As the first of the winter snow storms move into the Eastern Seaboard, Magellan is announcing that its Return to Route navigation solution has been selected by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) for deployment across its entire fleet of salt spreading vehicles, which include the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Staten Island.  DSNY, the first municipal fleet to deploy the Magellan solution, has already begun rolling out the navigators in the cabs of its 700 large and small salt spreaders and expects to make a significant impact on safety and efficiency during this year’s busy snow season. 

“Our drivers are on the front lines of fighting winter storms, often working in white-out conditions. By equipping the cabs of our salt spreaders with the Magellan solution, we are giving our Sanitation Workers a powerful new technology tool for navigating extreme road conditions along their designated routes. Our drivers now have, at their fingertips, turn-by-turn directions that will greatly assist them in quickly getting roads salted and plowed efficiently and safely,” said Chief Shari Pardini, DSNY.

“This is about the safety of our drivers and the safety of New Yorkers,” continued Pardini.  “We chose this solution because it’s the only software on the market that could meet our needs. Through the combined efforts of our team, the Operations Management Division, the Bureau of Motor Equipment, and Magellan, we have been able to load 1,400 of our custom routes into the navigators and deliver turn-by-turn directions right from the cab.”

Magellan’s Return to Route solution ensures salt spreading equipment will not miss any portion of their designated route. If a driver deviates from a route, the onboard navigator will immediately detect the deviation and re-route the vehicle in real-time so it can complete its task in the most timely manner and ensure streets aren’t missed.  

“DSNY worked hand-in-hand with Magellan to create a state of the art GPS Return to Route solution to better adhere to the complex geography of all New York City’s five boroughs, making DSNY an ideal partner for this first roll-out of Return to Route,” said Mark Perini, Vice President of Fleet Solutions at Magellan. “DSNY’s technology vision is impressive and their standards of excellence are at the highest level.  They needed a solution that could accommodate a large library of custom maps and an onboard device that enables its fleet of experienced drivers to move around the city as needed, even in the most severe weather conditions.  Return to Route was designed exactly for situations like this and we can’t wait to see the gains DSNY will make this snow season.”