Cities-counties need to monitor fleet maintenance and carefully spend tax dollars

The public sector faces high debt levels, stressed budgets and wide-ranging priorities, says Brian Fairweather, vice president of public sector at Uptake, a developer of fleet maintenance software used by all levels of government to help reduce maintenance costs, maximize asset lifespan and improve operational systems.

Fairweather says government officials have been getting the following messages from taxpayers:

Taxpayers want fleet administrators in public agencies to become more efficient, Fairweather says: “For fleet managers overseeing assets with significant public visibility (e.g., public transit buses or public works vehicles), the pressure to deliver despite these challenges is heightened even further.”

Fairweather says a good first step to improve fleet maintenance and operations is to put better information in the hands of senior, experienced vehicle maintainers. He adds that the high-quality fleet information will enable the senior maintainers “to provide better tools and support for the junior maintainers who will have their hands on these vehicles.”

Outlining the benefits of quality vehicle operations information, Fairweather says: “Readily available data, from both the output of on-vehicle sensors and input from systems that track work orders, offers the raw materials necessary to optimize fleet operations in 2024.”

Fairweather adds this cautionary note: “However, leveraging such data to successfully shift from preventive to predictive (or condition-based) maintenance is the only way to truly optimize resources and achieve an ROI that will meet the demands of local government officials, stakeholders and taxpayers.”

The fleet software from Uptake can help managers maximize fleet readiness through predictive maintenance. The firm’s offering streamlines asset operations and maintenance; optimizes parts inventory; and improves labor efficiency by making the right vehicle repair the first time.

Uptake’s tools help fleet directors leverage data to quickly improve operational systems, reduce downtime, maximize asset lifespan and deliver ideal outcomes for each jurisdiction’s constituents. The software also helps turn unplanned maintenance into planned maintenance.

Here are some of the solutions the software provides:

The system allows administrators to obtain knowledge about all of a jurisdiction’s fixed and mobile assets to plan for the future. The setup also helps identify upcoming maintenance needs. This will enable managers to improve operational readiness, prevent catastrophic failures and optimize spending by the jurisdiction. Lastly, users can integrate Uptake products into existing workflows.

Updated government fleet counts
Government fleet counts from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) 2022 Publicly Owned Motor-Vehicles table show sizable increases in government ownership of trucks and truck tractors. State, county and municipal agency fleets added 108,000 trucks and truck tractors in the latest year reported. When compared with year-earlier data, federal agency fleets grew by 100,000+ trucks and truck tractors. Special district forms of local government are not included in this fleet table, which was released in Nov. 2023.

OMNIA Partners, who sponsors this page, offers a robust portfolio of cooperative contracts in the public procurement space. The firm lists numerous cooperative contracts under the keyword “fleet maintenance.”

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected].