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TravelCenters of America Begin Accepting U.S. Bank Fleet Card

Photo courtesy of U.S. Bank.

TravelCenters of America, operator of the TA and Petro Stopping Centers brands and Minit Mart convenience stores, is expanding its relationship with U.S. Bank by accepting a new single Voyager Fleet Card at its truck stop and convenience store locations.

The new single Voyager Fleet Card combines fleet control functionality needed by heavy-duty commercial rigs at truck stops with the comprehensive data capture capabilities required by smaller vehicle fleets at retail locations. For the first time, all vehicle classes can be managed through one card, one network and one program management platform, according to the company.

"Partnering with U.S. Bank on the first true single card solution means we can better serve the needs of mixed fleets," said TravelCenters CEO Tom O'Brien. "We have long valued our relationship with U.S. Bank, and this agreement deepens it to a new level. We look forward to issuing the new card to our employee drivers in the coming months, and expect to begin accepting it from customers in 2017."

The Voyager Network, owned and operated by U.S. Bank, includes thousands of participating fueling, maintenance and service locations nationwide, including TA, Petro and Minit Mart outlets. Drivers and fleet managers can find card-accepting locations with the Voyager Mobile App or the merchant locator within U.S. Bank Fleet Commander Online.

"Expanding our partnership in this way brings the efficiencies of a single solution to TravelCenters and to the market at large," said John Hardin, U.S. Bank global transportation solutions general manager. "They are able to better meet the needs of their fleet, while we solidify our leadership position in the industry with the first fully integrated fuel payment solution to cover all eight fleet classes in a single card."

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DOT Finally Proposes Truck Speed-Limiter Rule

Federal safety regulators are proposing that heavy-duty vehicles be equipped with speed-limiting devices set to a specific maximum speed.

A notice of proposed rulemaking was issued jointly on Aug. 26 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The NPRM comes after a decade-long push by trucking and safety advocates to put such a requirement in place for trucks and other commercial vehicles.

For its part, NHTSA is calling for establishing a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

This FMVSS would require that each new “multipurpose” vehicle with a GVWR over 26,000 pounds be equipped with a speed limiting device. The proposed standard would also require each vehicle, as manufactured and sold, to have its device set to a speed not greater than a specified speed and to be equipped with means of reading the vehicle's current speed setting and the two previous speed settings (including the time and date the settings were changed) through its onboard diagnostic connection.

FMCSA is proposing a complementary Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation that would require each commercial motor vehicle with a GVWR of more than 26,000 pounds be equipped with a speed limiting device meeting the requirements of the proposed FMVSS applicable to the vehicle at the time of manufacture, including the requirement that the device be set to a speed not greater than a specified speed.

In addition, carriers operating such vehicles in interstate commerce would be required to maintain the speed limiting devices for the service life of the vehicle.

According to the Department of Transportation, the agencies' review of the available data indicates that limiting the speed of these heavy vehicles would reduce the severity of crashes involving these vehicles and reduce the resulting fatalities and injuries.

“We expect that, as a result of this joint rulemaking, virtually ...Read the rest of this story

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