Primary and Secondary Cycles

Hours of service (HOS) cycles are critical for ensuring driver safety and regulatory compliance in the US and Canada. Motive helps fleets manage these cycles efficiently, supporting a wide range of rules to fit any operation type.

Overview

HOS cycles set limits on how much time drivers can spend on duty over a rolling period, helping to prevent fatigue and maintain compliance with federal and provincial regulations. Key features include:

• Comprehensive coverage: Supports US federal, state-specific, and Canadian cycles
• Flexible cycle management: Easily assign and switch between cycles for cross-border or special operations
• Admin and driver control: Configure and update cycles in both the Fleet Dashboard and Driver App
• Automatic compliance: Automatic cycle switching for seamless border crossings

Basics

HOS cycles, mandated by agencies like FMCSA (US) and Transport Canada (Canada), are rules that limit the total on-duty hours a driver can accumulate over a rolling period (such as 7 or 8 days). Their purpose is to prevent driver fatigue by ensuring regular periods of rest, with different rules based on country, region, and operation type.

Motive supports the following primary HOS exceptions:

• US federal: 70 hours in 8 days, 60 hours in 7 days, and short haul exceptions.
• US state-specific: Alaska (70hr/7day, 80hr/8day), California (80hr/8day), Florida (70hr/7day, 80hr/8day), Texas (70hr/7day).
• Canada south: 70 hours in 7 days, 120 hours in 14 days, oil and gas exceptions.
• Canada north: 80 hours in 7 days, 120 hours in 14 days.
• Canada provincial: Alberta provincial.

Motive also supports special rules for oilfield operations and separate cycles for property- and passenger-carrying vehicles, where applicable.

Rolling cycle clocks: Each day the system looks back over the specified period (e.g., past 7 or 8 days) to calculate total on-duty hours.

Resets: Drivers can restart their cycle clock. In the US, a 34-hour off-duty period is required. In Canada South, a minimum of 24 consecutive hours off-duty is needed for a reset.

It’s important to select the correct cycle to match your business’s operating region and type.

Primary and secondary cycles

Motive lets fleets assign both a primary and a secondary HOS cycle to each driver, providing flexibility for cross-border or multi-jurisdictional operations.

Primary cycle: The main HOS rule assigned to a driver, used for most operations.

Secondary cycle: An alternative HOS rule, which drivers can switch to as needed.

Common uses:

• Drivers who regularly cross between the US and Canada.
• Operations switching between standard and oilfield rules.
• Fleets with mixed property and passenger vehicles.

Assigning dual cycles ensures compliance wherever your drivers operate.

Assigning cycles

For fleet admins

1. Set a default cycle for the company:

• In the Fleet Dashboard, go to Admin > Compliance > Default Log Settings.

• Select the default cycle for all new drivers.

  

2. Assign & edit individual driver cycles:

• In the Fleet Dashboard, go to Admin > Drivers.
• Click a driver’s name to open their profile.

• Set or update their primary and secondary cycles.

  

3. Control driver permissions:

• In the Fleet Dashboard, go to Admin > Driver App > Settings.

  

• Enable or disable drivers to edit their account and log settings as needed.

  

4. View assigned cycles:

• Each driver's profile displays their current primary and secondary cycles. When a driver has both cycles configured, their HOS clocks for both cycles are also visible directly on the Driver Summary and Driver Live pages in Fleet View, so you don't need to open the driver's profile to check the secondary cycle.

For drivers

1. Open the Motive Driver App.
2. Go to Settings > Cycles.
3. Select or change your assigned cycle(s) (if permitted by your fleet admin).

Viewing both cycles on the Fleet Dashboard

Fleet users can now see both a driver's primary and secondary HOS cycles directly from the Fleet Dashboard, without opening the Driver App.

• Driver Summary: When a driver has both a primary and secondary cycle configured, the HOS card shows two separate cards, HOS: Primary cycle and HOS: Secondary cycle. Cycle rule names are shortened so they stay readable (for example, Canada S 70/7 Cycle 1 instead of the full rule name).
• Driver Live: In the Fleet View > Live, for a selected driver, a second HOS card appears below the existing HOS card, using the same familiar layout.
• Both pages show the following information:
  • The cycle currently applied to the driver shows an Active label.
  • If a driver has only one cycle configured, the Dashboard shows a single widget labeled HOS Cycle, with no primary or secondary terminology added.
  • If a driver's active cycle is Other, the Dashboard shows a message that HOS clocks are not available for Other and displays the regulated cycle for planning if one is configured. If Other is the only configured cycle, the HOS card is hidden entirely.

Switching cycles

Manual switching & regulatory requirements

• In Canada, drivers must have the required off-duty time (e.g., 24 consecutive hours for a cycle 1 reset) before switching.

Steps to manually switch cycles:

1. In the Driver App, open your log detail screen.
2. Tap the three-dot menu.
3. Select Cycle Rule.
4. Switch between the Primary or Secondary cycle.

Automatic border crossing switch

Motive can automatically switch a driver’s HOS cycle when crossing the US/Canada border. This feature is available when the following conditions are met:

• The driver has a US cycle set as primary and a Canadian cycle as secondary, or vice versa
• The app will immediately recalculate available on-duty hours based on the new rules after the switch.

The active cycle will be visible in the HOS Recap, Log PDF, and on the Fleet Dashboard driver profile page.

FAQs

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