Help Inc. Says PrePass Enrollment Tops 485,000

SAN DIEGO — Enrollment in the PrePass weigh-station bypass program has surpassed 485,000 trucks operated by 39,500 fleets, the provider of the service said at an Oct. 5 press conference here at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.

“We’re seeing a lot of companies signing up for PrePass, by and large because of the time savings it provides their drivers and their companies,” said Karen Rasmussen, CEO of Help Inc., the nonprofit partnership that offers the service.

She also said Help Inc. plans to add its PrePass service at several new sites in the coming months, including locations in Delaware, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming. New PrePass sites in Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma are in the final implementation stages and will be available soon.

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PrePass enables participating transponder-equipped trucks to be pre-screened at designated weigh stations and port-of-entry facilities. The service is currently available at 310 sites throughout the country.

Jim Burg, CEO of James Burg Trucking in Warren, Michigan, and a Help Inc. executive committee member, estimated that the PrePass service saves his company $5 to $7 for each successful bypass.

“With the increased restrictions that we have with hours of service, half-hour breaks and such, we need every minute we can get,” Burg said. “This certainly helps our drivers to be more flexible and helps our company be more efficient and meet deadlines by not getting queued up multiple times per day.”