How Trimble Appian and CoPilot can mitigate the impact of NYC congestion pricing on fleets

In January, New York City (NYC) implemented the first Congestion Relief Zone in North America, which requires any vehicle driving on roadways at or below 60th street in Manhattan to pay an increased toll. Since the idea was introduced, it’s been a subject of much debate, with the latest rebuff coming in the form of a challenge by the US federal government. For the time being, congestion pricing remains and has a significant impact on commercial fleets operating in and around the city, especially those making frequent trips, such as food service distributors.

It’s vital that commercial fleets are well equipped to tackle this new challenge. So, we’ve updated Trimble PC*Miler, CoPilot and Appian to account for this major change and help fleets in the region better optimize their routes to avoid unnecessary tolls, correctly tabulate costs and increase overall profitability. Below, we explore the details of the new policy, its impact on fleets and how Trimble can help.

Congestion pricing explained

Since there have been bridges and tunnels into NYC, there have been tolls, but entrance into the Congestion Relief Zone requires an additional payment processed via EZ-Pass or license plate scanning cameras. It’s a policy that’s been applied in major cities around the world—including London and Singapore—to great success.

But despite its record, congestion pricing’s NYC debut was preceded by years of debate about its merit and impact. Depending on who you ask, these new regulations are a noble effort to reduce traffic and emissions in an area typically overrun by vehicles of every make and model, or they’re merely a new tax on drivers.

According to INRIX, a parking and traffic analysis and solution provider, New York City is the second most congested city in the world behind Istanbul, with drivers losing an average of 102 hours sitting in traffic every year. This congestion results in numerous problems, including fuel waste, noise pollution, increased emissions, lost productivity and more. At the same time, the policy is expected to raise $500 to $800 million a year in funds that, according to city officials, will be put toward the improvement of mass transit. 

Regardless of which side of the debate you’re on, however, the bad news is this: fleets (and their customers) will bear the brunt of the cost. 

Commercial vehicles entering the Congestion Relief Zone will be tolled at a much higher rate than they have in the past. All trucks, depending on their size, can be charged between $14.40 and $21.60 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST throughout the week for entrance into the zone. 

And in addition to the increased toll, trucks can also be charged multiple times over the course of a day. This means that every time a truck’s route takes them in and out of the congestion zone, they will be charged the full applicable price for every instance of re-entry.

The impact on fleets and their customers

For fleets that operate in and around the city, the new tolls will have a major impact on profitability, service and customer relationships. Talking Logistics estimates that these tolls will result in an enormous increase in costs for fleets: “Small trucks could incur approximately $4,500 annually, while larger trucks may face a cost of more than $6,700 per year. For a fleet of 20 trucks, this could add up to nearly $135,000 annually.”

And while rates do decrease on nights and weekends, dropping to $3.60-$5.40 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. ET, Monday through Friday, and from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday, many fleets are not operating in those timeframes because their customers expect deliveries during the day, when business is open. 

Supporters argue that with reduced traffic, there will be gains in efficiency and an overall reduction in fuel spend, but that advantage is difficult to quantify. Absorbing the increased costs will also prove a challenge, as fleets will no doubt need to increase their rates. This change will reverberate throughout the food industry, with experts saying that it will negatively impact NYC’s famous food scene through increased prices and supply chain complexity. Leading food distributor Baldor, which is leading a coalition of food service companies, has even gone so far as to call for an exemption from congestion pricing for companies serving restaurants and markets. 

All of this adds up to a major speed bump for fleets, especially for any fleet that typically makes multiple stops throughout the city and region. And as fleets continue to incur these costs, increasing prices will strain service agreements and customer relationships.

How Trimble can help you adapt

To adapt to this major change, fleets need as much information as possible and routes that can avoid as many charges as possible. 

Trimble PC*Miler, our route planning and mileage tracking solution, has long helped fleets optimize their trips and accurately calculate their costs, including those accrued via tolls. The algorithms and maps that power PC*Miler are incorporated into many of our fleet-focused solutions, such as Appian, our multi-vehicle route and operation optimization suite of tools, and CoPilot, our commercial-grade, truck-safe navigation app. 

We’ve made significant updates to our database of tolls to account for congestion pricing, so fleets can more accurately determine how much trips in NYC and through the Congestion Relief Zone will cost. We’ve also updated our routing algorithm and maps to account for the Congestion Relief Zone, enabling route planners to see the zone within our solutions and avoid it if possible. In addition, developers can use Trimble Content Tools to use this updated map and toll data to adjust their own applications and to avoid or favor certain roads.

For fleets who can’t avoid the zone, such as food service distributors, Appian can help planners model routes, create “What if?” scenarios and see how entering and leaving the zone will impact their costs. This is especially important for fleets with routes that start in one part of the city and then make multiple stops to a variety of locations in different areas. In addition to this multi-stop route planning capability, tools like Appian Daily Planner simplify the planning and routing process in a simple workflow, enabling the creation of complex schedules in minutes, rather than hours or days. 

When vehicles are on the road, CoPilot enables drivers to accurately navigate to the right destination the first time, cutting the risk of incurring additional penalties. And with recently added predictive parking capabilities, we reduce the risk that drivers will need to drive around in search of a spot, possibly crossing and then re-crossing the Congestion Relief Zone boundaries and racking up tolls.

Want to learn more? Contact our team to see how Trimble PC*Miler, Trimble CoPilot and Trimble Appian can help your fleet navigate NYC’s Congestion Relief Zone and avoid unnecessary tolls.