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Hello. We are a private school of around 250 kids. We have six buses. We have a database with all the addresses of the children. Is there a way to just import all 250 stops to mappoint and specify that i want it divided to six buses, with just entering the start and end address of the buses?

We currently plot the routes manually in mappoint. Can it be done automatic?


Thanks for any help.

You might take a look at a software add-in like TourSolver that will help to optimize your routes.

The problems it can help to solve would be things like evaluating if it's possible to reduce the number of routes while improving service.

TourSolver, your solutions for Route Optimization

Eric

I Filled out the contact sheet by that link. Is there any other option? There is no Price there. Would anyone know a approximate price for toursolver?

Thanks for your answer.

Just received a reply email. The price is above $4000. I dont think the school will be willing to pay it as we dont need to create routes every day, only twice a year at the beginning of the winter and summer season. Is there any Cheaper option?

Not that I am aware of... well if you look at the potential cost savings it could be worth it but I'm sure you'd like proof of that first

In a sense it would be nice to just have a consultant run the optimization for you and you pay him for a few hours of work to hand over the results.

On the other hand, it would be nice to have the software and capability in your office so you can tweak and refine it to get an accurate real world routing model / optimization.

By the way, there is another company I'm aware of, see this RoutePoint --
MapPoint Gallery

hope this helps,
Eric

Hello,

we have a .NET component that may help you with your problem. JOpt.NET is an automated vehicle routing and resource scheduling component for .NET and can be integrated with C#,C++,VB and J#. JOpt.NET creates an optimum schedule in terms of truck's payload to empty ratio and minimizes overall road
mileage. Given any arbitrary number of jobs, JOpt.NET determines the most cost effective truck allocation including driver's attributes or skills, capacities, working times and multiple time constraints at tour stops.

For 6 busses may be a cost effective alternative.

JOpt.NET Vehicle Routing Software and Resource Dispatching Library

Vince