COLUMBUS, OH – The City of Columbus has partnered with AssetWorks to track its on-road city vehicles using a GPS tracking and vehicle monitoring system. Fleet staff will install the hardware. The system will provide a mix of vehicle location and diagnostics information. The City also requires an upgrade of its Fleet Focus system in order to use the new telematics platform.

System features include tracking and recording odometer readings, sending daily vehicle health codes via email, and monitoring speed, idle time, routes taken, and unauthorized usage. City documents state that these features will help the City identify under-utilized assets, document vehicle arrival and departure times, respond more efficiently to emergencies, route City vehicles and equipment more efficiently, find City employees in times of emergencies, and have data on hand when citizens complain about fleet vehicles not being where they are supposed to be.

Costs for the system are roughly $1.8 million, which includes $1.4 million for the telematics, $250,000 in staffing costs associated with fleet staff installing the vehicle hardware, and $122,000 for expenses for vendor hosting services.