There really is not a truck parking shortage at 7 am. Due to a project, I have been working on I have been driving nights in order to escape traffic. There is not so amazingly a plethora of truck parking to be had in the early morning hours. In fact, I have found as early as 4 am truck stop parking is readily available.
With the parking shortage, it makes me curious about how many other drivers such as myself can switch to night versus day shift. The other thing I noticed is how many trucks are still occupying the truck stop from eight to nine o’clock in the morning compared to how it was in the past. Can this be a combination of the fourteen-hour rule combined with the ELD that is spreading the trucks out due to the fact that not every truck can load or unload at the same time. This would also mean that every truck would not park at the same time.
I have talked to some restaurant managers at the truck stops and they have discussed with me that it has been different on how they need to schedule their help due to the ELD mandate. This has changed the morning into not as much as a rush as it was in the past. In the end, I would encourage anyone that can to try on the night shift to see how it fits. The parking is abundant.