TORONTO - The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which maintains and operates Toronto Pearson Airport, has added four additional self-service fleet kiosks at the Toronto airport for use by GTAA staff. This is an expansion of an initiative to reduce fleet size through car sharing, capture valuable utilization statistics automatically, enforce fleet policies, and ensure complete accountability for vehicles by securing vehicle keys. The announcement was made by Agile Access Control, Inc. (Agile), creator of FleetCommander, a web browser-based fleet and motor pool management application.
The GTAA implemented the FleetCommander software and the first automated self-service fleet kiosks in 2008. The goal of increasing shared use of vehicles was so successful that departments began turning in vehicles and using the centralized pool. As a result, 25 vehicles were eliminated from the fleet, according to Agile. In addition, GTAA staff gained the ability to make vehicle requests and access vehicles any time of the day or night, whereas previous service was only available between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The addition of four sites with self-service fleet kiosks will further help the GTAA streamline operations and reduce costs.
"When I first discovered the self-service fleet kiosk, I was sold," said Mike Hewlett, GTAA's fleet manager. "Despite skepticism that we could fully automate the vehicle reservation and key dispatching processes using technology, we did it with relative ease. The savings started on day one and we haven't looked back. We grew from five or six shared vehicles to dozens of shared vehicles. The positive feedback from drivers and the bottom-line savings we have realized are beyond expectations."
Through the software, GTAA has also been able to:
Reduce the manpower required to facilitate car sharing
Provide quick access to utilization statistics and reports (the GTAA operates between 80 and 100% utilization)
Nearly eliminate use of personal vehicles for work activities since vehicles are now readily available
Automatically enforce fleet policies such as the training requirement for use of electric vehicles
Provide accountability for all vehicle dispatches
Secure vehicle keys
The GTAA will be adding four Nissan Leaf vehicles and two Chevy Volt electric vehicles to the shared vehicle pools. The management team is confident that the desire to drive the new technology vehicles will further increase utilization and reduce the need for vehicles assigned to individuals or departments. Opportunities to share specialized airport vehicles and equipment are also being explored, according to Agile.
