In reality, route planning is far more complex than that – particularly for organisations managing field-based teams who operate across large geographical areas.
Many people will have heard of Fermat’s Principle of Least Time in relation to how light travels. Rather than following the shortest possible path, light naturally follows the route that takes the least time. In some cases, this means travelling a longer distance if it results in a faster journey.
The same principle applies to route planning. For field-based teams, the shortest route is not always the fastest, the most productive, or the most cost-effective. This becomes especially important when planning low density routes.
What Is Low Density Routing?
Low density routing refers to routes where service locations are spread over a large geographic area. Examples include:
Unlike urban operations where stops may be located on every street, low density routes often involve significant travel between service locations. As a result, travel time can account for a substantial proportion of the working day, therefore changing how routes should be planned.
The Common Mistake: Optimising for Distance Alone
At first glance, minimising mileage seems logical. Fewer miles travelled should reduce fuel costs, vehicle wear and carbon emissions. However, focusing solely on distance can create unintended consequences.
The shortest path between two locations frequently relies on local roads with lower speed limits, more junctions, increased congestion and slower overall travel speeds. By contrast, a slightly longer route may utilise higher-speed roads, allowing teams to reach destinations more quickly.
For example, a route that covers 15 miles using rural roads may take 35 minutes to complete, while an alternative route covering 18 miles via a dual carriageway may take only 20 minutes. Although the second route is longer in distance, it is significantly more efficient from an operational perspective. When this effect is multiplied across hundreds or thousands of visits, the difference becomes substantial.
Why Travel Time Matters More Than Distance
For most field-based operations, labour is significantly more expensive than fuel. The largest operational cost is often the time spent by employees travelling between locations. A route that reduces overall travel time can deliver benefits including:
This is why modern route optimisation solutions primarily focus on travel time rather than distance alone. The goal is not simply to minimise mileage but to maximise operational efficiency and reliability.
The Hidden Value of Strategic Travel Corridors
One area where time-based optimisation becomes particularly important is the “stem” portion of a route. This refers to the journey from a depot or operational base to the service area, and the return journey at the end of the day. These journeys are often the longest uninterrupted travel periods within a route.
When optimisation focuses on travel time, the routing engine naturally favours faster roads such as motorways, dual carriageways and key arterial routes. This enables teams to reach service areas more quickly and return to base sooner.
However, when optimisation focuses purely on distance, that incentive disappears. The result can be routes that avoid faster roads in favour of shorter but slower alternatives, increasing overall journey duration and reducing productive time on site.
The Impact of Traffic Conditions
Modern route optimisation is no longer based solely on road networks and speed limits. Advanced systems can incorporate historical traffic patterns and time-of-day travel speeds, creating a much more realistic view of how roads perform throughout the day.
A route that appears efficient at 6am may become highly congested by 8am, and a route through a town centre may look attractive in terms of mileage but become significantly slower during school run periods or peak commuting times.
By accounting for travel times rather than simple distances, routing systems can sequence stops more intelligently and avoid known congestion hotspots. This improves reliability and helps field teams maintain schedules throughout the day.
Safety Matters Too
While efficiency is often the primary objective of route optimisation, safety should never be overlooked. In low density routing environments, field teams can spend significant periods travelling on rural roads, high-speed routes, or in unfamiliar networks. Effective route optimisation helps reduce unnecessary driving time, minimise complex manoeuvres and avoid known congestion hotspots that can increase driver stress and fatigue.
Modern routing solutions can also support safer route construction by considering road classifications, turn restrictions, and travel conditions. By creating routes that are not only efficient but also practical and predictable, organisations can help improve driver wellbeing, reduce operational risk, and support safer journeys for field-based teams.
Better Routing Means Better Sequencing
The order in which stops are visited can have a major impact on route performance. Sophisticated optimisation systems consider a wide range of factors including:
These factors are typically evaluated using travel time. When optimisation is switched to distance-only calculations, some of this refinement can be lost.
The result may be routes that technically travel fewer miles but include less desirable manoeuvres, inefficient stop sequencing or unnecessary turning movements. Over the course of a working day, these small inefficiencies accumulate.
Low Density Routing and Sustainability
There is sometimes an assumption that shortest-distance routing is always the most environmentally friendly option, but in practice, this is not necessarily true.
Vehicles travelling efficiently at consistent speeds often consume less fuel and generate lower emissions than vehicles repeatedly stopping, starting and navigating slower roads.
Reducing engine idle time, minimising congestion delays and improving route efficiency can all contribute to sustainability objectives. For organisations balancing environmental targets with operational performance, time-based optimisation frequently delivers the best overall outcome.
Supporting Field-Based Teams
Route optimisation is not simply about software calculations; it’s about understanding how field teams actually work. The most effective routing solutions consider:
This is particularly important in low density environments where travel patterns are more varied, and operational challenges can differ significantly from urban settings.
By combining powerful optimisation technology with real-world operational expertise, organisations can make informed decisions about how services are delivered.
How Integrated Skills Can Help
If you are managing a field-based operation, effective route planning can deliver significant improvements in efficiency, productivity, safety, and service delivery.
We support organisations through a range of consultancy and technology services, including:
Our team combines industry-leading technology with decades of operational expertise to help organisations make better decisions about how services are planned, delivered, and continuously improved.
Conclusion
In a nutshell: the shortest route is not always the best route. Field-based operations often achieve better outcomes when travel time becomes the primary measure of efficiency.
In a world where labour and fuel costs, environmental target pressures and customer expectations all continue to rise, finding the fastest route rather than the shortest one can make all the difference.
Would you like to know more about Low Density Routing for Field-Based Teams: Why the Shortest Route Is Not Always the Fastest? Fill in your details below and let us know how we can help.
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