<p>Pilot Travel Centers LLC, the nation's largest truck stop operator, plans to add truck maintenance and repair service at about half of its 260 facilities.</p><p>The first Pilot Truck Care Center in West Memphis, Ark., will open this month, the company announced Tuesday.</p><p>Shops are slated to open in Valdosta, Ga., in May; in Dalton, Ga., in June; in Brunswick, Ga., in July; in Indianapolis, Ind., in August; Gary, Ind., in September and in Beaver Dam, Ohio, in October.</p><p>Pilot plans to eventually have between 100 and 150 truck repair shops, which will be open 24 hours a day and seven days a week.</p><p>The company will hire 15 to 25 employees at the centers and offer maintenance, lubrication, oil changes and tires and automated washes.</p><p>Pilot Travel Centers currently provide diesel fuel, food, convenience store items, showers and phones.</p><p>The company decided to add repair shops because of new regulations that require truck drivers to rest more, said Bill Mulligan, Pilot's director of development.</p><p>"We want it to be convenient for them to stay at Pilot and have as many of their needs met in one place as possible," he said.</p><p>Pilot is following the lead of other companies that already offer similar services such as TravelCenters of America and Petro Shopping Centers.</p><p>Pilot, based in Knoxville, operates shops in 37 states and employs 14,000 people.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x28666dc)</p>
