Overnight / Multi-day routes
EasyRoutes allows users to plan routes of any length. Here are some tips for planning routes that span across multiple days, or where drivers take an overnight break before resuming their route, while still maintaining accurate order ETAs for customers later in the route:
Driver Breaks:
Configuring this option for your routes will allow you to schedule a break for your driver at a specific time before creating a route; you can also add breaks and manually position them between desired stops after creating a route for maximum flexibility. Any breaks added will push back subsequent stop ETAs by however long the break is scheduled for.
Full details on adding breaks using both methods here: ☕ Driver Breaks
Stop Times:
Enabling this feature for your routes will allow you to set the amount of time you expect your driver to spend at each delivery stop - this value can be adjusted to reflect a typical amount of time spent at an actual delivery stop, or extended to reflect an overnight stay mid-route. Once enabled, all ETAs will reflect this additional time spent at each stop.
Full details on setting up stop times for your routes here: How do I set a time per stop (Stop Times)?
Custom Stops:
On a route that spans multiple days, users can add a custom stop representing an overnight stay before the first "real" stop of each day - this way, when a driver marks this custom stop as complete (indicating they've started deliveries again for the day), ETAs for all the following stops will be updated to reflect this timing.
More info on adding custom stops here: How do I add a custom stop to a route?
Multiple Routes:
Users can alternately plan multiple, single day routes where the end location of route #1 is where a driver will stay overnight; the start location of route #2 would be that same location, repeating this pattern for however many days/routes required. This way, customers on each day's routes will receive updated ETAs as soon as the driver starts the route for each day.
More details on start/end locations here: How do I change my Start and End locations?
Additional Notes:
- The ETA for a stop is updated based on the latest provided status of the previous stop - i.e. if stop #1 takes 10 minutes longer than planned, when it's marked as completed, ETAs for stops #2 and beyond will be updated and pushed back by those 10 minutes.