Research was revealed at a Clocs progress event last week detailing the ‘types of ground’ that urban construction and waste vehicles are expected to work on.
The longer-term aim of the research is to ensure operators pick the right truck for the job and don't over-spec.
Glen Davies, Clocs programme manager at TfL, told delegates that many urban trucks spend 99% of their time on the road, with only a fraction of time spent off-road, yet vehicle spec. priority does not always reflect this.
He added that a recent survey of operators revealed that 34% of those that run off-road vehicles don't ever experience extreme off-road conditions. Shockingly, it was claimed 47% do not even know the difference between an on-road and an off-road vehicle.
“There is a question there?” he said, “Why are you buying them? I know exactly why...it's salesman driven and it's driver preference. So the managers and the people in the buying positions are not actually looking at the operation they are expected to carry out.”
He also urged more work to be done on urban construction and landfill sites to improve the ground conditions for vehicles delivering and collecting from them.
Advancements in quarrying already mean HGVs are not expected to carry out extreme work at the other end of the supply chain, Davies added, with specialist plant machinery in place to fulfil such an operation.
“Is there a way we can mimic [these quarrying improvements] in an urban environment? Why are we expecting these vehicles to do extreme off-road activity when they are designed to be running in highly congested, urban streets?” Davies asked.
He believed it was essential to better inform the marketplace of the best vehicle for a particular operation and ensure people know what they are buying.
The research is being conducted by Aecom, which recently won the concession to roll out TfL's Fors scheme nationally.