# Total Distance > Total Distance means the complete distance, including loaded, unladen, deadhead, and bobtail journeys, traversed by a fleet of vehicles in a specified **Term:** Total Distance **Last updated:** 2026-07-29 ## Definition ## What Total Distance Means in a Contract Total Distance is a defined term used in transport, logistics, and fleet management agreements to describe every mile or kilometer a vehicle travels during a given period, regardless of whether that travel generated revenue. Unlike narrower terms such as "revenue miles" or "laden distance," Total Distance is designed to be comprehensive, sweeping in loaded runs, unladen return trips, deadhead movements between jobs, and bobtail journeys where a tractor travels without a trailer attached. The term matters because many financial and operational calculations in a contract depend on an accurate, all-inclusive distance figure. If a carrier is paid per mile, or if fuel surcharges are indexed to distance traveled, the parties need a shared, unambiguous baseline. Total Distance provides that baseline by explicitly stating which categories of travel count, removing room for one party to argue that certain legs of a journey should be excluded from the calculation. In practice, this term is most common in