Using a successful Washington, D.C. program as a model, the Cook County Board of Commissioners is banking on an electronic monitoring system to make its management of the county’s 2,000 vehicle fleet more efficient.
Commissioners are expected to refer to the County Board’s vehicle committee a resolution requesting a study to explore how an electronic fleet management system would work in Cook County.
The hope, says Commissioner Gregg Goslin, is for the study to find it possible to get results similar to D.C.’s – where the fleet dramatically shrank, from 360 to 58. The electronic system would be similar to private car-sharing ventures; the D.C. program is administered by Zipcar.
“(The vehicles) are at different locations, and different people use the same car,” he says. “It’s like a swipe card.”
While Zipcar has not been named as a potential partner, such a program would be administered by a third party.
Governments in Florida’s Dade County and Arizona’s Maricopa County – both large metropolitan areas – are considering similar programs, Goslin says.
The Washington pilot program, known as Fleet Share, started in the fall of 2008 with the goal of eliminating 150 vehicles from the District’s fleet. It included a car-sharing program that spanned several agencies, and was designed to cut costs and improve the District’s environmental stewardship. Washington officials estimate the District save $6.6 million over five years.
Before a study is conducted, it’s impossible to tell what kind of fiscal impact a similar program would have in Cook County.
But, Goslin says, “It would be measured in the millions.”
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty has praised the program as making fiscal sense in a time when governments are battling economic strains. In Cook County, it could be part of cost-cutting measures necessary to make up for a revenue gap of about $188 million in 2011, resulting from December’s sales tax rollback.
The District pays Zipcar a $1,200 fee per vehicle to install global positioning satellite technology, and $115 a month per vehicle for maintenance, according to published reports.
The study commissioners are hoping for would examine vehicle demand, usage, maintenance would use real-time data and more to improve the fleet’s performance, while cutting it by 20 to 40 percent.
A vehicle-sharing program in Cook County would use real-time data to show vehicle usage and demand, while improving maintenance protocol and cutting the fleet by 20 to 40 percent.
Mirroring the Washington program, the county would try to improve its driver-to-vehicle ratio. It’s unclear what that ratio is in Cook County. In Washington, the ratio is currently 15:1.
Windy Citizen 