What a run holds
A run has a vehicle with a capacity per space type, a driver with credentials, working hours with breaks, and a start and end at the yard. The stops are in driving order, each with a time to arrive and an estimate that moves as the day goes.
Many providers keep run templates, such as “Van 4 mornings,” with weekday hours, a default van and a default driver, and fill them each evening from standing orders and new requests.
Building and changing runs
A good run keeps every pickup inside its window, keeps riders’ time on board within the limit, and doesn’t waste deadhead miles. During the day it changes: a will-call comes in, a rider is a no-show, a van breaks down and its stops go to other runs.
The printed or on-screen list of a run’s trips is the run’s manifest; brokers may ask for it.
Related terms
- Trip leg (A leg and B leg)A trip leg is one one-way ride from a pickup to a drop-off.
- Multi-load (shared ride)Multi-load means carrying more than one rider in the same van at the same time, for example three dialysis riders from the same building.
- Pickup windowThe pickup window is the span of time around a scheduled pickup that counts as on time, for example 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after.
- Deadhead miles (empty miles)Deadhead miles, or empty miles, are the miles a vehicle drives with no rider on board: from the yard to the first pickup, between a drop-off and the next pickup, and back to the yard at the end of the day.
- Trip sheet and manifestA trip sheet is the record of what happened on each leg that a payer asks for before it pays: times, miles, driver, vehicle and signatures.