Route preferences and defaults
Where the optimizer's starting assumptions live — team-wide defaults for service time and curbside, per-driver routing preferences like tolls and live traffic, and the strategy you pick per run.
The optimizer starts every plan from a set of defaults — but they don't live in one panel. They're split across three levels, from the broadest to the most specific:
- Team defaults — apply to every stop that doesn't say otherwise.
- Per-driver preferences — travel rules for each driver and their vehicle.
- Per-run strategy — chosen each time you press Assign drivers & optimize.
Team defaults (Settings → Team → General)
The Team defaults card sets the values used when a stop has nothing more specific:
| Default | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Default service time, min | How long a stop takes when it has no per-stop service time. |
| Stop side parking | Default curbside preference — Left, Any, or Right. |
| Prevent adding duplicate route stops | "If enabled, shows alerts when manually adding stops, and automatically removes duplicates in bulk uploads." |
Per-driver preferences (Fleet → Drivers)
The travel rules ride with the driver, on their card in Fleet → Drivers:
- Type of vehicle — Bike / Scooter / Car / Van / Truck, each with real access limits the optimizer respects.
- Live road data — plan this driver's routes against real-time traffic.
- Avoid tolls / Avoid highways — keep their routes off toll roads or motorways.
- Vehicle Capacity and Max Stops — hard limits weighed against each stop's Load.
- Start / Finish Location and Shift Start / End Time — where and when their day begins and ends.
Because these are per-driver, a mixed fleet just works: the van with a toll pass takes the bridge while the bike courier's routes stay local.
Per-run strategy (Assign drivers & optimize)
How work is split across drivers isn't a stored preference — you pick a Distribution Strategy every time you optimize: Balance by Stops, Balance by Time, Fastest Overall (recommended), or Balanced Mix. See Assign drivers and optimize.
The driver's navigator
Which navigation app opens when a driver taps Navigate is the driver's own choice — Default navigator (Auto / Google Maps / Waze / Apple Maps) lives in the Routerra Teams driver app settings, not in the web app. See Get started with the driver app.
How the levels interact
Think of it as fallbacks, most-specific wins:
- A stop's own service time, arrival window, and curbside side (stop settings) beat the team defaults for that stop.
- A driver's vehicle, capacity, depots, and shift shape only that driver's routes.
- Team defaults quietly fill every gap you didn't set explicitly — so getting them right once makes every plan a little less work.
What's next
- Assign drivers and optimize — where these defaults get used
- Drivers: profiles, shifts, and vehicles — the per-driver settings in full