Turnaround gaps: stacking Transfeero rides without double-booking your fleet
A turnaround gap is the buffer between one ride ending and the next starting. Set it right and you stack back-to-back Transfeero rides without ever double-booking a vehicle.
A turnaround gap is the minimum free time you keep between one ride ending and the next starting on the same vehicle. Set it to your realistic travel-plus-buffer time, and automation can stack rides tightly without ever booking a vehicle it can't physically make.
The fastest way to lose money — and reputation — is to accept a ride your vehicle can't actually reach in time because it's still finishing another one. The fix is a turnaround gap.
What is a turnaround gap?
It's the buffer you require between the end of one ride and the start of the next on the same vehicle. If a job finishes at 10:00 and your gap is 60 minutes, the next job on that vehicle can't start before 11:00. It accounts for the drive from the drop-off to the next pickup, plus breathing room for delays.
Why pickup-to-pickup time isn't enough
Two rides can look an hour apart by pickup time yet be impossible to do back-to-back. If the first is a 40-minute airport transfer, an hour between pickups leaves only ~20 minutes between the first ending and the second starting — not enough to cross the city. A good gap measures end-to-start, using each ride's duration, not just when they begin.
The number that matters isn't how far apart two rides start — it's how much free time you actually have between finishing one and starting the next.
How to choose your gap
- Estimate your typical cross-town travel time between a drop-off and a fresh pickup in your area.
- Add a buffer for traffic, waiting, and the unexpected (15–30 min is common).
- That total is your turnaround gap. Raise it for a spread-out region, lower it if you work a dense area.
Let automation enforce it per vehicle
Set the gap once and AutoCatch enforces it automatically: before it accepts a ride, it checks the chosen vehicle isn't already committed to another booking within that gap of the new ride's window. If it is, that vehicle is skipped — and if every eligible vehicle is busy, the ride is left for someone else rather than double-booked.
It holds even for rides caught seconds apart
Two matching rides can appear almost simultaneously. AutoCatch reserves a vehicle the instant it commits, so a second near-simultaneous catch sees the first reservation and won't stack onto the same van inside your gap. You get tight, safe scheduling without babysitting it.
The payoff
A well-set turnaround gap lets you run your fleet hot — back-to-back rides, high utilisation — without the nightmare of a vehicle booked in two places at once. Set it with your other filters and let the bot keep the schedule honest. Try it free for two days.