Podcast: How Evan Shelley is Helping Solve The Truck Parking Crisis

In this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, host Brent Hutto is joined by Evan Shelley, Co-Founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club, a company committed to helping to provide parking for truckers by monetizing vacant properties for landowners. He joins Brent to delve into the truck parking crisis—and how he is working to solve it.

From Real Estate to Trucking

Evan’s trucking journey began in an unusual way—via the real estate industry. He was working on commercial and industrial land deals where he would look for land that could be the site for warehouses, and then he would sell to a developer who would then build. But he found himself with a property that didn’t work out, so he looked for an alternative plan.

“I was speaking with fellow investors and just trying to figure out what I was gonna do with the property. And I spoke with someone and they mentioned that there was a huge demand for truck parking and that there wasn’t enough of it, and they’re like, that location looks like it’d be perfect. So I went to the municipality and they told me that they didn’t want truck parking there. They wouldn’t support it.”

Evan Shelley, CEO of the Truck Parking Club

The situation led Evan to talk to truckers, and others in the industry, about parking, to determine how bad the situation really was. He could clearly see there was a crisis, and nobody was doing anything to solve it, so he took it upon himself, co-founding Truck Parking Club in 2022. His idea combined the power of technology with information about existing parking spaces and allowed a trucker to find and book parking in real time.

A Year of Truck Parking Club

One year into the game, the company now consists of a team of eight, all of whom are dedicated to solving the truck parking crisis. However, as with all businesses, they have faced some challenges. Evan explains that he created the first iteration of the product for bookings as a non-technical guy. This meant he just created the bare minimum.

He learned quickly that technology doesn’t always work perfectly. Evan explains that he launched the product early which meant it was incomplete. However, seeing how the iterations worked out in the market was a useful experience, and he truly believes it to have been his best decision. 

He worked hard to create a product that any owner-operators could use to book parking through an app without having to call someone, get assistance, or broker a deal. He wanted to empower drivers with a full-service platform that would provide value for fleets of all sizes.

“We now have a product that we believe any driver can get it in their hands, and they can use it. And now, for us, it is continuing to provide value to them while continuing to add more properties and have more happy customers and continue to go up market, and now we have very large carriers using us as well.” 

Solving Problems for Truckers

To make sure the Truck Parking Club app truly solves the problem it needs to, Evan and his team think about the “What.”

“What does the trucker need? And they need to be able to find parking efficiently. They need to be able to have a product where they can book it efficiently. They need to have a customer experience where they don’t get frustrated with finding parking. This needs to be the fastest and easiest part of their day.”

The team has designed the process to take as few clicks as possible and to be as seamless as possible. When issues and bugs arise, they have a 24/7 customer helpline to pitch in, maintaining a positive experience for all. As simple as it seems, that is all it has come down to.

To find out more about how Evan is connecting drivers to parking spots in real time, tune into this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.