About this episode
Mackenzie Andrews and Raymond Damitio run The Doctor Ride, a private pay NEMT operation in Charlotte, North Carolina that has logged more than 300 rides in under a year and only recently moved up to two vehicles. They publish rates on their website and field two to five ride estimate requests a day, of which 95 percent arrive with real contact details and 15 to 20 percent turn into paid rides. Mileage went from $3.00 to $3.15 after local gas climbed $1.25, a new $100 monthly membership halves base rates, and their anchor account, a 650 resident senior living campus, came after 75 facility walk-ins.
Key takeaways
- The website ride estimate form asks only for an email and pulls two to five requests a day. About 95 percent give real information and 15 to 20 percent convert to rides.
- Posting prices publicly filters leads instead of losing them. Raymond Damitio says the people who say no are usually about $80 apart on price, not five or ten dollars.
- A new $100 per month membership cuts base rates in half, aimed at riders like dialysis patients going three times a week. It launched two weeks before taping.
- Mackenzie Andrews argues broker volume blocks private pay growth: high volume, low paying work leaves no time for the SEO, facility walk-ins and follow-up that generate inbound.
- Their largest account, a 650 resident senior living campus with an attached skilled nursing facility, came from 75 facility walk-ins and a brochure left with a gate security guard.
Chapters
- 0:00 The real math: bottom line vs. top line in NEMT
- 1:12 Why The Doctor Ride went all-in on private pay
- 3:45 NEMT isn't a commodity: the experience gap
- 5:23 Google reviews as the private-pay inbound engine
- 5:53 Coining "Wait & Return" (and the copycats)
- 6:50 Naming the business for SEO + brand
- 7:46 Where the name "Bambi" came from
- 8:38 YouTube & content as a growth engine
- 9:42 Launching a membership for frequent riders
- 11:18 Putting pricing right on the website (live walkthrough)
- 13:53 Lead quality: 95% real, ~15–20% convert to rides
- 16:22 Premium pricing as a quality signal
- 17:00 The traffic you can't convert, and operator networking
- 20:33 Raising prices: gas, insurance & staying sustainable
- 21:52 The NEMT churn cycle brokers prey on
- 23:33 Keep pricing simple (the feature-bloat trap)
- 26:41 The aging-boomer demand wave
- 27:05 "How much does she weigh?": how NOT to run NEMT
- 28:24 One-off gigs: oral surgery & a charter school
- 30:03 Landing the premium senior-living contract
- 32:24 Full circle
