What has the Mobility Package changed in the Tachogram system?
As you may know, the Mobility Package was adopted by the European Council earlier this year. It was introduced to clarify some points in the previous work and rest time regulations as well as further improve drivers' work conditions.
Our team has spent the last few months on implementing the necessary Mobility Package changes in the Tachogram system. As usually with regulation, reading and understanding it as a document is just the beginning. The tough part comes when you have to interpret the regulation with the real-world data and situations the drivers may face on the road.
This blog post will provide you with a short guide on the changes we’ve implemented in the system. We’ll also do a follow-up series of blogs to discuss the changes in more detail with graphical explanations on how the regulation applies to specific situations.
Changes in the Tachogram system
Before we start with the actual changes in the driving and rest times, there's one important note to be made. The Mobility package regulations introduce the terms of company and driver home countries. Due to this, we had to implement changes in Tachogram settings. We already did have the home country of the company which is used for settings in the reports section. With the Mobility Package coming into force, we also had to add an option to set a home country for a driver, as it might differ from the company’s one.
https://youtu.be/rF1ZU52LSZ0
So far we’ve discussed the changes in the Tachogram system. Now let’s take a look at what has changed in regulation regarding work and rest times.
Changes in driving and rest time rules
1. Crew driving
A very simple clarification that availability status in crew driving can be considered as rest in case no work or assistance to the driver is being done. This interpretation was already working in Tachogram so no changes were done in this case.
2. Weekly rests on trains or ferries
With the Mobility Package entering into force, you can spend a reduced weekly rest on a ferry just like you did before with the daily rest. Regular weekly rest on a train or a ferry may also be taken, if the time spent on the train or ferry is at least eight hours. Overall, this seems to be a positive change for drivers, but it also introduces new ambiguities, which we will discuss in the following articles of the Mobility Package blog series. See here.
3. Taking two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods
Those familiar with the existing regulations might argue that it was possible to take two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods before the Mobility Package was introduced and they are right. We believe that this change adds more confusion and makes matters worse for understanding the regulation and planning working time. Either way the Tachogram system now fully supports the Mobility Package changes and handles all the data according to the regulation. See here.
4. Possibility to extend the driving time when returning to the employer's operational centre or the driver's place of residence
If the driver is returning to the employer’s operational centre or his place of residence and intends to start a reduced or regular weekly rest period, it is permitted, if necessary, to extend the driving time by one or two hours respectively, subject to additional rest requirements before the second additional hour is used. There are also some interesting nuances here, which we will expand on in a separate article. See here.
We hope this article has cleared up the changes in the Tachogram system as well as regulation in regards to the Mobility Package. If you’re not yet using Tachogram and would like to find out more about how the system can help your company stay compliant with regulation and make fleet data management easier, try it out yourself by starting a 14-day free trial.
