Why the Tbilisi–Poti run bunches at the same hours

The lowland out of Tbilisi is fast enough that planners treat the haul as a duration. The duration is a lie made of three waits. First, the weighbridge that westbound metal prefers, which has a Tuesday habit nobody puts in the tariff. Second, the climb toward the pass, which slows when weather or a slow climber sets the pace for everyone behind. Third, the port’s own receiving hours, which are not the same as the city’s idea of a working day.

When we draw this corridor we keep the waits as marks, not as a footnote. Averaging them into a single ’transit time’ is how offices end up shouting at drivers who left on time and still missed the gate. A corridor study of this haul is, more than anything, an argument for leaving Tuesday visible.

The empty return is a fourth story. Some books record it as a mirror of the loaded westbound. It is not. The return often picks, or fails to pick, in Senaki or toward Kutaisi. If you draw only the loaded leg, you will miss where the truck actually slept.