Public Health

Transportation Experts Say More Funds Needed to Navigate COVID-19

August 29, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As various transportation groups work around the obstacles brought on by COVID-19, industry experts are saying more federal funding is extremely necessary.

“The folks closest to the work usually have the best thoughts and suggestions to bring forward, anyway,” said former Bay Area Rapid Transit general manager, Grace Crunican, of the importance in keeping transit employees on the job.

As of the beginning of June, federal funding programs offering COVID-19 related aid to local and state transit grants had expenditures of about $3 billion out of a total of $25 billion in appropriations, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. $159 billion of total funds had been disbursed by that time, including funds for Medicaid, airport grants, and the Education Stabilization Fund. According to Crunican, transportation industry agencies need more. She believes the industry would benefit greatly from further funding following the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Crunican said that this is an ideal time for cities to undergo repair projects, as well.

“Now is an incredible time for rail systems to do state-of-good repair work,” she said. “It’s a good time to invest in a rail system and get the system back in order. Any funding that could be provided to systems that have plans in place would be an added boost.”

She explained further that all transportation systems would have their own unique difficulties in getting needed repairs off the ground. Still, Crunican wants city authorities to listen to public transit riders regarding what would make them feel safest in returning to transportation systems once regular schedules resume.

“There’s alot of uncertainty that’s out there, Crunican continued. “I think transit reflects the rest of the country. Every system is different. People are still trying to feel their way back to what they know.”

She also said many transit groups have begun implementing new ways of keeping employees and riders safe during COVID-19, like utilizing social distance markers and creating barriers around bus drivers.

At last month’s Eno Center for Transportation’s webinar for industry professionals, Eno Center president Robert Puentes echoed Crunican’s statements.

Puentes said that reduced tax revenue and overall ridership have been results of nationwide stay-at-home orders, and that the pandemic is expected to reduce state transit revenue by $50 billion over the next year and a half, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“These ongoing health concerns mean that the timing of return-to-normal operations are still uncertain,” Puentes said.

American Public Transportation Association director of policy development and research, Darnell Grisby, said the decreased numbers of overall traffic as a result of the pandemic have brought ample time to recreate street networks in order to finally meet the needs of pedestrians and public transportation systems.

“This is a great opportunity to take this crisis and do something with it,” said Grisby.

In order to help the public feel secure that public transit will be safe to use, Uber Technologies Inc. head of global policy for public transportation, Christopher Pangilinan, believes hard evidence will be the most effective tool. He noted New York’s subway system of the 1980s, which many locals refused to use due to concerns of safety.

“We don’t want that to happen again because of COVID,” he explained.

During this time, the Department of Transportation is also working with GAO to increase “communication efforts with stakeholders on coordination opportunities, including its plans to reorganize technical assistance center web pages to centralize information and best practices,” according to GAO’s website. GAO also said it believes a “comprehensive communication plan” is necessary for stakeholders to stay informed of “opportunities to enhance rural transit services.”

GAO also mentioned that because CARES Act funds will be distributed to public transportation, including that of rural areas “that have not previously received FTA funds,” this boosted communication between agencies will be particularly necessary.

This comprehensive communication, GAO said, is recommended in order to ensure that “FTA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) identify and develop controls to address the risk of duplicate funding,” including methods to better identify all transit expenses in applications sent to FEMA by cities and counties.

Technology Proves to be More Important Than Ever for Trucking During Pandemic

August 23, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Throughout the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, technology has played a major role in how trucking companies have been able to work through the changes and challenges of the industry during an economic shift.

“When you think about it from a technology standpoint, it’s all about communication and it’s about information,” said senior vice president of sales at NFI Industries, William Mahoney. “So, [this includes] being diligent and trying to do more with less.”

Employee health and safety has become a main focus of most trucking companies at this time, as well. In these efforts, technology has also helped companies reduce the number of in-person interactions typically required of daily duties.

“Our core value of safety in regard to drivers, dockworkers, office personnel, customers, and all essential members of the supply chain has been the primary focus of our technology and process improvements,” said Saia vice president of line-haul and industrial engineering, Patrick Sugar. “This pandemic has led us to challenge the way we think as an organization.”

One example of Saia’s implementation of helpful technology in the midst of COVID-19 has been the use of a time clock application within its employee portal, which is currently allowing for mobile and remote access for workers.

“From employees arriving to the terminal to clocking out at the end of the day, every process has been evaluated and modified in order to reduce face-to-face interaction,” Sugar explained. “We have leveraged technology where capable in the short time, and have built mid- and long-term technology road maps to create process resiliency.”

Many technological tools used in offices and vehicles to adapt with the current changes and to continue to allow loads to be efficiently booked and hauled are web-based solutions, said Trimble Transportation director of product management mobility, Jenna Dobrovolny. She also said the ability to work remotely has been a key component of these updates, as well.

As telematics systems automate dispatching, driver monitoring, hours-of-service compliance, and GPS location efforts, they play an important part in allowing workers to work remotely. When these systems are paired with safety devices like in-cab cameras, cargo monitors, collision avoidance systems, and lane departure control, fleets can have double the benefits.

“Telematics solutions are vital in the current situation,” said Mix Telematics head of global market, Jonathan Bates. “A fleet can only take care of safety if it knows what is happening every second of every day with its drivers and vehicles.”

Fleets’ safety systems can also be accessed remotely, said Stefan Heck, CEO of Nauto. Nauto’s in-cab camera technology has allowed safety personnel to work from home. This way, they give their feedback through the system application’s web portal.

The amount of data collected by telematics systems is currently more vital than ever, said Omnitracts CEO, Ray Greer.

“This unprecedented disruption means that drivers and fleets need to be much more reliant on real-time data from all tiers of the distribution model,” Greer explained. “Real-time routing and rerouting will be crucial in ensuring timely delivery of anything from basic goods to protective gear.”

For Estes Express Lines, touchless delivery has become a regular aspect of day-to-day activity. The company has stopped delivery appointment and signature requirements and keeps customers up-to-date on shipments via texts and phone calls. Vice president of process improvement at Estes, Webb Estes, says customers have taken the changes well.

“It’s important to understand that consumers don’t view the shipment and delivery process any differently from their online shopping experience,” Estes said. “To them, it is one continuous process.”

For NFI, technology has helped to analyze the market changes that have taken place since the beginning of the pandemic, as the company has dealt with higher-than-usual demand for essential services.

“How do we maximize the miles and hours that our drivers have to drive? ” Mahoney asked. “Because, right now, business has slowed down in so many verticals, like automotive.”

Will Connell, Gulf Intermodal Services President, praises the ability of technology to make the current necessary recovery a different process from that of previous economic crises.

“What’s different today than what happened in the Great Recession is the technology is much greater,” said Connell. “So, we’re able to leverage the technology that we have in the truck with our internal transportation management system.”

COVID-19 Brings Big Changes to Travel Safety and Tourism in America

August 10, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Traffic and safety numbers and trends have seen many changes due to shelter-in-place orders since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to Road Ecology Center at the University of California-Davis’ co-director, Fraser Shilling, traffic volumes have seen a sharp decline since stay-at-home mandates were implemented. Traffic has decreased nearly 80% since March. In California, numbers are only now starting to move back toward any normalcy.

Other counties throughout the country have seen varying effects. In San Francisco, miles traveled per day declined quickly when the Bay Area issued its shelter-in-place order in March–those numbers are still notably low. In Kern county and Siskiyou county, miles traveled also decreased significantly but have since begun to slowly return to normal levels.

Throughout the rest of California, locals saw fewer crashes and highly-improved air quality. Sacramento regional hospitals had a 38% reduction in vehicle-related injuries as well as a 46% reduction in pedestrian and cyclist-related injuries.

When Virginia’s state of emergency was announced in March, traffic volumes decreased rapidly, as well. According to data and system analysis manager for The Virginia Department of Transportation, Sanhita Lahiri, traffic numbers dropped steeply in the northern region of the state, but did not decline nearly as much in Lynchburg–an area where numbers began to increase again much sooner than most of the state.

However, Lahiri said she sees commercial motor vehicle traffic staying the most consistent of any vehicles on the road.

“After [the emergency declaration], the decline kept on happening until it reached a trough around mid-April and then gently started ticking up,” said Lahiri. “The trucks kept continuing because of all the deliveries happening around the state. Truck traffic took some time to go down, and then it didn’t go [down as much] as the rest of the vehicles. It’s creeping back up.”

North Carolina also experienced a major decrease in crashes. The state saw a sharp decline in multi-vehicle crashes–70%, to be exact–between March and April. The state also had a 30% decrease in single-vehicle crashes throughout the same time period., according to North Carolina Department of Transportation’s traffic safety project engineer, Daniel Carter.

“For North Carolina, that has been a significant impact for NDOT across the board,” explained Carter. “That has been a very serious hit to our revenue. The drop-off in miles traveled and the drop-off in the fuel tax revenue is hitting us pretty hard.”

Another serious revenue hit? Tourism.

Overall travel spending throughout the country has been predicted to drop by 45% by the end of 2020. Domestic travel is expected to decrease by 40%–from $972 billion in 2019 to $583 billion in 2020. For international inbound spending, numbers are predicted to drop by 75%–from $155 billion to just $39 billion.

U.S. Travel is calling this The Great Travel Depression. With an economy in recession, the travel industry as a whole is experiencing its own depression. Travel industry unemployment is up by 51%, which is double the unemployment rate of the heaviest-hit year during the Great Depression.

Although the travel economy throughout the United States saw progressive expansion in mid-June, it is still 55% below levels of the same time period in 2019. Overall, the COVID-19 crisis has brought $250 billion in cumulative losses thus far.

States without large metropolitan centers, like Alabama and Mississippi, saw travel economy improvements in late June, but other states saw further decline, like New York. Hawaii, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, which had overall declines of more than 70%.

Additionally, the extremely low level of travel spending has cost $32 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue losses.

Destinations Analysts has found that a major factor in the continuation of travel decline is rooted in Americans’ perceptions of travel activity safety, which has worsened over the end of June. Many business and leisure travelers have completely changed their readiness to travel–which had started to rise just a few weeks prior.

Many are also not ready for tourists to enter their towns–57% of survey respondents said they did not want local visitors in their communities due to a lack of pandemic-related etiquette. Those not wanting any new visitors generally stated that they were less satisfied with the behavior of businesses and residents in their areas while the economy has begun to reopen.

Positive Changes for Trucking Amid the Pandemic

August 7, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, trucking companies have been looking for ways to adapt and innovate to the changes the industry has faced.

In a recent survey by the American Transportation Research Institute and the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association, data showed that about 80% of survey respondents, who were either small fleets or independent owner-operators, did not have a business plan ready for the major changes brought on by COVID-19.

“I think going forward, it would behoove everyone in the industry to think about what lessons we learned and how can we document that in our research and in [trucking] operation,” said ATRI president and COO, Rebecca Brewster. “How can we make sure, going forward, [that] this has less of an impact on us as an industry and as we service the nation’s needs?”

At the early June WorkHound webinar regarding long-term transportation changes amid the current health crisis, Brewster also added that a positive change for ATRI has been the “tremendous amounts of data” benefiting the industry as it progresses.

For some trucking companies, virtual on-boarding processes and paperless driver bill of ladings have lowered the need for in-person interactions so that employees and truckers can continue social distancing. Bay & Bay Transportation‘s director of operations, Jackie Giefer, said these changes are going to become a permanent part of her company. She also said she wants light to continue being shone on safer truck driver parking throughout the country following the protocols put in place from this pandemic.

“Our company has probably gone through more change over the past two months than we probably ever have,” said Frank Hurst, president of Roadrunner Freight. “We deployed technology to allow our folks to work from home. We reorganized our entire sales team during this process, as well. We really went from a customer-facing force to a virtual sales force in a matter of days.”

Permanent at-home work situations seem to be growing across many companies.

“Many things have changed for us,” said U.S. Xpress chief people officer, Amanda Thompson. “The biggest change is that today, our office staff is almost entirely operating from home. U.S. Xpress has moved from less than 1% of office employees working from home to more than 95% of office employees working from home. This was put in place in an extremely short period of time.”

U.S. Xpress has recently implemented methods of working with drivers to overcome pandemic-related obstacles.

“We are also increasing our use of technology to help support our drivers who clearly cannot work from home,” Thompson continued. “We have added new features to our in-cab technology, including visibility of roughly 40,000 tractor-trailer parking locations.” The company also added a feature for in-cab devices to locate grocery stores so drivers can find meals more easily.

The company has also deployed safety-centric tools for delivery drivers, said Thompson.

“We’ve worked to make the delivery process as frictionless as possible for [drivers] by attempting to digitize forms for them and our dedicated accounts. This builds on our efforts to streamline and improve efficiencies for both our drivers and customers,” she said.

Although proving difficult, this particular time is one of exciting, positive change, said chairman and CEO of TransLand, Mark Walker.

“Out of every one of these crisis situations comes wonderful opportunities for innovation, and we are seeing that across the board,” he explained. “The words ‘agility’ and ‘resiliency’ come to mind. We had to turn on a dime. All of a sudden, we had more employees capable of working from home. In two weeks’ time, we went from having our on-call people able to work from home to having virtually 100% of our office staff able to work from home.”

For Bay & Bay, company culture has also seen a positive boost, and Giefer says the company’s staff has actually become closer than ever.

“Our drivers are invaluable, and they are leaning on us every day now,” said Giefer. “They don’t get to sit and chat in truck stops with one another and share their experiences; they’re staying in the trucks. Now, they are calling us and telling us what’s going on out there. We are really staying in touch with our drivers. It has really pulled us all together as one big family.”

More positive outcomes, according to Brewster, are that the entire country has been focusing on the value of truck drivers, and that less detention time, and better overall treatment for truckers, have come to the forefront.

Last-mile delivery is also likely to become a huge part of the supply chain, as customers rely on receiving goods in a timely manner–which will give a boost to manufacturers, distributors, and the rest of the supply chain. The Paycheck Protection Plan has become a “tremendous safety net that helped alleviate a lot of anxiety and fear” for smaller businesses, according to TransLand’s Walker.

Medical Equipment Supply Chain Formed in Northeast

July 21, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Seven states in the northeast are working to form a new consortium for the purchase of $5 billion in medical equipment for a regional supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island governors announced the multi-state agreement last month, in which they will assess the region’s needs and demands for personal protective equipment, testing kits, and medical gear in order to bring costs down and create overall stability for the supply chain in the area.

“Our states should never be in a position where we are actively competing against each other for life-saving resources,” said Phil Murphy, Governor of New Jersey. “By working together across the region, we can obtain critical supplies as we begin the process to restart our economies, while also saving money for our taxpayers.”

These states will also be coordinating PPE inventory policies within each state’s health care system so that they are properly prepared in the case of a second wave of coronavirus. States will also look into new policies regarding necessary supplies for first responders and nonprofit organizations.

“We’re doing regional planning now on the reopening because every state is linked to every other state. If we do something in New York, it affects New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, etc.” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In the public briefing, Cuomo discussed via video call–with New Jersey’s Murphy, Ned Lamon (Governor of Connecticut), Tom Wolf (Governor of Pennsylvania), and John Carney (Governor of Delaware)–the difficulties states and private sector groups have been facing in securing medical equipment. Cuomo said the current competitive system in place for doing so is inefficient.

“This is not the way to deal with this situation,” Cuomo explained. “Plus, we just drove up prices by our own competition. That was just a situation that nobody anticipated. You couldn’t get enough gowns; you couldn’t get enough masks.”

States will be identifying local suppliers who can meet the demand of this particular region throughout the next few months. These efforts are meant to decrease the possibility for supply chain disruptions making PPE, ventilators, tests, and sanitizer less available, while also pushing regional economic development forward.

“Our health care workers should never have to worry if we have enough PPE to keep them safe,” said Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island. “Over the past two months, we’ve been scouring the earth for supplies and have worked hard to meet the demand on the front lines. We know that, in order to safely reopen the economy, we need a long-term supply of PPE for all critical infrastructure workers.”

These northeastern states are also working to implement technology, such as 3D printers, in finding new production methods for making PPE products.

“We can wait for the national stockpile; we can wait for that plane to land from China,” said Lamont. “Let’s see what we can do ourselves. We’re much stronger together.”

New York is also requiring that all hospitals have a 90-supply on hand of personal protective equipment to avoid the shortages that occurred during the peaks of the pandemic. The northeast has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19; there were 316,415 positive cases of the virus reported in early May. According to Cuomo, the key to making this initiative successful is for these states to effectively and consistently work together.

“The word ‘neighbor’ has a different connotation,” Cuomo said. “You don’t normally think of surrounding states as neighbors. You think of the person next door as your neighbor, but [these states] are neighbors. They’ve acted as neighbors.”

“I cannot tell you how supportive Governor Murphy in New Jersey and Governor Lamont in Connecticut and the other governors in our coalition have been,” Cuomo continued. “[It is a relationship], literally, where [I] can pick up the phone and I say, ‘I need help with masks. Do you have any extra masks? Do you have any extra gowns?’ That’s how these states responded. It was a beautiful and generous way of operating that was an inspiration to me.”

Cuomo also says it is important to look at this coalition as beneficial to taxpayers.

“When you put all those hospitals together, all that public health capacity together–which will make us more competitive in the international marketplace–I believe it will save taxpayers money,” he said. “I also believe it will help us actually get the equipment because we have trouble still getting the equipment…because these vendors on the other side, they’re dealing with countries, they’re dealing with the federal government–why should they do business with one state when they can do business with an entire country?”

FMCSA Gives Truckers One Million Masks During Pandemic

July 20, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is helping in the distribution of one million protective face masks to truckers throughout the country.

“We have all seen the incredible efforts that the nation’s commercial drivers are making each day to deliver goods and supplies to homes, businesses, and hospitals throughout America. With the help of our state partners and the motor carrier industry, these protected masks will help truckers remain safe and healthy while they continue to maintain our nation’s supply chain,“ said Jim Mullen, Acting Administrator for FMCSA.

The agency announced this initiative as a partnership with other industry groups, state representatives, and motor carriers. Masks have been provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Under Secretary Chao’s leadership, the Department of Transportation has been supporting America’s truckers during this challenging time.” Mullen explained.

The FMCSA and its collaborators on this effort have planned to distribute 800,000 masks to truckers in: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, New York, and Texas. The remaining 200,000 masks will be sent directly to motor carrier companies to give to their drivers.

“[American Trucking Associations] is pleased to be working with FMCSA and our state associations to help distribute masks to professional drivers,” said Sean McNally, ATA spokesman. “Access to [personal protective equipment] is an important part of keeping our supply chain and economy running, and we would like to thank Acting Administrator Mullen, Secretary Chao, and President Trump for their efforts to keep our drivers safe and healthy.”

FMCSA distributed 50,000 masks through the month of April in Illinois by working with the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Trucking Association. Distribution for these masks was set at travel center Lincoln Oasis (located at an overlap of interstates 80 and 294).

“Face masks have been difficult for many drivers to find, especially with Illinois’ new requirement for face coverings in public,” said Matt Hart, Illinois Trucking Association executive director. “These masks will provide truck drivers with additional protection during the coronavirus pandemic while they safely deliver the groceries and medical supplies that Americans need each day.

Mask distribution is also taking place in New York within heavily virus-stricken areas, such as the Bronx, Staten Island, and Sloatsburg Rest Area. In California, mask distribution is located at eight California Highway Patrol Field Divisions and at two additional points outside of Los Angeles.

“We thank the FMCSA for helping to protect the health of our nation’s truck drivers as they continue to deliver essential goods,” said Shawn Yadon, California Trucking Association CEO.

Additional areas of mask distribution include: the Social Hills Rest Area at Interstate 30 East/West and mile marker 93 in Arkansas, Interstate 75 Southbound at mile marker 179 in Georgia, rest areas at Interstate 70 Westbound (mile marker 107) and Eastbound (miler marker 65), Interstate 65 Southbound (mile maker 150) and Northbound (mile marker 72), and Interstate 94 Westbound (mile maker 43) in Indiana, Goehner Truck Parking Area Interstate 80 at mile marker 375 Westbound and Melia Hills Rest Area Interstate 80 at miler marker 431 Westbound in Nebraska, and Interstate 35 Northbound at mile marker 362A, along with multiple inspection facilities, in Texas.

In addition to these efforts, the FMCSA says it has taken further action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help support the country’s trucking industry and supply chain by releasing guidance regarding restrictions on movement–including shelter-in-place orders, as well as a guide regarding essential workers.

The guidance explains that essential workers include “employees supporting or enabling transportation functions,” including truckers, bus drivers, dispatchers, repair technicians, warehouse workers, truck stop workers, and rest stop workers, as well as DMV employees, towing services, roadside assistance workers, railroad employees, and maintenance crew. These workers, according to the guidance, should keep in mind that “truck drivers delivering needed supplies should stay in their vehicles as much as possible as supplies are loaded and unloaded,” as well as avoid being within six feet of others, and to use electronic receipts when possible. If truckers must stay in restricted areas to rest, “they should wash their hands frequently and practice social distancing to the extent possible.”

Click here for a full list of mask distribution areas, and here for more information on this guidance and what else FMCSA is doing to help trucking efforts in the pandemic.