With 24 states onboard, PrePass helps motor carriers save
time, fuel and money by allowing commercial vehicles to comply electronically
with state and federal requirements while bypassing truck inspection stations
at highway speeds. Motor carrier participation is strictly voluntary, and only
carriers with up-to-date credentials may enroll in the program.
All it takes is a windshield-mounted transponder.
The drivers love it. It has been a great morale
booster not having to stop at all the scales and ports of entry,said
Walt Keeney, PrePass's first customer and owner of Food Express, a fleet
of 120 power units in the western U.S. ?The time saved can add 60 to 100
miles of legal driving time to each unit which greatly increases productivity.
This translates into increased incomes for drivers because of the extra legal
driving time they are accruing.
Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Inc. (HELP) is the
public-private, not-for-profit partnership between motor carriers and state
agencies that offers PrePass. HELP is managed by a volunteer board of directors
comprising one public and private sector representative from each member state.
HELP was born of a mid-1980s state-pool-funded R&D
project to prove the viability of various technologies such as automatic
vehicle identification and weigh-in-motion. At the conclusion of the R&D
project and a follow-on demonstration project, the directors voted to examine
appropriate business models to enable deployment of preferred ITS/CVO services.
In response, participating states and motor carriers jointly
agreed to incorporate HELP as a means to raise the private sector capital
necessary to deploy and operate what has today become known as
PrePass?the nation?s largest and most successful ITS/CVO
deployment.
HELP provides states with a turnkey system?computer
hardware, transponder readers, database, system monitoring and technical
support?at no cost. The public-private partnership, a first-of-its-kind
in the transportation industry, allows governments to carry out regulatory
responsibilities at a lower cost with a higher degree of efficiency.
Motor carriers voluntarily enroll and there is no upfront
cost or long-term contract. Carriers receive a HELP transponder at no cost and
are invoiced monthly for bypasses.
Today, PrePass is operational at 204 sites and is deployed
in over 205,000 trucks nationwide.
The technology is brought together by ACS State & Local
Solutions, a provider of advanced technical solutions to government and
commercial sectors. In partnership with the member states and HELP, ACS
provides its technical and financial strength to deploy and operate PrePass.
"The response to PrePass from all sides of the
industry has been tremendous," said Richard P. Landis, president and CEO
of HELP. "Everybody wins. The states get access to a sophisticated
transportation management system at no cost to its taxpayers; motor carriers
and weigh station enforcement personnel save time, resources and money."
States benefit
As states are faced with diminishing resources, PrePass
allows them to give access to state-of-the-art technology without incurring
additional costs or passing costs on to its constituents through extra
taxation.
Perhaps the most valuable impact of PrePass is its ability
to reduce weigh station congestion, thereby increasing highway safety and law
enforcement efficiency.
"PrePass affords enforcement personnel the opportunity to look more closely at the higher-risk carriers and encourage them to operate
within government regulations,? said Stan Perez, deputy chief of California Highway Patrol?s Enforcement Services Division. "Additionally, by redirecting our focus to the problem, motor carriers, enforcement personnel can provide a better service to the motoring public."
Perez noted that PrePass has freed them up to focus on all
types of violators, both commercial and private. The motoring public benefits
because enforcement resources are freed up to aid those in need and closely
scrutinize those that are continually violating laws on the interstates. The
bottom line: PrePass helps enforcement officials to reduce the number of
dangerous vehicles on the highway.
Motor carriers see rewards
PrePass can have a significant impact on the profitability
of motor carriers. According to a study conducted by Iowa State
University?s Center for Transportation Research & Education, motor
carriers can save roughly half a gallon of fuel with each successful bypass.
With diesel fuel prices reaching nearly $1.50 a gallon, the fuel saving benefit
alone is about 75 cents per bypass.
On top of fuel costs saved, drivers are seeing a significant
increase in legal miles traveled, the bread and butter of the business.
"Bypassing weigh stations saves fuel and wear and tear
on trucks," said Keeney.
"One of the best things about PrePass is that it has been
developed with private money and is being paid for by the users," said
Keeney. "This lets the states keep more money for highway repairs and
improvements. It has also improved safety enforcement by letting pre-cleared
trucks bypass the inspection facilities and giving law enforcement more time to
look at the other guys."
Carrier data safety guarded
"PrePass data is used by the state only at the time of
the clearance event," reported Dave Galt, director of the Montana DOT.
HELP has instituted a policy to ensure PrePass carriers are
not subjected to a higher level of regulatory compliance than non-PrePass
carriers. This policy provides a level playing field and attracts carrier
participation.
"The data policy is a cornerstone of HELP," said
Landis. ?It was an issue the board of carriers and state officials
considered long and hard before deciding. In the end, the board decided that
carriers should not be penalized for adopting technology.?
HELP's data policy differentiates PrePass from
state-run, e-clearance systems in which data may be widely available for other
enforcement purposes, including mileage reporting, speed enforcement and
hours-of-service auditing. TME
RSS: Roads & Bridges Articles
