Charleston, W. Va. – The Justice Administration is continually working to bring efficiencies to the management of West Virginia’s state vehicles. Recently, the Fleet Management Division (FMD) worked with the West Virginia Legislature to accurately identify the number of vehicles owned by state agencies. Now that the inventory questions have been addressed, the Fleet Management Division has turned its focus to utilization and reducing the number of underutilized state vehicles.
In May 2021, the FMD introduced the Agile’s FleetCommander Kiosk System. The FleetCommander system is a platform that allows the state to share vehicles across agencies. This single centralized motor pool approach brings additional savings and efficiencies to the state’s fleet.
The kiosk is located at the state’s Capitol Complex, where agencies can pick up their reserved vehicle(s) without hassle. Reservations can be made in advance using the FleetCommander online reservation system through any web browser, or at the kiosk itself. Once a user has set up his or her profile, a vehicle reservation may be made for short- and/or long-term rentals. There are no additional charges for mileage and fueling is included in the rental rates.
The goal of the Capitol Complex Motor Pool is to reduce the number of individual agencies with their own state vehicle pools and the time and cost required to administer those motor pools. Providing a platform that reduces the administrative duties of managing a car sharing program while improving the vehicle reservation process for state agencies and ensuring greater availability is a win-win for everyone,” FMD Director Kenny Yoakum said. “We believe these are cost-effective undertakings that will promote the state’s strategic goals and objectives, all while saving taxpayer dollars in the process. Over time, the Capitol Complex Motor Pool should reduce the number of individual agency-operated vehicle pools, saving the agencies and ultimately the taxpayers money.”
In addition to facilitating online reservations, the FleetCommander Kiosk System will eliminate the agencies’ arduous manual and paper processes for the management of individual agency pool vehicles, collect vehicle-usage data needed to identify underutilized vehicles, adjust vehicle types needed by drivers, aid in right-sizing the fleet, enforce state fleet policies, rotate vehicles based on mileage to evenly spread usage, and bring savings and efficiencies to the agencies and department that opt to join the motor pool. These factors, along with FMD’s role in vehicle reassignments, reductions, and composition changes will further promote the goal to reduce fleet costs and optimize the use of existing vehicles.
Director Yoakum said he is hopeful that the Capitol Complex Motor Pool will be the first of many. As the program progresses, he said additional kiosks could be implemented around the state for those locations that have multiple underutilized vehicles. “The beauty of the program is that FleetCommander offers a platform for agencies to share and be aware of the availability of current assets before spending additional dollars to rent from a third party or lease a vehicle,” Yoakum shared.
Often overlooked metrics that affect an organization’s bottom line include the use of outside rental vehicles and personal vehicles to perform the organization’s mission. Additionally, costs for underutilized vehicles such as parking, insurance, maintenance, depreciation, etc., add to an agency’s fleet finances.
“We look forward to automating our motor pool, reducing the number of underutilized vehicles and maximizing the utilization of current inventory,” Yoakum said.
The Fleet Management Division celebrated the new kiosk with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, July 15, 2021, at the Capitol Complex. The event was attended by Deputy Chief of Staff Ann Urling, Cabinet Secretary Allan McVey, Fleet Director Kenny Yoakum, and others.
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About the Fleet Management Division
West Virginia’s fleet currently has 10,500 licensed motorized and non-motorized vehicles. The West Virginia Fleet Management Division (FMD) oversees those state vehicles with a classification of one ton and under. FMD furnishes fleet management tools and programs to agencies to manage their state vehicles. Besides maintenance and fueling services, FMD also provides the state agencies with a defensive driving program, telematics, and vehicle leasing program. FMD’s mission is to provide safe, efficient, and reliable fleet services in the most cost-effective manner possible; to be enablers for state spending units by providing exceptional fleet service; and to promote teamwork to accomplish the state’s strategic goals and objectives.