How to Save Fuel on an Interurban Delivery Route

As a delivery driver, what is the most mundane situation you are bound to come across every day?

It’s traffic. With its constant stream, there is no escaping it, and even more, it’s bound to cause delays, and inefficiencies along your route. As expected as traffic is, to this day it remains hard to predict the exact impacts it may have on your tight route – an unexpected accident may occur, or roadblocks may come about, that put a serious dent in your plans.

When it comes to suburban and urban routes, traffic is right up there with the top time and fuel wasting causes that drivers face. However, for interurban drivers, facing long stretches of road day in day out, traffic jams are only but a small fuel wasting challenge they face. And, with fuel prices soaring, scoping out every opportunity to save at the pump is key to saving your wallet.

Check out the following ways to save fuel on an interurban delivery route.
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Reduce Left Turns

Have you noticed, that idling while waiting to turn left, against oncoming traffic by default, wastes time and fuel. Seems like a fairly simple idea, wouldn’t you agree?

Well UPS certainly do, as they have taken this idea on board as one of their strong delivery strategies. Whether this is a myth or not, according to a study conducted by Hummer, it was found that redirecting left-hand turns to a right turn, and making drivers perform a U-turn, reduced travel time by 20% overall.

So, whether drivers are in the suburbs, city-center, or interstate, by avoiding left-turn they will be able to not only spend less time in the car but also, reach their intended destinations faster while saving fuel along the way.

Increase Fleet Capacity

These days, customers don’t put much thought into how their package arrives on their doorstep. They mainly care that the package arrives on time, and without a hitch. And, with the battle of increased orders, this means, logistics companies must deliver more goods but in the same amount of time.

To combat this issue, most companies decide to increase the number of fleets. Sure, this is a good solution, but more fleets also bring about more expenses. So, if you’re looking to save some extra bucks, this isn’t the way to go.

Instead, why don’t you look at increasing fleet capacity? Ensuring you have the right vehicle for the job is important. If your vehicle can contain more goods, then ensure to fill it up – and plan routes accordingly. By doing so, you’ll need fewer fleets on the road, and in turn less fuel consumption.

When buying vehicles, understanding your business needs is crucial, as buying the right vehicle that will be able to transport all goods, will be more cost-effective in the long run.

Break Bad Habits

Harsh breaking, dangerous overtaking, speeding at the traffic lights, tailgating, driving in the wrong gear, and so on. These are only but a few bad driving habits that contribute to a high level of fuel consumption. If avoided or eliminated, there could be a considerable difference to the amount of fuel used, and at the speed at which it is used up.

Even more, careless driving habits guarantee that you will have to service your vehicles more often – making fuel costs not the only expenses to worry about.

Conducting training sessions, into altering driving styles, and keeping to the highway code will help improve fuel consumption. Also, installing telematic devices to track and monitor driving behaviors will make it easier for you to identify problems, and therefore, teach and encourage efficient driving.

Route Optimization

Careful route planning is an essential element in making timely deliveries and saving fuel. With an optimized route, you can cut mileage, take into consideration road conditions such as traffic, road closures, weather, speed, and more, and determine the fastest and most efficient route.

Thereby, effectively saving your drivers wasted time on the road, and you, unnecessary fuel costs. Your drivers will arrive at all planned destinations at the expected time, avoid backtracking, and appease more customers, while saving you money along the way.

At MyRouteOnline, we do our best to help you save as much fuel as possible, by providing you with optimized routes based on time or distance. With our planned routes, you’ll be at ease knowing your drivers are following the most efficient path, and that you are doing all you can to ensure your fleets are saving as much fuel as possible.

If you’re interested in finding out how our planner can help you save fuel on your delivery route, why not try our free trial?!
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