About Deadhead time

Deadhead time is the amount of time between events in a run itinerary when the vehicle is travelling with no passengers on board; therefore, no revenue is being generated.

In the following scenario (“Before” trip insertion), there are 15 minutes of deadhead time when the vehicle pulls out from the garage and drives to the first client pick-up. There are another 40 minutes of deadhead time between dropping off the client and picking up the next client. Finally, before pulling back into the garage, there are 30 more minutes of deadhead time, for a total of 85 minutes of deadhead time during the run:

A site can try to reduce deadhead time by inserting trips where possible to take advantage of this wasted time. The following illustration (“After” trip insertion) shows that a third trip’s pick-up event was added between DO1 and PU2 and the drop-off added before pulling into the garage. As a result of this additional trip, the total deadhead time has been reduced from 85 minutes to 50 minutes, a difference of 35 minutes that is now generating revenue.