Multi-day long haul planning lets you create continuous routes that last two or more days. It can help reduce driving time and distance for long-distance routes across multiple states or provinces. In this article, you’ll learn how to set up and plan multi-day long haul routes.
| Who can use this feature | |
|---|---|
| All Custom plans with weekly planning enabled | |
| All users | |
| All regions | |
Video tutorial
What is multi-day long haul planning?
Multi-day long haul lets you create continuous routes that last two or more days. It can help reduce driving time and distance for long-distance routes across multiple states or provinces.
Unlike regular planning, each day’s route ends where the next day’s route begins instead of returning to the depot. This gives drivers flexibility to spend the night near their last stop, near the next day’s first stop, or somewhere in between.
| This feature is available upon request. Contact support to learn more. |
Planning changes with multi-day long haul
When multi-day long haul is enabled, OptimoRoute calculates routes differently. Keep these changes in mind when planning:
- All drivers use the same working hours. If drivers have different working hours, OptimoRoute uses the most common working hours and applies them to all drivers. For example, all drivers might work from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
- Shifts cannot cross midnight. For example, a shift cannot start at 10:00 PM and end at 6:00 AM the next day.
- Overtime is not considered when planning routes.
- Breaks are not included when planning routes.
- Routes do not automatically return to the depot. When planning across multiple weeks, this can affect how routes are grouped and how vehicle capacity is used.
If drivers return home between multi-day routes, such as over a weekend, use the “End route” option to tell OptimoRoute where one route should end and another should begin.
Multi-day long haul settings
Set planning days
Choose which days OptimoRoute can use when planning multi-day long haul routes. For example, you can include or exclude weekends.
To set your default planning days:
- Go to “Administration → Settings”
- In the left menu, go to “Route & planning → Weekly planning”
- Select the days you want to include in planning. Clear the days you want to exclude.
- Choose which day starts your planning week, such as Sunday or Monday
- Click “Save”
| Tip: You can also change these settings in the "Planning Settings" window. This is recommended if you have variability from week to week. |
End of route
Multi-day long haul treats each day as part of one continuous route. The route ends and the driver returns to their end location when:
- There are no more orders to schedule.
- The driver reaches the vehicle’s capacity.
- The planning range ends.
You can also use “End route” to end a route on a specific day. When “End route” is enabled, the driver must return to their end location by the end of that day’s working hours.
To enable or disable “End route”:
- Go to "Plan and Optimize"
- Click “Plan routes”
- In the “Planning settings,” window, select “Advanced view”
- Select the drivers you want to update
- In the driver settings at the bottom of the window, click the “Yes” or “No” option next to “End route.”
- In the “Planning Settings - Drivers” window that appears, go to “Start/End location.”
- Select “End route” to enable it, or clear the checkbox to disable it.
- Click “Save.”
Commercial truck profile
If you use large commercial vehicles for multi-day long haul, we recommend setting up commercial truck profiles for your vehicles. This helps OptimoRoute plan routes based on vehicle restrictions, such as height and weight limits. Learn how to set up commercial trucking profiles here.
Plan multi-day long haul routes
After you configure multi-day long haul, you can start planning routes.
To plan multi-day long haul routes:
- Go to “Plan and Optimize.”
- In the date picker, select “Week” or a range longer than one week.
- Click “Plan routes.”
- Adjust your planning settings as needed. For example, you can limit the route length or choose a different start day for the week.
- Plan your routes.
Routing results
After planning, the map shows how stops are divided across the days of the multi-day long haul route.
Each stop marker includes:
- A letter for the day of the week, such as M for Monday or T for Tuesday.
- A number showing the stop sequence for that day.
results-longhaul-map.jpg
In this example below, the route has:
- 1 driver
- An 8-hour workday
- A depot in Philadelphia
- 9 stops
- 5 planning days
Start and end locations
In this example, the driver starts Monday at the depot in Philadelphia. The last order is in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the end location for the day is in Roanoke, Virginia.
The end location is marked with an “E” on the map.
Each day ends at the starting location for the next day. This gives the driver flexibility to stop for the night near the last order, near the next day’s first order, or somewhere in between.
Working hours
In this example, the driver has an 8-hour workday, for a total of 40 working hours across five days. OptimoRoute uses these 40 hours across the entire multi-day long haul route.
As a result, individual days can be longer or shorter than 8 hours. You can review each day’s total duration and work time in the “Routes” tab.
A longer day can include optional driving time toward the next day’s first stop. OptimoRoute subtracts this extra time from the following day. This gives the driver flexibility to choose where to stop for the night while keeping the total working time within the available hours.
For example, Monday may run from 6:00 AM to 4:25 PM, for a total of 10 hours and 25 minutes. If 2 hours and 25 minutes are carried over from Monday, Tuesday starts at 8:25 AM instead of 6:00 AM.
Across the full week in this example, the driver works and drives for 39 hours and 16 minutes, within the 40 hours available.