What 2025 taught us about Transportation and Managing Growth
JoyRide’s leadership team reflects on a transformative year of stabilization, safety recognition, fleet technology innovation, and building scalable systems for sustainable growth.
The year 2025 represented a strategic inflection point for JoyRide. Following a period of accelerated expansion, the company undertook a deliberate shift toward stabilization, standardization, and operational strengthening across all functions. This recalibration was underscored by national safety recognition, advancements in fleet technology, and the establishment of a data-driven driver retention framework collectively positioning JoyRide for long-term structural resilience.
In the following interview, President Adis and EVP of Operations Kemal provide a comprehensive perspective on what stabilization entailed, the key operational and safety insights derived from 2025, and how the organization is preparing for a more integrated, systemized, and scalable trajectory moving forward.
The Interview
A conversation about transformation, challenges, and the path forward
2025 is described as a stabilization year for JoyRide. What did that actually mean in practice?
Stabilization in 2025 meant that we finally matched our scale with the structure needed to support it. For years, JoyRide was growing at a pace that outstripped our internal systems, and 2025 was the first year where we consciously slowed down the expansion to reinforce the foundation. We looked at the fleet, the safety program, customer expectations, and our operational processes, and asked: ‘What needs to be standardized so that growth becomes sustainable?’
The Star Carrier Magazine cover story captured that moment very well moving from one truck and twenty dollars to nearly 200 trucks is not just a business story; it is an organizational transformation. Stabilization meant aligning technology, people, and processes so that this scale could operate reliably every single day.
From an operational standpoint, what were the biggest lessons from 2025?
The largest lesson was very simple: growth without structure creates pressure across the organization. Our demand was real, our opportunities were real, and our fleet growth was real but we felt the consequences of not having unified systems behind that growth.
2025 taught us that operational discipline, data integration, and process standardization are not optional they are the only way to scale efficiently.
We also learned the value of investing early in reliability and technology. Being selected as the U.S. launch fleet for Windrose’s long-haul electric sleeper, participating in NACFE Run on Less with a battery-electric tractor, and managing complex EV assets across AZ, CA, and NV required a level of operational consistency that validated our direction.
JoyRide received the Arizona Trucking Association Safety Award in 2025. What does safety mean beyond compliance?
For me, safety is not paperwork, and it is not a Department of Transportation requirement. It is a culture and a commitment to our drivers, their families, our customers, and our reputation.
The national Fleet Safety Award confirmed something we already believed internally: that safety is one of our strengths. Compliance is only the starting point. The real impact comes when safety becomes a shared identity inside the organization.”
Beyond compliance, safety means capability, discipline, and accountability. In 2025, we introduced driver-facing cameras, expanded real-time coaching, reduced at-risk behaviors, and improved key CSA categories 25 percent improvement in Unsafe Driving, and measurable improvements in Hours of Service, Vehicle Maintenance, and Driver Fitness.
It also means giving people the tools to succeed. Our monthly Infinit-I training, the in-person sessions in Phoenix and California, and the reintroduction of JoyRide Academy all ensured that every driver, especially new drivers, entered the fleet with the right habits, knowledge, and support.
Safety is a strategy because it affects uptime, cost, driver engagement, and customer trust. It is one of the clearest indicators of operational maturity, and in 2026 we will integrate it even deeper into Operations and Maintenance.
How did your approach to people and driver retention evolve in 2025?
In previous years, retention was driven by instinct and manual communication. In 2025, we formalized it. We built and piloted our proprietary Driver Retention Program (DRP) and its mobile app. For the first time, we had measurable, real-time data on performance, engagement, communication history, and predictive turnover risks.
That changed everything. We moved from guessing to knowing.
2025 also taught us that people need structure just as much as the organization does. By improving orientation, introducing more consistent safety training, and enabling more transparent feedback loops, we strengthened the relationship between drivers and the company.
In 2026, DRP 2.0 will take this further, turning retention into a scalable, automated system that aligns HR, Ops, and Safety in one place.
Looking in the future: What does being “ready” mean as JoyRide looks beyond 2025?
Being ready means having the systems, people, and technology to absorb growth without losing stability. 2026 will be the year we move from stabilization to systemization. For me, readiness is the point where every part of the organization speaks the same language, operations, safety, maintenance, finance, and customer service.
Readiness means operational clarity: unified data, an integrated TMS, a fully deployed DRP 2.0, higher maintenance consistency, and a safety culture that sets industry standards.
If 2025 proved our scale, then 2026 will prove our structure. Being ready is simply this: having a fleet, a workforce, and a technology stack that can support the next phase of our expansion.
