Employee transport glossary
Nodal pickup
Also called: nodal point · node pickup · common pickup point
Nodal pickup is where employees walk to a designated common point — a landmark, junction or apartment gate — instead of being collected from their doorstep. One stop serves several employees, shortening the pickup chain and reducing the distance and time a vehicle spends collecting a full load.
In practice
- Nodes are defined per locality, usually at safe, well-lit, easily described landmarks
- Each employee is mapped to a node, with a maximum walking distance policy
- Door pickup is typically retained for night shifts, where walking to a node is the risk the programme exists to remove
- Nodes are reviewed as the residential spread changes, because a node nobody lives near costs more than door pickup
Why it matters
Nodal pickup is the most direct lever on ride time and cost per trip in a spread-out catchment. Applied to night shifts without thought, it transfers risk from the vehicle to the walk.