City equips garbage trucks, sweepers with GPS equipment

Kalispell has equipped its garbage trucks with GPS technology that should help make the routes more efficient and help the city give real-time feedback to residents who have questions about when the trucks might arrive.

As time goes on, the city plans to equip all of their street sweepers, snowplows and sewer cleaning trucks for about 30 tracked vehicles in total. The technology costs about $25 per truck, per month, said Gene Corne, road fleet superintendent in the Kalispell Public Works Department.

The technology is similar to that used by the county and state, and is used in many municipalities across the nation, said Public Works Director Susie Turner. It is something the city had been eyeing for a while, but they were waiting for technology to develop to the point that the price dropped.

“You get the opportunity where technology advances where you can implement some of these things at more reasonable costs,” said City Manager Doug Russell.

As of now, 17 of the city’s vehicles are equipped out of a total 30 they plan to equip in the coming year, so long as they get a budget allocation for it, Turner said.

It allows Turner and other city staff to pull up a map that shows a vehicle’s location. Turner said that they frequently field calls from residents asking why their trash wasn’t picked up at the normal time or wondering when the plow might come by their house. This allows the city to answer the questions quickly and with accuracy.

Previously, administrative staff receiving those calls would have had to take a phone number and call someone else in the department who could try to get the information, and getting an answer could take a while.

The technology also takes data on how fast trucks are traveling. If someone calls City Hall to report a speeding truck, they can check the accuracy of the claim and take action accordingly. Corne said oftentimes people think garbage trucks are speeding but it just appears they are going faster because of their size.

When new buildings come online and the city has to figure out which route drivers should pick up the trash, this will also help them figure out the most efficient way to incorporate those stops, Corne said.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.