How do I tell my device I am operating a commercial vehicle?

[Danijela]

I just got a TomTom for Christmas from my son and I would like to use it with my commercial vehicle in NY state. We are not allowed to drive our commercial vehicles on designated parkways. I cannot find how to tell the TomTom that I am using a commercial vehicle. Can someone help me please?

 

[dhn]

TomTom sells a commercial product for truck fleets. (See here ) but it isn't that common and really isn't a solution for you.

You don't mention the model you have (higher end models have more options) but under planning preferences there is 'Always Avoid Freeways', which may help as might 'Always Plan for Limited Speeds' (and then you enter the max speed of the road to select).

Also, once a route is planned, you can review it and if it selects a road you don't like, you can choose 'Choose Alternate' and select 'Avoid Part of Route' and designate on the map (zoom out helps) the roads to avoid.

Some thoughts, anyway..............

 

[Danijela]

Looks like what got is a TomTom XL 340

That sounds like a lot of work which you describe - I would have to remember to look at the details of every route I make and tell it to use alternate routes anytime it picks a parkway? I don't think I can handle that.

What about is there a way to tell this device to just never use certain roads, and then at least I can lookup the restricted parkways and and tell the device to avoid them and never use them when calculating routes?

Thanks.

 

[dhn]

Using mapshare, you can block roads you never want to be routed on. But don't share the blocking change with others when asked. Then you'll never be routed along those roads.

 

[SamAustin]

Truck routes

Same problem here. My son also got me a TomTom XL IQ routes and my problem here as a class 1 heavy vehicle driver is it will take me on prohibited routes and I can't afford to take the time to figure out what road not to take and then tell the Tom Tom in order for it to tell it back to me again. Are there any dedicated truck route maps for this version?

I have looked at the Rand-McMally trucker's model. What are the other commercial driver's using?

Sam Austin

 

[dhn]

Look here for a Garmin meant for trucks

For a tomtom user, you can set planning preferences to 'avoid highways' or 'drive at minimum speed' and then set the speed. This should avoid certain highways when a route is planned.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

The only mainstream GPS unit I ever had that had any ability to handle this was my Garmin StreetPilot c550. You could tell it you were driving a truck and it would avoid parkways in NY. It would also avoid the Garden State Parkway in NJ, which was inappropriate in my case. Incidentally, Garmin support indicates that the truck setting is supposed to do exactly the opposite of this, and actually prefer "highways", but in NY it seems to work as I described.

Part of the problem is that vehicle definitions and roadway restrictions vary by jurisdiction. For example, in NYC a truck is defined as a vehicle having more than two axles or more than 4 wheels, and commercial vehicles are a different classification; but in NJ a truck is typically defined as a vehicle with a registered weight exceeding 3.5 tons.

I spent several hours one day (quite a while ago) using Map Share to edit my maps to prevent routing on Parkways in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. I basically blocked travel in both directions on these roads. It's tedious work, since you have to do this for every road segment - there is no way to select the entire road at once for this type of change. Also, if you're doing this for more than one device, you have to do it on each device separately, since the maps are keyed to each device.

I just found out earlier today that ALK has a standalone navigation device in their PC Miler product line, which incorporates roadway restrictions for commercial vehicles. Device pricing seems comparable to TomTom, but I have no idea about the pricing for updates of live services. I looked at their products a few years ago when it was software only (they required a PDA or smart phone), and they told me that for my needs (a commercial vehicle registered at under 3.5 tons), their truck-specific products were overkill. You might want to give them a call and see how their current products can be applied for your situation.

I rarely have to travel into NYC, so the restrictions you speak of don't affect me much, but I do sympathize, as I have had to deal with this myself.