Route Planning & Optimisation

If you are a business that does lots of driving work (for example couriers, private hires, chauffeurs, bus and coach operators) then you will sooner of later have to face the problem of finding the most efficient and cost effective route to take when you need to visit a number of different locations in any given time period.

This problem is known as the travelling salesman problem.

Why would you need a tool to solve this?

• You want to lower your fuel costs
• You want to save precious and expensive time
• You want to maximise resource utilisation to ensure a better return on your investment.
• You want to cost a specific route out for a tendered contract
• You want to ensure that you are paying the appropriate mileage to contractors that you outsource to

The more destinations required to visit in the day the harder it is to calculate the optimum route and therefore the greater the levels of exposure to waste.

What you want to be able to do is state the start and end destinations of the journey and also the points in between and have the route automatically calculated for you based on distance and fuel costs.

TravelManager has this functionality built in. It allows you to:-

• Identify the start and end points (these could be your office / yard location for example) - if they are the same places then the route will be circular. If they are different then the route required will be a straightline.
• Indentify the way points in between the start and end points in any order - these are usually the destinations that are most important (ie. the locations where parcels are being dropped off or people are being picked up)
• Submit the route information and it will calculate the most cost effective route and provide directions as well as a map of the route to be taken. If you provide details of the vehicle being used (ie. MPG) then it will also calculate how much fuel will costs to undertake that route.

Hints
Choose the start and end points carefully as it has an impact on the route taken.

If you need assistance or more information on route planning and optimisation then give us a call and we'll be glad to assist.