Imagine being on the road for hours, running against the clock to meet deadlines, only to spend another hour just looking for a place to park. For truckers, this isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s an everyday challenge that costs time, money, and sometimes even safety.
However, the Truck Parking Club is looking to solve it. The master behind it? Evan Shelley, a real estate entrepreneur who saw an opportunity to solve this crisis. Think of it as the Airbnb of truck parking (a marketplace connecting truckers with property owners who have extra space).
In a recent episode of the Auto Transport Co-Pilot podcast, host Bek Abdullayev sat down with Evan Shelley to discuss how his innovative platform is tackling one of the trucking industry’s most pressing issues. From his background in real estate to launching a scalable tech solution, Evan shares the journey of Truck Parking Club and how it’s transforming the way truckers find parking.
Understanding the Truck Parking Crisis
For most of us, truck parking seems like a non-issue. We see rest stops and truck stops along highways and assume there’s plenty of space. But the reality is quite different:
- There’s only 1 parking space available for every 11 trucks
- Truckers spend an average of 56 minutes per day searching for parking
- This leads to billions of dollars in wasted time and fuel every year
The problem derives from the fact that building new parking infrastructure is expensive and difficult. Large truck stops cost tens of millions of dollars to develop, making the return on investment hard to justify.
Traditionally, taxpayer-funded rest areas and weigh stations provided truckers with options. However, as demand has skyrocketed, supply has failed to keep up.
The Truck Parking Club Solution
Rather than building more parking lots, Truck Parking Club takes an Airbnb-style approach. The platform connects truckers with property owners who have extra space, such as:
- Trucking companies with additional yard space
- Tow truck companies
- Truck repair shops
- Warehouses
- CDL schools
These property owners, called Property Members, can monetize their extra space, while Trucker Members can easily find and reserve parking through the app. The process is streamlined with:
- 24/7 customer service
- Seamless in-app payments
- Automated billing and payouts
- Real-time availability updated
Evan describes it as a scalable, tech-driven way to unlock hidden parking capacity across the country, making life easier for truckers.
How it Works
Truckers can use Truck Parking Club to book a space in a matter of minutes:
- Browse available locations across the US
- View details like aerial photos, amenities, reviews, and pricing
- Select a booking duration, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly
- Confirm the reservation and receive detailed instructions
- Easily extend bookings or share details with dispatchers
Truck Parking Club also supports fleet managers and dispatchers, allowing them to book and assign spaces for their drivers remotely.
Cost & Affordability
Pricing varies by location. In the Midwest, truckers might pay $10 to $20 per day, while in high-demand regions like California or the Northeast, prices can exceed $40 per day. In extreme cases, some truckers have reported paying over $100 per day for parking.
The platform ensures pricing remains competitive and market-driven as truckers pay for convenience and guaranteed availability rather than gambling on finding a free spot.
Where Truck Parking Is Headed?
Evan envisions a future where finding a truck parking spot is as easy as booking a hotel room. In the next 5 to 10 years, he expects significant advancements in:
- Automated parking solutions, using gate systems and cameras to streamline check-ins
- Dynamic pricing models based on demand
- Expanded coverage, adding new locations daily to ensure truckers always have options
Despite technological improvements, Evan highlights that the core mission remains simple: helping truckers save time and fuel by efficiently finding and reserving parking.
What started as a real estate project quickly turned into a game-changing tech platform for truckers. Truck Parking Club is more than just a parking app; it’s a solution to an industry-wide crisis. With 7-8 new locations added daily and thousands of bookings every month, Truck Parking Club is proving that technology and logistics can work hand in hand to solve real-world problems.
Evan’s Background
Evan Shelley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club, an innovative marketplace solving the long-standing truck parking crisis. With a background in real estate and commercial land deals, Evan discovered the severe truck parking shortage in 2021 while working on an industrial property development in Florida. Drawing from his real estate expertise, he launched Truck Parking Club in 2022 as an innovative marketplace solution to address the national truck parking crisis.
Under his leadership, the company has grown to offer over 1300 parking spaces, adding 7-8 new locations daily. Evan took a lean startup approach, building the initial MVP himself despite his limited technical background, and has since evolved the platform into a comprehensive solution that includes features like 24/7 customer service, automated payments, and organization management tools.
Evan Shelley on LinkedIn.
Truck Parking Club Website.
Watch the episode here.
