Fuel prices are soaring higher than ever. It’s impacting everyone around the country, but perhaps none as harshly as those in the transit industry who rely on gas to keep running.
As fuel rates continue to climb, your profit margin plunges. It’s an alarming trend for sure.
Thankfully, applications do exist to help your fleet save on fuel. Let’s take a look at five of our favorites.
1. FASTER Web
We all want to save money on fuel and reduce our carbon footprint. Now, with a little help, you can use your data to do just that.
FASTER Web’s Fuel Import add-on provides you with better visibility into your fuel and EV data to help reduce your fleet’s fuel costs while also reducing your carbon footprint and lowering your emissions. You can easily monitor and record all of your transactional data to learn your fuel costs and figure out if there are better, cost-saving solutions available.
The Fuel Import imports data from a Fuel System Vendor of Commercial Card Vendor (FSV/CCV) into your FASTER Web system. You can use this data to find ways to optimize your fuel consumption, intake, fueling, etc. and even find errors like filling beyond your tank size.
2. TripMaster
Another way to cut costs is to implement software that manages your fleet. While there are many benefits here, most notably, this helps your cost control by optimizing your routing.
TripMaster’s mapping platform always gives your drivers up-to-date and accurate routes, ensuring your drivers never run into costly roadblocks. Mileage calculations help you adjust your fuel budget accordingly before each trip even begins.
If you aren’t using efficient routing, your fleet is out on the roads longer than they need to be. They might be using rough roads when smoother options are available. Or idling in traffic when an open, faster route exists. Smarter route planning can therefore help improve your fuel spend.
TripMaster will optimize your routing and scheduling to reduce your costs and deliver a superior rider experience. This solution, specifically designed for transit agencies, delivers fast results to your fuel economy.
3. Vestige
Fuel theft and fuel fraud are also on the rise. This involves either illegally siphoning away gas from your tank (fuel theft) or using company fuel cards for personal vehicles (fraud). Monitoring your purchases via a company card is a great first step, but another is to use dashcams to hold your drivers accountable.
Vestige offers fleet AI cameras and tracking so you can always monitor your drivers on the road. You can also access historical data to make sure your purchase history matches up with your footage. This holds your drivers accountable and ensures they never misuse your company card.
Fleet multi-use cameras also catch any criminals who attempt to steal gas from your tanks. This gives your fleet of vehicles the full coverage they need.
Summary
With fuel making up a huge chunk of your overhead, you need to be doing everything you can to keep your fuel economy as low as possible. This means coaching your drivers, optimizing your routing, staying on top of your vehicle maintenance, skipping the weigh stations (legally), and safeguarding your fleet from theft and fraud.
Implement these strategies and you’re well on your way to an economical fleet.
