Steady Wins the ROI Race
In the trucking industry, speed still dominates performance conversations. Consistency is the better measure. A truck that runs the same timetable every trip is worth more to a fleet than one that runs fast on its good days. Inconsistency breaks plans, erodes margins, and strains customer relationships. Especially in a tight market, consistency is what separates fleet value from fleet activity.
Consistency finally has a benchmark: PrePass® Mile Marker 2026: The National Bypass Impact Index.
A national view of what bypass returns.
Mile Marker 2026 is built from more than 1.6 billion bypass events across 40 states, drawing on decades of authenticated state agency data. The cumulative totals are real money and real time: 135,319,941 driver hours saved, 579,944,286 gallons of fuel saved, and $12,352,813,292 in operational cost savings from 1997 through October 2025. Those totals reduce to a per-bypass benchmark: 7 minutes of drive time, ½ gallon of fuel, and $10.65 in operational costs.
Inconsistency is the real cost.
Pace is not the same as reliability. A fleet can run at a competitive pace and still lose value when arrival times swing 20 minutes in either direction. That variation forces rework: re-sequencing loads, re-contacting shippers, re-calculating driver hours, re-allocating equipment. None of that labor is recovered by faster trips. Reliability combines in your favor. Schedule swings combine against you.
Inconsistency is the cost center most fleets still aren't tracking.
An illustrative workday.
Consider a 150-truck operation on a single workday. If those trucks complete 150 bypasses across their routes, the Mile Marker 2026 benchmark delivers 17.5 hours of drive time returned, 75 gallons of fuel saved, and about $1,598 in savings. Held steady across 250 working days, that single-day return adds up to 4,375 hours, 18,750 gallons, and roughly $399,500 in savings.
How bypass eligibility works.
Bypass is earned through FMCSA safety data and ISS scores. Mandatory, random, and periodic inspections remain in effect for all carriers. Enforcement attention is directed toward higher-risk vehicles, and carriers with strong compliance records earn more bypass opportunities.
What holds up under pressure.
The fleets that come out ahead are the ones whose operations hold up under stress, not the ones that shave seconds off a good day. Reliability can be measured now, and Mile Marker 2026 has the numbers.
Explore Mile Marker 2026 to see how the benchmark translates to your operation.
PrePass® is North America’s most utilized and technologically advanced weigh station bypass and toll payment platform. Proven PrePass technologies enable safe, qualified motor carriers to bypass inspection facilities at highway speeds, saving them time, fuel, and money while reducing emissions. As the only provider to offer bypass and tolling solutions, PrePass technology allows fleets to regain control of toll costs, eliminate toll violations, and automatically resolve max toll disputes. That’s why more than 105,000 fleets subscribe over 750,000 commercial vehicles to PrePass services. Learn more at PrePass.com.
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