Ryder to offer female-friendly truck package for lease

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MIAMI, Fla. – Ryder System announced today that it will offer a female-friendly vehicle package for lease.

This offer is the first of its kind in the industry, and includes 15 unique specifications to better meet the needs of female drivers. It will also help many male drivers in the industry.

Options and features of the truck include adjusted height and placement on grab handles, hood lift/closure assistance and automatic landing gear operators for trailers.

“Ryder is one of the largest purchasers of heavy duty trucks in North America and has a great deal of visibility into the needs of the professional truck driver,” said Steve Schmotzer, region fleet manager, Paccar.  “There really is no one in a more suitable position to provide feedback on this issue to manufacturers than Ryder.  We are proud to support this initiative, which is critical to addressing a pressing industry need.”

Ryder believes that women may be the solution to the driver shortage which is expected to reach 239,000 by 2022. Currently, in the US, less than 5% of driver drivers are women.

“This custom truck package is not only more ergonomically friendly to women, but will also benefit other drivers with the same types of needs,” said Scott Perry, vice-president of supply management and global fuel products, Ryder.  “Our intent is to not only help attract more women to the industry, but also to make the vehicles easier and safer for a broader range of drivers to operate.  As an industry leader, we feel a responsibility to leverage our influence and find creative ways to deal with the professional truck driver shortage.”

Ellen Voie, president and CEO of Women in Trucking, who helped Ryder with the project, said: “Addressing driver comfort and truck cab design to accommodate the typically smaller stature of women is one of the issues where Women In Trucking Association is prompting changes. We are so pleased to see Ryder’s efforts in moving these ergonomic challenges into the forefront of the manufacturers’ design changes.”

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  • I think this is all well & good but if you don’t know that you’ve got these options, then what? Education, I believe, is the key to get more drivers. Why not have people go around to high schools? Talk to the kids. Commercials on TV. I didn’t even know I could be a trucker. It was meeting a lady that was a trucker where I considered it & if she didn’t believe in me I’d have never even tried. Women really hav come along way. So proud to be amonst them. Be safe

  • Imagine that, listening to the customer improves sales.

    Kudo’s for pointing that out, but why does it always take an immediate issue before these companies react. We would still be running the Stanley steamer if laws weren’t put in place to stop it.

    In this day and age designing a product to suit the customer should be the default position rather than “if we put this gadget on but leave everything else the same, will people buy more”.

    Maybe they should try building a truck that doesn’t have a 6 year shelf life.

  • Shannon, I have been saying the same thing for years ! Back in the 80’s I went to talk at the local college they had a program on non traditional trades for women and while I was waiting one of the instructors asked me if I was going to the class “I’m doing the talk on truck driving” I told them, “Oh you don’t look like a truck driver” The general public needs to be better educated about professional drivers.
    The truck papers would be a good place to get info out but they don’t go out of their way to promote the women that are in the industry.
    I spent 30+ years long hauling and met women drivers at almost every truck stop so why aren’t we seeing more about them in print ?
    If you run into the US the truck magazines do a lot better job of promoting women than our magazines do.
    Keep safe.