Due to its accuracy and affordability, GPS technology has become a popular solution for a growing fleet of vehicles – be it for public transportation like city bus operations or private providers like those offering charter services or limo car hire in San Francisco, CA, among others. For service providers, this technology brings several benefits – from reducing fuel consumption and completing more trips to optimizing the fleet’s overall performance and much more. For instance, using GPS tracking of vehicles, a company can reduce excessive vehicle idling and speeding, improve vehicles’ routing, and eliminate side jobs, all of which will help in bringing down fuel costs. By helping companies note inefficient routes taken by their drivers or employees that deliberately waste time to add to their duty hours, GPS tracking helps companies to schedule jobs in the most efficient order and even caution the errant drivers. Thus, the technology helps in decreasing vehicle downtime and minimizing drive time, which in turn reduces a company’s labor costs.
By giving the companies instant access to their fleet’s location and status of their vehicles as well as other mobile assets, GPS tracking helps in monitoring unsafe driving. Thus, it helps to improve the safety and security of drivers as well as vehicles. Since vehicles that are tracked regularly tend to arrive within the promised response time, they help in boosting the level of customer service, which often results in increased revenue. Transport companies and charter service providers can even add more jobs to each workday when they use GPS for optimized allotment of jobs, which in turn helps them to give their revenue a significant boost. If you thought GPS tracking benefits just the companies and service providers, think again. The technology brings several benefits for the passengers too. Listed below are some of them that are worth considering.
1- Lower wait time
Waiting endlessly for public transport or even your limo can be annoying and even tiring. When city buses or your limos have GPS tracking devices, they allow passengers to monitor their schedule. In case you plan to take public transport to your office or some other work, you become aware of the time and location of every bus stop and don’t need to wait for a long time on the road. Even when you are in a hurry, instead of driving your own car, you can check the city GPS bus system and board one in case that’s a few minutes away or just about to arrive. By checking your desired mode of transport’s schedule and location on your computer or mobile phone, you would be in a position to take advantage and reduce your wait time. Even when you have booked a luxury limo service in San Francisco, CA, knowing how far away your driver is (by tracking his vehicle via GPS) or knowing how much time it will take for him to pull in front of your pick-up point (ETA or estimated time of arrival) would help you get ready on time. Such ease of commute is surely a big boon for passengers as it reduces their wait time and makes their journey somewhat hassle-free and a lot less annoying.
2- Ease of commute
Have you ever lost sleep the night before catching an early morning flight worrying about what if your driver arrives late or gets lost on the road and can’t locate your house? Ever landed late at the airport to find your designated driver has left long ago since your flight got delayed? Did you feel stranded at an unknown location just because your driver couldn’t be reached on his phone? These are some situations that can be disturbing and extremely inconvenient, to say the least. When drivers have little to no accountability in terms of their arrival and departure times, they can often take actions (such as late pick-ups, delayed arrivals, etc.) that cause a lot of inconvenience for the passengers – from missing a flight to feel stranded and much more. However, when your designated vehicle has a GPS tracking system that’s monitored in real-time, it can help ensure your driver’s on-time arrival and that he sticks to the prescribed route schedules. Also, a GPS tracking system ensures your driver never gets lost (thanks to the use of Google or Apple maps as well as satellite and street map views to navigate).
GPS tracking of vehicles also helps companies build optimal routes quickly. As a passenger, this means you will waste minimal time en route to your destination. Apart from assigning the fastest routes to drivers, such a tracking system would also help in modifying routes mid-shift, if a need arises. Since companies offering car hire in San Francisco, CA keep a close eye on their drivers’ progress within the designated routes in real-time via GPS, it would help passengers avoid unnecessary delays.
3- Improved safety
Driving a vehicle full of passengers is a huge responsibility as well as a liability for the driver. As GPS lets companies and service providers closely monitor how their vehicles are being driven, it would help them to reduce accidents, thus ensuring you have a safe ride. For instance, modern-day GPS tracking systems come with maximum speed alerts. In case the driver starts driving over this limit, he would immediately get an alert to reduce his speed to ensure safe driving, which he should do (or if he doesn’t, you – as his passenger, should ask him to). GPS can also monitor aggressive driving, post speed limit violation alerts, check route deviations (if any) and send alerts when they happen (such as geofencing alerts), send real-time location updates to those monitoring the ride, and even help with real-time traffic updates. All these can help in optimized routing, thus letting you reach your designated destination safely and on time.
A modern GPS usually comes equipped with sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes that help in detecting accidents. It may happen that your vehicle gets held up for some time (which is more than the usual held-up caused by traffic congestion or a car breakdown) and the GPS detects an accident. However, the tracking system finds that the driver hasn’t used the car tracking app to summon help within a few seconds of the accident. In such a case, the GPS would assume the driver and other passengers to be unconscious and send out an alert to the emergency services close by. By sending them the coordinates of the vehicle, the GPS tracking system would help the emergency services to reach the location on time and provide assistance (medical and/or otherwise) to the driver and passengers.
4- Easy access to past data for investigation/evaluation
For companies planning to keep fleet records, GPS tracking systems in vehicles can help. Since past data like those related to a vehicle’s past activities (routes traveled, stops made, time is taken to pass a specific point, etc.) can be accessed easily, they would help when the company needs to investigate issues (say, a passenger’s complaint or lost baggage, etc). Such data can also help in evaluating and analyzing the entire fleet’s performance and even that of a particular driver or unit. Thus, if a driver is in the habit of making pit stops, deviates from his designated route on some pretext or the other, or simply jeopardizes the passenger’s safety with rash driving, a GPS tracker system would be a great tool to put an end to such issues. Thus, a company offering luxury limo service in San Francisco, CA can use GPS tracking systems for improved planning, monitoring, and evaluation of their fleet as well as chauffeurs. As a passenger, this would mean that you will get more disciplined drivers in the future, who will ensure a safe and seamless ride for you.
5- Reduced carbon footprint
By traveling in a vehicle that comes fitted with GPS tracking, you can contribute to reducing your carbon footprint on the environment. Thus, you would not only benefit your own health but even the health of future generations. Since GPS trackers help the companies offering car hire in San Francisco, CA optimize and improve their vehicles’ routes (say, by allotting shorter routes to the designated destinations of passengers) and even reduce excessive vehicle speeding as well as idling, it lets them reduce their vehicles’ fuel consumption. With less burning of fuel, air pollution is lowered. Thus, boarding such vehicles (with reduced greenhouse gas emissions) would mean you are playing a part in protecting the earth’s environment.
Whether you are renting a luxury limo service in San Francisco, CA or booking your usual car hire in San Francisco, CA, ensuring that your vehicle arrives on time, follows the designated route (and doesn’t deviate from it), and has an experienced chauffeur behind the wheel are crucial elements for safe driving. As a passenger, you can ensure all these when your vehicle comes equipped with a GPS tracking system. So, the next time you book your car hire in San Francisco, CA, make sure to ask if there’s a GPS installed in it.