About Deadhead Switches

Deadhead occurs when you travel in a schedule or run itinerary from one event or location to another during which there are no passengers on board the vehicle (for example, a garage to a pick-up location, or from a drop-off location to the next pick-up location); therefore, no revenue is generated during such periods.

When discussing deadhead time, one must keep in mind that it is different from slack. Slack is the amount of time in an itinerary between events, excluding travel time or load and unload time, that allows for flexibility in the schedule to add new trips within that time. During slack, the vehicle is not moving, and passengers may or may not be on board.

For example, if a vehicle is scheduled to arrive at a location in 15 minutes but the trip takes only 5 minutes, the difference results in 10 minutes of slack time. These extra 10 minutes provide more flexibility in the run’s schedule, allowing the driver to drive at a safer speed to the next location, or for another client to be scheduled into the period to reduce or eliminate deadhead or slack elsewhere in the schedule.