At the recent Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., truckers interviewed by FreightWaves indicated that parking remains the industry’s top challenge. At the end of 2021, the American Transportation Research Institute’s 17th annual Top Industry Issues report also found that parking continues to be a top issue for truckers and carriers like you. The current lack of safe and convenient parking can reduce an owner operator’s annual revenue by as much as $4,600 according to the National Association of Truck Stop Operators. In fact, most truckers are losing nearly an hour each day to searching for parking. Fortunately, app-based truck parking options are growing. In 2020, Trucker Tools formed a partnership with TruckPark, the largest single digital platform for truck parking reservations, to address this urgent need, bringing additional commercial truck parking options to the Trucker Tools driver app.
Read on to learn more about how you can find both free and paid truck parking with the Trucker Tools app.
Search for, Book and Pay for Paid Parking with Trucker Tools’ Driver App
With the Trucker Tools app, you can find, reserve and pay for a truck parking space in TruckPark’s network in less than five minutes. Simply tap on the Parking icon on the main screen in the Trucker Tools app to get started. Then enter your current location or final destination and your approximate arrival time. You can narrow your search results by tapping on the Filter button at the bottom of your screen. To find out the parking facility’s address, number of available spots, directions on accessing the lot and available on-site amenities, tap on the parking card for the facility in your search results. If you want to reserve a parking space at the facility, tap on Reserve, set your arrival time/date, number of days you need parking, and then enter your email address and your preferred form of payment (Apply Pay or credit card). Once you reserve the spot, it’s guaranteed upon your arrival. You’ll also receive an email confirmation of the booking.
TruckPark’s truck parking spots are clustered at locations where highways meet and nearby highway exits for added convenience. The TruckPark network includes more than 1,000 secure locations that can accommodate trailer drop-offs, as well as monthly and overnight parking for owner operators and fleets of all sizes. You can book truck parking spots up to 90 days in advance. One of the reasons that we partnered with TruckPark is the company’s focus on security. For each parking facility that you see in your search results, you can view what security measures the facility has in place, including whether there’s an overnight guard, security fencing and/or video surveillance on site.
Locate Free Public, Rest Area and Truck Stop Parking
You can search for free public parking in the Trucker Tools app also by tapping on the Parking icon on the main screen. The free parking spots that you see in your search results are provided by several Midwestern states (Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) that are working together to help truckers and carriers like you access free public truck parking. Rest areas, which often have wide on and off ramps, also may have free truck parking available. You can use the Rest Area locator in the Trucker Tools app to find nearby rest areas that offer truck parking spaces. Simply tap on the Rest Area icon on the app’s main screen and enter the location where you’ll need parking. For each rest area listed in your search results, you’ll be able to see how many truck parking spots are offered at the rest area.
The Trucker Tools app’s Truck Stop Guide can be a good resource for locating free truck parking at truck stops, as well. Just tap on the Truck Stop Guide icon, enter the location of where you’ll need parking and you’ll be able to see how many parking spots there are at each truck stop in the search results. You may be able to reserve a truck stop parking spot ahead of time by calling the truck stop directly at the number provided in the app.
Check out our “Four Takeaways from Recent Study on Truck Parking, Truck Parking Apps.”
