Ground passenger transportation: same structure as freight
Passenger road transport uses the exact same vehicle-operating cost structure as freight - only the unit (passenger-mile) and one specific cost (empty seats) differ.
Ground passenger transportation uses the EXACT SAME ten-category structure and mindset as freight (vehicle, fuel, driver leading, deadhead cost included) - see the Freight transportation guide for full detail. The one difference worth stating: the unit, and what "deadhead" becomes.
The one difference: the unit, and empty seats instead of deadhead
The costing unit: ONE PASSENGER-MILE instead of ton-mile. And freight's "deadhead" concept becomes EMPTY SEATS - a run with half its seats empty still costs exactly as much in vehicle, fuel and driver time as a full run, but earns half the revenue.
Everything else
Fuel, consumables like tires, subcontracted capacity during peak season, tolls and terminal fees, overhead - all apply the exact logic described in the Freight transportation guide.
Related guides
- Freight transportation cost breakdown: vehicle and fuel lead, deadhead included
Costing a freight run the way the business actually works - vehicle, fuel and driver lead, with the empty return leg counted in, unlike physical production.
- The Ten Manufacturing Cost Categories, in Production Order
The ten cost categories Costdown uses to price a product — material, machinery, labor, tooling, scrap, rework, outsourced processing, packaging, logistics, factory overhead — with the formula and a worked example for each.
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