If you need to send your employees out to meet customers on a regular basis, then you’re probably already familiar with how traffic can affect your business.
This is because the longer it takes for your employees to reach your customers, the less value you’ll get out of your payroll dollars. This is especially a big problem in urban areas, where traffic during rush hour can bring your drivers to a complete halt.
And, when you plan routes with pen and paper, it would be too difficult to predict traffic. So, there’s a great likelihood that you’ll accidentally send your drivers directly into a traffic jam which will delay your drivers and could upset your customers.
Some customers might even leave you for one of your competitors or, worse yet, leave a negative review online which will make it harder for you to attract new customers.
So, you need a cloud-based road trip planner like Route4Me route planner that automatically updates to reflect real-time traffic conditions to ensure your drivers can avoid traffic and keep your customers happy.
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But, traffic isn’t the only thing that can slow your drivers down.
Have you ever noticed how much longer it takes to take a left turn at an intersection? That’s because left turns are unpredictable. Unless there’s an arrow at the traffic light, your drivers don’t have right of way and so they’ll need to wait for traffic to clear before they can take the turn.
In addition to wasting time, all that waiting eats up a lot of gas. In fact, UPS saves 10 million gallons of gas every year by avoiding left turns. If one of the most successful delivery companies in the world avoids left turns, maybe you should too.
Also, according to The Atlantic, 60% of accidents at intersections with traffic signals are caused by drivers taking left turns, while only 4% of accidents are caused by drivers taking right turns. So, if you want to keep your drivers safe, don’t make them turn left.
U-turns should also be avoided. Like left turns, they’re unpredictable. Your drivers don’t have right of way and will again have to wait for traffic to clear before they can make the U-turn. And, you’ll save a lot of time and gas if you skip U-turns altogether.
But, when you plan routes manually, figuring out how to visit all your customers while avoiding left turns and U-turns will be very confusing. Luckily, fleet management software can help you eliminate all left turns and U-turns with the click of a button.
Such delivery apps are also easy to use. You just need to add the addresses you have visit and the number of drivers available and the road trip planner will generate the most efficient route or set of routes for visiting those addresses in 30 seconds or less.
You can even customize the road trip planner to account for the situations drivers often encounter while traveling in urban areas. The best route planners thus come with a “Big City Optimization” feature that allows you to create the best possible routes for the grid road plans used in most cities. You can also set up a driving route planner so that your routes avoid tolls and highways.
Imagine how much time and money you’ll save with a route planner.
So, how do you ensure your drivers never get slowed down by a gridlock? Do you have any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
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