Planning routes around driver working hours and start locations

Most route planning starts with the stops. But a route is only workable if the driver can actually run it. Where the driver starts, where they need to finish, and how long they can work all shape the best order of stops. This guide explains how to plan around driver working hours and start locations, and what to do when the jobs do not fit the day.

Why the driver matters as much as the stops

A stop list tells you where to go. Driver constraints tell you when the day can start, when it must end, and where it begins and finishes.

Change any of these and the best route can change too. A driver who starts at home on the east side of town may want a different first stop than one who starts at a depot downtown. A driver who must finish by 3 p.m. may not be able to reach the farthest job at all.

Routing tools treat these as core inputs. Google’s OR-Tools documentation shows how to set different start and end locations for each vehicle. Google’s Route Optimization API lets each vehicle have a start location, an end location, and time windows for when it can leave and when it must arrive back. GraphHopper describes each vehicle with a start and end location and an optional shift schedule.

Start and end locations

Decide where each route begins and ends before you plan the order of stops. There are three common patterns.

Tools handle these differently, so check the defaults. Google’s Route Optimization documentation says that if no start location is given, the vehicle starts at its first pickup. If no end location is given, the route ends when the last visit is complete. Mapbox’s Optimization API v1 returns a round trip by default, and lets you fix the first and last coordinates as the start and end.

The end location matters more than it seems. If a driver must return to the depot, the drive back is part of the working day. A route that finishes its last job at 4:45 p.m. may still run past a 5 p.m. shift end.

Working hours and shift windows

A driver’s working hours set the outer limits of the route. Every drive, every service visit and every wait for an arrival window has to fit inside them.

Write each shift as a start time and an end time, with the date and local time zone. “8 to 4” is clear to the person who wrote it. It is not clear to a planning tool or to a colleague in another region.

When you add up a day, include these parts:

Route planning software usually models working hours directly. OptimoRoute’s help center says setting up drivers includes defining when they work, where they start and end their day, and any limits they have. It lists driver working hours and breaks among the constraints its planner takes into account.

Breaks and legal driving limits

Breaks are part of the plan, not something to squeeze in later. A lunch break placed in the middle of a busy stretch can push every later arrival back.

Some drivers are also covered by legal limits. In the United States, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets hours-of-service rules for drivers of commercial motor vehicles. For property-carrying drivers, FMCSA’s summary includes these limits:

FMCSA also describes a short-haul exception for drivers who stay within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location and return within 14 hours. Whether any of these rules apply depends on the vehicle and the operation. Check the FMCSA rules or a qualified advisor for your situation.

Writing down driver constraints

Jobs get most of the attention in a route request. Give drivers the same care. Our guide on how to prepare a job list for route planning covers the jobs. For each driver, record:

  1. A driver ID or name
  2. A full start address
  3. A full end address, or a note that the route can end at the last job
  4. Shift start and end times, with the date and local time zone
  5. Planned breaks, with how long they last
  6. Any notes, such as a hard stop for a school pickup

Keep these separate from the job list. A driver’s start address is not a stop, and a shift end is not an arrival window.

When the jobs do not fit the day

Sometimes the driver’s hours are simply too short for the work. A good planning tool will say so instead of hiding it.

GraphHopper’s documentation describes an “unassigned” list for orders that could not be placed. OptimoRoute marks such orders as “Not Scheduled” and shows the reason for each one. Both are signs the plan is being honest about limits.

When jobs are left over, you have a few choices:

If the same jobs repeat each week, these choices become part of recurring planning. Our guide to planning recurring routes covers visit frequency and re-planning when stops change.

Where Mappy fits

Mappy is an MCP connector for route planning. It brings jobs and driver constraints into a structured request. The Mappy site says a route request includes a job list with addresses, service times and arrival windows, plus driver starting locations and working hours.

SKILL.md, the instruction file on the Mappy download page, tells an agent to gather the service date, time zone, job IDs, addresses, service minutes, optional arrival windows, driver IDs, shifts, and start and end addresses. It also tells the agent to report every unassigned job and never to imply a route was optimized when optimization is unavailable. SKILL.md says the initial pilot supports new single-driver routes only. Check the Mappy site for current setup details.

Getting started with Mappy

If you want an agent to plan a route around a driver’s hours and start location, start at mappybot.com/download, where you can download SKILL.md and job-template.csv. Fill in the job-list CSV with your jobs, and write down the driver’s start address, end address and shift times next to it. If you are new to planning with a chat assistant, see how to plan a multi-stop route with ChatGPT, Claude or Grok.

FAQ

Does the drive back to the depot count against a driver’s hours?

If the route must end at the depot, the drive back is part of the route. Plan the last job early enough that the driver can return before the shift ends.

Should a route start at the driver’s home or the depot?

Use the place the driver actually starts. Routing tools such as OR-Tools and Google’s Route Optimization API let each vehicle have its own start and end location.

What are the FMCSA hours-of-service limits?

For property-carrying commercial drivers, FMCSA’s summary lists an 11-hour driving limit, a 14-hour on-duty window, a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving, and 60 or 70 hour limits over 7 or 8 days. Check whether the rules apply to your operation.

What does Mappy need to know about a driver?

Mappy is an MCP connector for route planning. The Mappy site says a route request includes driver starting locations and working hours, and SKILL.md lists driver IDs, shifts, and start and end addresses among the details an agent gathers.

Sources

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