The folks behind the Trucker Path app annually take hundreds of thousands of app user-generated ratings and comments and put together a list of the Top 100 truck stops around the nation. The company shared with me a bevy of comments app users had made about those Top 100 stops. A picture of excellence emerges from the accolades heaped on favorites, and more stops around the nation should take heed.
It could mean success or failure in their efforts to effectively support OTR operators. And stay in business, as it were. Over-the-road owners and drivers spend thousands annually at truck stops. Paying respect by going above and beyond basic necessities and showing appreciation in other ways … well, that’s sure to win any stop customers for life.
Most fundamental to the collection of user commentary is perhaps the most fundamental thing any truck stop needs. The top reasons drivers choose a truck stop listed below are the necessities, essentially:
Getting repeat business is all about the niceties. Providing both parking and amenities makes for a top 100 truck stop experience. Parking characteristics happen to be both the top reason drivers stop at a particular truck stop and the top reason they return, according to Trucker Path's survey of users. Beyond availability, truckers want spaces that are simple to to get into.
App user @Precise gave Bert’s Travel Plaza in Wellsville, Kansas (ranking No. 4) kudos for “parking spaces with a lot of room to maneuver.”
Surface matters, too. Commenting about Kwik Star #303 in Brooklyn, Iowa (No. 13), @CatMomDriver flagged its “great parking lot. Lots of room to maneuver. Lots of parking spots. The pavement is in great condition and will not eat your tires.”
