How to Reduce Dead Miles in NEMT

What dead miles mean in NEMT

Dead miles are vehicle miles driven without a rider on board. They occur between a drop-off and the next pickup, on the way to the first trip, and after the final trip. Some empty travel is unavoidable, but poor sequencing and distant assignments can make it a major operating cost.

Measure the right baseline

Track loaded miles, empty miles, total miles, trips per vehicle hour, and on-time performance together. Reducing empty miles is not a win if it creates missed pickup windows or overly long shared rides.

• Empty-mile percentage = empty miles divided by total miles
• Compare by service area, time of day, vehicle type, and dispatcher
• Review planned mileage against actual GPS mileage

Group compatible trips

Combine trips with nearby origins, destinations, and time windows only when mobility equipment, passenger capacity, escort needs, and maximum ride-time rules remain compatible.

Use zones and intelligent staging

Build demand zones from historical pickup and drop-off patterns. Stage vehicles near recurring demand instead of returning every driver to a central yard between trips.

Optimize the full day

A good plan considers the entire manifest rather than assigning the nearest available driver one trip at a time. Axen’s route optimization can evaluate time windows, capacity, driver availability, and mobility needs together.

• Sequence recurring trips before filling gaps
• Re-optimize after cancellations and add-on trips
• Protect breaks, shifts, and vehicle constraints

Create a weekly improvement loop

Review the highest empty-mile routes each week, identify the cause, test one change, and compare results. Frequent small adjustments are safer than optimizing only at month end.

Frequently asked questions