Changes of the Calculation of the Ride Utilization Coefficient Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Featured application: The research results represent a new framework for pricing in road freight transport. In the calculation procedures currently applied, a constant coefficient of ride utilization is used, but our research has shown that such a procedure is not correct for maintaining the transporter’s competitiveness in specific markets. The originality of the outputs consists in proving that individual countries can be grouped into three clusters based on a certain ‘attractiveness’ in the form of the possibility of obtaining return transportation, for which we recommend using the same ride utilization coefficient. The chapter aims to point out the fact that when calculating the price for transport, it is necessary to react to the changed conditions in the field of road freight transport, which have arisen due to the ongoing pandemic. If the transporter did not respond to this fact when calculating the price, its calculation could provide a distorted view of its real costs. The research was carried out on the data of 43,000 transport companies offering transport in 19 countries through entries of transport offers and free vehicles in transport databases. The first phase of the research lasted a year before the pandemic, the second was carried out during the period of the pandemic within 6 months. We found that the monitored countries can be grouped into several clusters and assigned the same ride utilization coefficient to ensure the efficiency of the work in calculating and creating the transportation price. Based on the analysis of 750,000 entries per day for 1 year, the research confirmed that the coefficient is a variable dependent on the direction of the transport and independent of the time of the transport during the week.