For the past year, Christian Riddell, CEO of TBN, an industry technology company, has been warning that artificial intelligence-enabled search results are changing how customers find transportation services – and who ultimately controls the customer relationship.
Riddell has shown that this shift is already giving brokers, or intermediaries, an edge when customers are searching online. If operators do not respond, he said, the long-term impact could be catastrophic and mirror what has already happened in other industries, including trucking.
“The consumers are now going to the brokers, in many cases, not knowing they are. As that happens more and more, brokers are controlling the prices customers pay and what operators get paid,” Riddell said.
As AI tools increasingly shift search results from lists of sites where people could go to find answers to providing answers directly in the search, the rules of visibility are changing, forcing operators to rethink how they compete for attention.
Bus & Motorcoach News spoke with Riddell about what he is seeing and what it means for operators.
Bus & Motorcoach News: As search engines evolve, you say the biggest shift is happening in how results are delivered to users. What is changing in search, and why does it matter?
Christian Riddell: Search is no longer a list of links where people go click, compare, and make decisions the way they used to. Now, AI is generating answers using a very small subset of sites. In the case of Google, they cite as few as three to eight sites in any given search, and that answer is becoming the front door to your business. So instead of companies competing for position on a page, they are competing to be included in that answer. And if you’re not there, you’re not second or third, you’re invisible. That’s the part I don’t think people fully grasp yet. The opportunity to be discovered is shrinking, and it’s becoming much more selective. You’re either in the answer or you’re not part of the conversation at all.
BMN: That shift is also helping explain why certain companies are gaining traction faster than others. Why are brokers gaining ground in this environment?
CR: Brokers are built for this environment. Their singular focus is generating leads they can convert, and their web properties represent something that these systems love. They present as if they cover multiple markets, they publish content at scale, and they have tailored their online strategy to feed the AI tools exactly what they want, how they want it. To an AI system, that looks like the perfect picture of the market. Operators, on the other hand, look like what they are – great local businesses – but they’re more limited in how they show up digitally, with little or no content that is truly optimized for the AI search era. The operator focus hasn’t shifted from SEO to being listed in generative search (GEO) like the brokers, and similarly to SEO, the results don’t represent the “best choice”; they represent the choice the search engine thinks is the best based on the content. These search engines changed the algorithms they use to rank GEO, and the brokers have responded. Brokers started giving the tools that they want, and the operators, for the most part, haven’t yet. The brokers are included in the answers, and the operators aren’t. It’s really just that simple.
BMN: You illustrate the potential long-term impact by pointing to a similar shift that has already taken place in trucking. What lessons should motorcoach operators take from the trucking industry?
CR: The trucking industry is a perfect example of how this plays out. In that case, they welcomed consolidators with open arms because they solved a real problem: matching loads and keeping trucks moving. Everybody thought, “This is great, we don’t have to worry about finding business anymore.” But what they didn’t realize was that over time, those consolidators became the place where customers went. And once that happened, the operators lost control of their own pricing. So one day operators realized that they were doing all the work, taking on all the risk, and they didn’t control the customer or the margin. It drove a lot of companies in that space out of business, drove a lot of “consolidation” of operators, and ultimately put a lot of old, trusted carriers out of business. We’re at that same pivot point right now, and if we don’t learn from that, we may unfortunately repeat it.
BMN: As brokers gain more influence, you describe the risks for operators that extend far beyond marketing or visibility. What are the risks for operators if nothing changes?
CR: If the flow of business shifts from booking direct with operators to consumers going to the brokers, we become a “provider.” Understanding the dynamic of that relationship is important, and when you pair that with how brokers increase yield on a trip, you are setting things up for a long-term disaster. When a broker controls the customer relationship, whether or not we think it is true, they control the fee operators get paid. Market conditions ultimately control the ceiling of what a customer will pay. That is simple economics, but what the provider gets paid is how a broker extends margin. If they charge the customer $1,500 and they pay you $1,250, they can only make more money by moving one variable: paying the provider less. Since they control the customer, they can shop around and beat up operators for wider and wider margins.
Meanwhile, like the truckers, you’re carrying all the risk of the equipment, the liability, the service, everything that comes with actually running the operation. That’s not a good place to be. And if this continues, we’re going to see businesses close and “consolidate,” as brokers drive prices to the point that it isn’t worth the risk and exposure to continue. Right now, it’s happening faster than anybody can imagine, and every little shift that happens favors the brokers.
BMN: Despite those challenges, you say operators still have an opportunity to respond if they act with urgency. What should operators be doing right now?
CR: There are three fronts we must fight this on. The first is control of the consumer. It’s not just marketing, it’s not just SEO, it’s about whether you own the relationship with the customer. Operators need to start actively competing in the GEO environment. This means doing things that don’t normally make the daily priority list: content development, page optimization on your website, etc. They must start thinking about how they show up in this new environment, how they answer real customer questions, and how they make it easier for people to do business with them directly in an instant gratification culture. Because if you don’t, you’re handing that relationship over to someone else. We’re at that pivot point right now, and if we don’t act, we’re going to lose control of our own pricing, and that’s catastrophic.
The second front we must fight on is the regulatory front. In the trucking industry, to be a “consolidator” or a “broker,” you need to register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), post a $75,000 surety bond, file a BOC-3, and pay a $300 nonrefundable application fee. To be a broker in the motorcoach industry, you need little more than to spool up a website. The other part of this, on the trucking side, sits on the liability side of the coin and is called negligent hiring/selection. This means brokers who cut corners, prioritizing price and availability over safety records, can be held responsible if that decision leads to a catastrophic accident. We need to push for parity here. Right now, these brokers are isolated from any liability, oversight, or regulatory pressure. They would love to see that continue, but we need to bring this into the discussions locally, regionally, and nationally.
The third front is also regulatory in nature, but not from the standpoint of the FMCSA. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for fair trade online and otherwise. Under current laws, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. Right now, brokers use ambiguity as an advantage. In many cases, customers book with brokers having no idea they are not booking direct. With the help of AI, these regionalized websites that are popping up are branded to look like, feel like, and act like local providers. Local phone numbers, local addresses, buses with what looks like local branding, and more make them feel like a safe and local choice. Many consumers who intend to book direct don’t know until it is too late that they didn’t. With hidden language buried deep in the site that is clearly trying to skirt the issue, they are intentionally deceptive. We need to start fighting this practice and holding these providers accountable through the FTC for their practices. Consumers should clearly know when they are booking with a consolidator. In many cases, that simply isn’t the case.
BMN: If you could sum up where we are today and what operators need to take away from this conversation, what would it be?
CR: Operators carry the equipment, the insurance, the drivers, the safety record, and the full regulatory burden of FMCSA compliance. Brokers, in the passenger space, carry none of it — yet they increasingly control the customer. That is not a sustainable or equitable market structure. This is a moment where a small incremental change isn’t enough. Operators need to get in the game, and they need to do it right now.
