Roadway Express Delivers Regional Speed With Enhanced Service

    AKRON, Ohio--June 22, 2001--Roadway Express, Inc. announced the first phase in a comprehensive re-engineering effort to speed up its unparalleled freight network, effective June 11, 2001. Over the coming months Roadway will be refining its system and reducing transit times to meet its customers' changing needs. The first phase reduces service standards on over 20,000 lanes, the largest single reduction in the company's history. The service standard reductions have resulted in additional two- and three-day lanes between over 350,000 locations across the country.
    "We are listening to our customers and aligning our state-of-the-art freight network and engineering to meet their requirements," stated Jim Staley, president and chief operating officer for Roadway. "Our employees in all areas of the company will be more focused than ever on finding new and creative ways to improve service. These service standard reductions, along with our operations and engineering expertise, allow us to speed up our entire network and deliver our customers' freight quickly and more reliably."
    The first of these changes involves service from 18 key metro areas throughout the country, leading to reduced service standards on over 8,000 lanes. These key metro areas will now offer two- and three-day service to most destinations in the U.S. Service improvements are not limited to just metro-to-metro lanes, but include all destinations. As a result of these reductions, over 3,300 new two-day lanes have been created.
    The 18 metro areas include:

Akron, OH             Atlanta, GA               Milwaukee, WI
Cincinnati, OH        Winston-Salem, NC         Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Columbus, OH          Indianapolis, IN          Houston, TX
Memphis, TN           Greenville, SC            Los Angeles, CA
Nashville, TN         St. Louis, MO             Bay Area, CA
Phoenix, AZ           Denver, CO                Portland, OR

    "We will see dramatic improvements in transit times in our key metro areas," stated John Bronneck, vice president of operations for Roadway. "This improvement in our core service is an excellent compliment to our Time-Critical Services, that provide guaranteed fast and flexible delivery options. It allows us to offer our customers unparalleled quality and transit speeds along with a commitment to delivering the best value for their transportation dollar."
    In addition to these changes, Roadway is also speeding up its network by reducing service standards at its smaller, non-metro facilities. These reductions will result in faster service on over 12,000 additional lanes. Each terminal in Roadway's North American network will be impacted by these changes. Some terminals will have as much as 40% of their lanes' transit times reduced by one day or greater. For example: the number of lane reduction service standards in some non-metro cities are Florence, SC with 113; Shreveport, LA with 106; Little Rock, AR with 92; Lancaster, PA with 83; and Peoria, IL with 81.
    Bronneck pointed to customer input, shifting distribution patterns, accelerated supply chain needs and constant technological innovation and improvements as the principal reasons why these realignment efforts are underway. Dynamic results will be accomplished by utilizing and adjusting sleeper and relay scheduling to optimize linehaul operations, re-engineering loading plans to reduce cycle times at freight handling centers, and the utilization of Roadway's unique technology to manage freight movement.
    "Operationally, we are committed to providing our customers with the best of class service to go along with our state-of-the-art technology," said Bronneck. "The information systems we use to plan and track the movement of our freight are the best in the industry, and it allows us the flexibility to provide the same type of outstanding service on a two-day lane that we do on a four-day lane."