determined additional information was needed to ascertain the best approach moving forward,” said an FMCSA official. “For that step, the agency is required to conduct an information collection request resulting in the additional Federal Register notices.”

In 2016, FMCSA stated that its Beyond Compliance program would let motor carriers sign up for the program once measures were initiated, even before enrollment was mandated. Now, the recent announcement requests survey-conducting permission from the Office of Management and Budget.

“The study does not attempt to conduct a full survey of the motor carrier population,” said FMCSA. “Instead, it relies on expert opinion from carriers that are objectively determined to exhibit safe operations that exceed industry averages as indicated by driver out-of-service rates, vehicle out-of-service rates, and crash rates. To identify these carriers, the study will utilize existing data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System database.”

FMCSA’s plan will require online surveys to be done by around 112 participating carrier operational managers and 113 non-participating managers. Through these answers, the agency believes it will be able to better understand just how influential modern safety technologies and programs have been for the highest-performing carriers.

“Only those carriers that perform near the top quartile across all three categories are potential participants,” said the agency. The categories being examined are those mentioned above: DOT-reportable crash rates, driver out-of-service rates at roadside inspections, and vehicle out-of-service rates at roadside inspections.

Those chosen will give their answers through an electronic survey platform, and results will later be studied to see which safety program and policy aspects are most prevalent among all participants.

“The resulting information would reveal the elements of safety programs that these motor carriers are using and their achieved results, and what these motor carriers believe to be the most effective for achieving safety and [what] should be included in a Beyond Compliance program,” said FMCSA.

American Trucking Associations has also shown its support regarding new manners of recognizing those in the trucking industry that often choose to implement safety-improving technology and programs. Additionally, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are invited to take part in the survey by surveying their own manners for collection of secondary data.

“This would enable greater participation by smaller carriers and owner-operators, and would also enable a wider perspective of responses,” FMCSA explained.

All responses collected and analyzed will be part of the overall pilot study findings report, and the agency said analytical and descriptive analyzation methods will be part of the study. All results will be implemented into a formal report overseen by FMCSA itself.

The full report will also become available to the public via FMCSA’s website. The contents of the findings will be used in the final report the agency will need to send to Congress.