PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Routes & Dispatch

Live Crew GPS on the Office Map: Dispatching Porta Potty Trucks You Can See

A dispatcher without a map is guessing. They know where the trucks should be according to the morning plan. They do not know where they are. The previous article, Rescheduling Porta Potty Routes for Weather Without Losing Track of a Stop, covered big changes forced by weather. This one covers the tool that makes every change during the day easier: live crew GPS on the office map.

Where the Location Comes From

The GPS comes from the crew's phones through the driver app. When drivers are logged in and working their routes, their locations show on the office map. There is no separate tracking box to install in the truck; the driver app does it. Note that this tracks crews, not toilets. It shows where your people and trucks are, not where every unit is sitting.

Answering Where Is My Truck Calls

The most common call in a portable toilet office is some version of when is the truck coming. Without a map, the answer is a guess or a call to the driver. With the map, the dispatcher looks, sees the truck three stops away, and answers in ten seconds.

Better still, many customers never need to call. In the customer app, they see today's route on a live map with their place in it, like You're stop 12 of 20 — the crew is 5 stops away. You're Stop 12 of 20: The Customer's View of Your Portable Toilet Route covers that view in detail.

Sending the Nearest Truck

When a same-day request or an emergency pump-out comes in, the map turns a hard question into an easy one. Look at where every truck is right now, compare it to the new stop, and check which nearby truck can handle the job. Then assign it on the dispatch board and place it in that truck's route order. The stop appears in the driver app where you put it.

Without live locations, dispatchers often send whichever truck was supposed to be nearby according to the morning plan, only to find that truck is running an hour behind on the other side of town.

Seeing How Routes Really Run

The map shows more than where trucks are this minute. Watch it over a few days and patterns appear. A truck that sits at the same stop for forty minutes every Tuesday has a stop that takes longer than it should. A truck that zigzags across a neighborhood has a route order that needs tuning. A truck that heads back to the yard mid-day may be running out of water or tank space too early.

Those are the conversations worth having with drivers. When to Override Auto-Routing: Hand-Tuning a Porta Potty Route Order covers turning those observations into a better route order.

Better Answers for Customers and Crews

The map also improves the conversations the office has with customers. Instead of saying the truck should be there this afternoon, the dispatcher can say the truck is two stops away and should be there within the hour. That kind of specific answer is what customers remember. It also protects drivers from being blamed for delays that were not theirs, because the office can see the truck was stuck at a busy site or detoured around a closed road.

When a customer insists the truck never came, the map, the arrived text and the completed job with its photos tell a clear story. Most disputes end there.

Keeping Crews Safe

Live locations also help when something goes wrong. A truck that has not moved in an unusual spot for a long time might have a flat tire or a driver who needs help. Knowing where your crews are is part of looking after them, especially on long rural routes where cell coverage is spotty and help is far away.

Talking to Drivers About GPS

Some drivers worry that GPS means being watched every second. Be straight with them about what it is for: answering customers, sending the right truck, and keeping crews safe. When drivers see that the map means fewer phone calls asking where they are, most come around quickly. The office calls drivers less, not more.

It also helps to show drivers the map yourself. When they see what the office sees, a dot on a road and a list of stops, the purpose is obvious. Many drivers end up liking that the office can see they are stuck in traffic without anyone having to call and ask.

Pair It With Good Notes

The map tells you where a truck is. The job tells you what that truck is doing. Unit type, quantity, unit numbers, placement notes and job status from the driver app's Start, Skip and Complete buttons fill in the rest. Together they let the office run the day without constant check-in calls.

For how live GPS fits with the Waiting List, route order and customer texts, see PortaPottyBossPro portable toilet route software.