Diamond Coach and BigRoad
Diamond Coach is an entirely different kind of fleet. While other fleet companies are busy hauling product and raw materials across America, Diamond Coach is transporting celebrity performers – the who’s who of country music, including Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts among other stars – in luxury and style as they tour the country.
The Epitome of Luxury
Diamond Coach’s fleet of 54 Prevost entertainer coaches offers the epitome of luxury. Lush interiors include celebrity-ready features including heated floors, glass countertops, custom-built Villa furniture, Creston Electronics and top grade fabrics and accessories, providing the company’s clients with the ideal home away from home while on the road.
Beyond the glamorous fittings it provides, Diamond Coach also offers its clients the highest quality driving assistance, ensuring music’s greatest stars arrive at their destination (and in front of their fans) safely and always on time.
“The artists we serve are mainly music acts who are touring the country,” explains Sarah Beth Imperi, Diamond Coach’s Director of Safety. “The media’s eye is always on these people, and it is crucial that they are transported safely and never disappoint their fans. Our drivers need to be well rested at all times so they are at the top of their game. We also need to be very attentive to compliance, and have our records in order at all times, because the FMCSA is really starting to crack down on companies in our particular corner of the transportation industry.”
Life Before Electronic Logs
Prior to discovering the BigRoad Mobile App for electronic logs, the Diamond Coach team, like many other fleets, managed its compliance through a mish mash of paper logs and other electronic logs used by drivers. “Everything was always printed out and put into a folder,” says Sarah Beth. “The amount of space that paper took up and the amount of time it took for someone to sift through that paper looking for log violations was astronomical. It could take someone days to do log auditing, and with all that black and white grid space, a person could barely keep his or her eyes straight. There was always the potential for missed violations.”
Sarah Beth adds that the transportation company also struggled to keep up with all of the changes in regulations and laws impacting drivers, buses, IFTAs, MVRs. “It was just too much for one person to get done, and get done well in five days,” she admits.
Getting Onboard with BigRoad
Realizing that it needed a better solution, Diamond Coach had been looking into different electronic logging systems, and had turned to the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC) for their advice. NASTC recommended the Diamond Coach team look at the BigRoad Mobile App as it offered the most user-friendly interface on the market today. The company began using BigRoad shortly after.
Initially, some of the company’s older drivers were resistant to the change. “They weren’t sure they wanted to learn something new, and were worried it would take too much time,” says Sarah Beth. To counter any objections, she set all drivers up on the app, and allowed them to use their traditional logging methods in parallel as they got the hang of using BigRoad. This process of easing folks into the BigRoad Mobile App helped drivers feel comfortable and secure about getting pulled over. It gave them the time they needed to overcome their fear of the app, and the confidence that they were entering information correctly and would not get in trouble.
“There was a definite learning curve for our drivers, and for me, and I still feel like we’re learning something new every day—especially with respect to reporting—but I have to say our drivers love the BigRoad app now,” says Sarah Beth.
The Easiest Way to Create Compliant Logs
BigRoad has helped Diamond Coach solve the problem of log audit inconsistency and it’s given Sarah Beth back hours in her workweek, previously devoted to the manual auditing effort. “That in itself is worth every penny,” she says.
Sarah Beth celebrates the fact that electronic logs are now becoming more accepted by the industry, and have the FMCSA’s support. “Electronic logs are going to keep drivers much more honest about their hours of service. I also think it’s going to create a need for more co-drivers, which in turn will create more jobs for drivers and keep everyone on the road safer,” she says. She’s really excited about BigRoad’s plans to introduce an automatic on board recording device (AOBRD) in the near future. “I can’t wait until we have BigRoad tied with the coach itself,” says Sarah Beth.