ATRI Announces Call For Data From Survey

by Jake Tully - Published: 6/01/2017

The American Transportation Research Association has put out a call for data from transportation industry members for use in the upcoming report, Operational Costs of Trucking.

According to the ATRI, this annual report exists in the form of a brief online survey with questions pertaining to basic costs in for-hire carriers by way of salaries for drivers, fuel charges, lease or purchase payments and premiums for insurance.

The ATRI reports that carriers of all sizes are welcomed to the take the survey and are needed to provide an accurate reflection of the trucking industry.

"Carriers of any size from owner-operators to very large fleets have always participated, and are urged to participate again,” said Daniel Murray, Vice President of Research at the ATRI. “Ideally we'd have response rates/sectors/fleet sizes that come close to reflecting the composition of the overall industry. The key however, is getting a large enough sample that we can create total and line-item cost metrics for the break-outs such as rates and the like.”

Upon receiving information for the most recent Operational Costs of Trucking survey, the ATRI reports that the data will be used alongside older survey data to produce nine years of information stemming from fleet operations.

The goal of the combined years of ATRI research is to provide carriers and government-based agencies with real-world data that may be used for improvement to United States infrastructure in the future.

Murray reports that a benefit one can find as a participant taking this survey is strengthening the accuracy and reliability of the data & results by increasing the overall data response numbers which allows for improved bench marking against peers.

Additionally, Murray reports that respondents will receive an advance copy of the report for their participation, with detailed information about operational costs in regards to real-time operating a truck.

Those interested in the survey can submit confidential cost data for operations to the ATRI survey by June 30, 2017. The survey is available at the ATRI website.