Email

By Greg Bartlett

The mayor of North Providence, Rhode Island is passing laws to incorporate GPS technology into the everyday life of their city. Mayor Lombardi began by placing GPS tracking systems on 14 public works vehicles. The small town is also using GPS tracking systems to make their dump trucks more efficient, decreasing the number of needed dump truck workers from 30 to 23.

Mayor Lombardi believes that this change will save the town money, in spite of the monthly service fee on each real time GPS tracking device. Using their new GPS tracking systems, the city of North Providence can increase their production and cut down on wasted time and vehicle misuse, all of which will save the town money.

Citizens of North Providence are not all on board with this change, however. Many believe that a switch to GPS tracking systems should be across the board for every city owned vehicle, including the mayor’s car and that of the city Chief of Police. Some of the citizens feel that all of the city officials and employees should be monitored if any of them are in order to have fairness across the board and to make sure that all city employees use their time and vehicles properly.

Regardless of how many vehicles are tracked, real time GPS tracking systems will point out any area of inefficiency and help city governments as well as businesses operate their vehicles in the most beneficial and cost effective way.