Limited visibility into City assets created gaps in utilization and efficiency

St. Petersburg is a city on Florida's gulf coast, part of the Tampa Bay area. Nicknamed "the Sunshine City," St. Petersburg is home to more than 265,000 people, making it the fifth largest city in the state. 

As a government agency, the City of St. Petersburg's top priority is serving the public. One way the City does this is by maximizing the use of City assets and equipment. However, the agency lacked the tools they needed to get real-time tracking and utilization data. "My department oversees almost 5,000 assets, everything from chainsaws to fire trucks," said TK Kapous, Fleet Information Systems Coordinator. "We had limited data on where our equipment was or how it was being used, which meant we weren't using it as efficiently as we could be."

The City needed a solution that provided more advanced features, such as better mapping and diagnostics, to help optimize asset use, reduce costs, and improve service delivery.

A comprehensive solution for real-time vehicle telematics and asset tracking data

After evaluating several providers, the City selected Samsara due to its range of capabilities. "We talked to other vendors and realized that they had some features, like location tracking, but were missing other important pieces," Kapous said. "Samsara ticked all of the boxes and offered all of the features we needed. It was a clear choice." The City did a phased implementation of Samsara Vehicle Gateways, calling in assets for a fast, seamless installation process that was easy to scale across 10 City departments, including Parks and Recreation, Pavement and Traffic Operations, Water Resources, and Sanitation. 

Moreover, because Samsara is a Ford Pro Data Services authorized provider, the City was able to easily integrate the telematics from their Ford vehicles with the platform. As an authorized provider, Samsara has direct integration with Ford Pro Data Services to deliver quality commercial-grade data to customers from their Ford commercial vehicles. "Initially, I was worried about how our Ford vehicles would work with Samsara, but the integration is seamless," Kapous said.  "We get the convenience of pre-installed Ford Pro devices, and we're able to activate them in the Samsara platform within minutes, which saves us hours of administrative time. The ability to see telematics data from across our fleet in one central Samsara dashboard has significantly improved how efficient we can be."  

In addition, the City is using Samsara Asset Tag to track critical equipment, such as generators and pumps. "A generator may be stored in a parking lot for months, but with Asset Tag, we can locate it quickly in the aftermath of an emergency, like a hurricane," said Kapous. "Asset Tag enables us to better utilize our equipment and help ensure we’re getting the most out of public funds." 

Samsara enables City departments to deliver better service faster and more efficiently

Samsara has become an essential tool for the City, driving a range of benefits across the departments that have adopted the platform, including a 23% decrease in harsh driving events, and an 11% decrease in speeding events. Samsara has also helped drive better service for the public as well as greater visibility and efficiency for the City. "Before Samsara, we were using pen and paper notes over the radio to dispatch crews,” Kapous said. “Now, if a unit breaks down on the road, we can use Samsara to find its exact location within minutes and get a crew out to fix it. With Samsara, we can serve our residents much more effectively.” 

Samsara Vehicle Gateways and Asset Tag have also enabled the City to save significant amounts of time locating vehicles and equipment. “Previously, we would have to rely on departments to remember the last known location of an asset, and we could spend days looking for it,” said Kapous. “With Samsara, we can find assets within seconds, which means our teams can be more productive.” 

Moreover, Samsara is enabling the City to mitigate equipment theft and help ensure a quick recovery. “During an emergency like a hurricane, public demand is high and sometimes generators and other critical equipment can go missing,” said Kapous. “Samsara helps us locate equipment and recover it quickly, which means we provide better service and don’t have to spend public funds on replacements.”