Live from Connect 2026, host Marc Canton sits down with Luke Conway, Fleet Director for Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County in Indianapolis, to unpack one of the most unusual fleets ever featured on the fleet podcast. Luke’s organization brings together a county hospital, county EMS, county public health, and a newly sanctioned 60-officer police department, with about 450 assets ranging from chainsaws and lawnmowers to Class 8 dump trucks and 40-foot RVs converted into mobile clinics.
Nearly three years ago, Luke was hired as a fleet department of one and asked to bring four divisions that had always run on their own into a single, functional fleet operation. He and Marc walk through what that looks like in real life: moving from pen and paper to an FMIS, rolling out corporate-wide telematics, assigning fuel cards to vehicles instead of drivers, building a driver safety framework with 1,300 drivers (60% of whom use their own vehicles), and moving beyond an unwritten 10-year, 100,000-mile replacement rule. Marc also shares the three questions RTA asks in every fleet centralization study and why the FMIS has to be the single source of truth for every other fleet system.
Key Takeaways
- How Luke went from school bus mechanic to fleet director
- Why the fleet hit about 90% availability even when every record was on paper
- Why they chose not to import old paper records into their new FMIS
- Moving fuel cards from drivers to vehicles, and why it matters
- Telematics as a utilization tracker and safety tool for a self-insured organization
- What happens when 60% of your drivers use their own vehicles
- Why a 10-year, 100,000-mile replacement rule doesn’t work for every asset class
- The three questions RTA asks in every fleet centralization study
- Why your FMIS should be the single source of truth for fuel, telematics, and everything else
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Speaker Bios
Marc Canton
Marc Canton is VP of Fleet Strategy at RTA and host of The Fleet Success Show. A former transportation director with more than 20 years of experience, he helps public fleets with centralization, replacement, and cost strategy.
Luke Conway
Luke Conway is Fleet Director for Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County in Indianapolis, where he is centralizing a 450-asset fleet that serves a county hospital, EMS, public health, and police. He previously spent 17 years in school bus fleet operations, rising from mechanic to garage supervisor.
Additional Resources
Looking to take the first (or next) step in your fleet career journey? Start by requesting your free copy of The Fleet Success Playbook. Written by fleet professionals for fleet professionals, the Playbook breaks down the four key pillars of fleet success, and gives you the tools you need to build a truly great fleet.
Request your free (yes, really, free!) copy here.
Control fleet chaos with RTA Fleet360, proven software designed by fleet managers for fleet managers. Request a demo today.
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