Multi-Stop Route Planning
Sequencing many pickups and dropoffs into the tightest possible route — while keeping every appointment on time and every vehicle within capacity.
In This Guide
1. What Is Multi-Stop Route Planning?
Multi-stop route planning is the work of ordering pickups and dropoffs into the most efficient sequence for each vehicle. Done well, it minimises total driving while ensuring every stop is served inside its appointment window. It's the "in what order" half of dispatch — the natural partner to deciding "which vehicle" in the first place.
2. Shared Rides and Passenger Stops
Passenger transport adds a wrinkle consumer route planners never face: several people can share one trip, each boarding and alighting at different points. Waybill models this directly — a multi-stop job tracks board, alight, and transfer stops, so vehicle capacity is checked at every leg, not just at the start.
3. The Constraints That Matter
- Time windows — each pickup and dropoff has an appointment to hit.
- Capacity at every leg — seats and wheelchair spaces free up and fill as passengers board and alight.
- Precedence — a passenger must be picked up before they're dropped off.
- Realistic travel times — sequencing on road-network times, not straight-line distance.
4. Automating the Sequence
Sequencing a handful of stops by hand is possible; sequencing a full day across a fleet, with shared rides and time windows, is not. This is a form of the Vehicle Routing Problem, and it's exactly what fleet optimisation automates — producing tight, on-time routes and re-sequencing instantly when jobs change. For the full strategy, see the smart transport optimisation guide.
The order of stops is where on-time performance is won or lost. Automating it keeps promises to passengers while cutting kilometres.
Multi-Stop Route Planning FAQs
Multi-stop route planning is the process of ordering many pickups and dropoffs into the most efficient sequence for each vehicle, so drivers cover the least distance while meeting every appointment time. It applies both within a single shared-ride trip and across a driver's whole day.
Consumer maps apps optimise the order of a handful of stops you enter manually for one vehicle. Multi-stop route planning in dispatch software decides which vehicle serves which stops across the fleet, handles capacity and time windows, and re-sequences automatically as jobs change.
Yes. Waybill models multi-stop jobs where several passengers board and alight at different points on one trip, tracking board, alight, and transfer stops so capacity is respected at every leg of the route.
It must. A good planner sequences stops to minimise driving while keeping every pickup and dropoff inside its time window, and flags any stop that can't be served in time so a dispatcher can intervene.
Plan Every Stop Automatically
Waybill sequences multi-stop and shared-ride jobs into tight, on-time routes. Pay only for completed jobs — from $0.45.