Pittsburgh Councilman Favors GPS Tracking of Municipal Fleets
It is unusual that a city the size of Pittsburgh, PA, population 350,000, has not yet adopted GPS tracking systems as standard in municipal vehicles. But what some might see as an oversight might soon change, with the recent actions of Councilman Ricky Burgess.
Burgess wants to see the city turn a corner in the way it manages staff, technologically speaking. He proposes that the city go out for bids on an extensive vehicle tracking system and then to place real-time GPS tracking units in more than 1,000 city-owned vehicles.
Media quotes him saying at an April 12 council meeting, “The city cannot manage what it can’t see.”
City officials admit that they are concerned over the volume of public complaints about services. The fleet of Pittsburgh police cars is already operated with a GPS tracking system, but other departments like streets, public works, sewers, parks and refuse pickup have no modern GPS systems for fleet management.
The conversion is rather late for a large-scale municipality. GPS tracking systems help governments prove that they are responsible stewards of public funds.
Privately-held service and delivery companies were among the first to use GPS tracking products because they make operations smoother and more efficient. Passive GPS tracking systems record all details of vehicle trips and can replay them over a map on a computer. Vehicle speed, exact location readings (latitude and longitude) at regular time intervals, direction, miles driven and location and duration of each stop are logged. This information comes in handy for preparing reports, billing, payroll, scheduling routine vehicle maintenance, verifying driving records for police, accident and insurance purposes and following up on customer complaints, among other things.
A real-time GPS tracking system records the same information as above, and transmits that data via wireless cell modem to computer server so that it can be monitored live as it happens. The benefit of real-time GPS tracking to the fleet management supervisor is the ability of immediate interaction between dispatch center/routing and company drivers.
Pittsburgh’s Burgess favors real-time GPS tracking units, believing that managers should have the ability to see live where the city’s resources are located. He wants all driving activities documented and he wants to ensure that drivers are taking the shortest routes and taking the shortest amount of time to get to their destinations.
Exempt from Burgess’ proposed GPS tracking bill would be certain high-profile, unmarked vehicles (like those used by the mayor), for security reasons.
The issue will probably come to open discussion in a few weeks. At this point, estimated costs are not available for the GPS tracking program.
Already, the labor union representing Pittsburgh garbage truck drivers is speaking out against GPS tracking, saying the money can be better spent on staff and equipment.
Source: Pittsburgh KDKA
Tags: Councilman, Fleet Management, GPS Tracking, Labor, Municipal Fleets, Pittsburgh, Real-Time GPS Tracking, Ricky Burgess, Union
No related posts.
