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When BidRight calculates an operating ratio for a lane you have not run before, it models the cost. That cost is built from four pieces: deadhead miles, loading time, unloading time, and transit time. Each piece is pulled from your historical data independently. Sometimes the most specific data is not available. When that happens, BidRight falls back to broader data. The rules are different for each piece, and a single lane can resolve each piece at a different level.

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The 12-load threshold

For each piece, BidRight looks for at least 12 loads at the most specific level. If 12 is not there, it rolls up to the next broader level and checks again. It keeps rolling up until it finds enough data to make the calculation reliable. All lookups stay inside the lane’s operation code. Data never crosses operations.

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The four hierarchies

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Deadhead miles

Empty miles before pickup. Three levels:
  1. Same Bill-To, same origin area
  2. Same origin area (any Bill-To)
  3. Network average across the operation

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Loading time

Hours at origin. Two levels:
  1. Same Bill-To, same origin area
  2. Network average across the operation
There is no “area-only” middle level for loading or unloading. Area alone does not correlate well enough with actual hours to be useful.

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Unloading time

Hours at destination. Two levels:
  1. Same Bill-To, same destination area
  2. Network average across the operation

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Velocity (transit time)

How fast the truck moves on the lane. Up to five levels:
  1. Same Bill-To, same lane
  2. Same lane (any Bill-To)
  3. Lanes of similar length — 100-mile bucket (e.g., 700-800 miles)
  4. Lanes of similar length — 200-mile bucket (wider net)
  5. A standard rate when no bucket has enough data
Velocity is the one place lane data across customers is consistently meaningful. East Coast corridors are often slower, and open Midwest lanes are often faster, regardless of who is shipping.

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Why a single lane can show mixed fallback levels

Each of the four pieces resolves on its own. One lane might pull deadhead from “Bill-To + origin area,” loading time from network average, unloading from “Bill-To + destination area,” and velocity from a 100-mile bucket — all on the same row. That’s why a single “source” label on a lane can be misleading. It only ever tells you one of the four answers.

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