Opportunities for New Revenue Streams and Efficiencies Are Everywhere, Just Look Around

By: Dan Reid, President/Managing Member, Grove Transit 

The pace of artificial and other technological advancements makes it imperative that fleet operators continue to evolve how we look at opportunities and new developments to see if they can be adapted to improve both the margins and the efficiency of our businesses.  In the past month I have been introduced to one such opportunity representing a potential new revenue stream.   I’ll be the first to admit that two months ago this solution was not even on my radar screen, and now I am looking to dig deeper and explore if it can benefit my operations.   To be clear, I may find that it is not a fit for my particular business, however, what I have learned is that I need expand my horizons and how I look at solutions because I’m sure that at least one of the many new advancements or opportunities out there, one that I may not even being thinking about right now, can become a game changer in my fleets.

All of us face the persistent problem of deadhead miles.  You may call it empty miles or unloaded miles, but at the end of the day we all know it is impossible to always have your driver’s next pick-up at the exact location of your last drop-off.  Thus, the dreaded deadhead miles.  They are an unpleasant but also unavoidable component of our industry.  Industry estimates indicate that empty miles can account for 30-50% of total vehicle miles.    Additionally, if you are performing contract work, especially with employee drivers, (corporate, NEMT, student transportation, transit, etc.) in addition to deadhead miles we also have the problem of non-revenue hours throughout the day.   Consider if you are doing significant dialysis trips every day.  You drop a passenger off at, say, 9:00 am and you need to pick them up for their return at noon.  Unless you can find other trips that allow you to fill your vehicle during those three hours, and be back at the dialysis facility on time, you experience non-revenue hours. We are all looking for that holy grail opportunity that will allows us to fill in our empty time with revenue-generating trips.  The challenge, as I’m sure you’ve all experienced, is the constant struggle to slot other time-sensitive trips (appointments, medical supplies, etc.) neatly into “our” empty vehicle time.  But what if those empty miles could be monetized? What if every idle vehicle represented not a cost center—but a revenue opportunity?

This is where potential opportunity number one came along.  One of the most overlooked opportunities lies in casual shipping: the untapped market of individuals and small businesses who need occasional, easy-to-access package shipping services.

What they need is simple: convenience, and what TTA member companies already have—drivers, vehicles, and routes—can be leveraged to deliver it.

Across the U.S., over 2 billion packages are shipped each year. While many are handled by major logistics companies, a growing number are shipped by casual users—everyday people who sell online, send gifts, or run small businesses. This group is often frustrated by complex interfaces, inconvenient drop-off points, and time-consuming processes.

This is where transportation companies come in. By offering pickup services for these occasional shippers, drivers can turn unused vehicle time into paid work. Picture this: a person creates a shipping label online or through an app, requests a pickup, and a nearby driver is dispatched. The beauty of this is the flexibility available to operators to meet these needs.  You may have just enough time in between a medical appointment to pick up a package(s) but not have the time to deliver it, or be in the drop off location, until several hours later.  Now you have an opportunity to reduce your deadhead time and miles around your passengers’ schedules, instead of those schedules becoming a roadblock.

One company I recently became aware of, Ship Thrifty, is ready to take advantage of this market.  They have been in the home package delivery business for some time.  Many of you may have used their services as they are a market leader in home generated shipping labels.  Now they are looking to expand beyond label generation to last mile package delivery.  They estimate that in a metro market with a population of 500,000 people, even modest market penetration represents potentially $7.5 million a year in new revenue from what was previously non-revenue miles and hours.

TTA operating members are uniquely positioned to seize this opportunity. We already have the infrastructure—vehicles, personnel, local presence—we just need the tools to execute.   Additionally, while the focus has been on penetrating the metro markets, I can see many opportunities in the rural markets where so many of us operate and where access to a post office or UPS/Fed Ex store can be limited.  Again, wouldn’t it be nice to be earning some money as your driver makes the 25-mile run back into your city or town after dropping off a dialysis patient?

Ship Thrifty indicated they plan to launch their service nationally in fall 2025 and TTA leadership is looking to see how we can leverage our membership base to take advantage of this new market opportunity.

So as I often do, I refer back to my good friend Joe Rubino who once told me, “If you look out your office window and you see a passenger in a vehicle, you need to ask yourself, Why aren’t I transporting that passenger?”   Now it seems I need to modify Joe’s maxim to say, “If I look around and I see ANY product or service, how can that make my company more profitable?”

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Dan Reid serves as President of The Transportation Alliance and on NEMTAC’s Board of Directors.  Dan is Co-Chair of NEMTAC’s Certification and Standards Advisory Committee and serves on the NEMTAC’s Accreditation Advisory Committee, Compliance & Regulatory Advisory Committee, and Technology Advisory Committee.  Dan is a frequent author and speaker on issues related to the passenger ground transportation industry.