App for calculating when to leave to arrive at a certain time

I've always used 50 mph for one-day trips and 25 mph for multi-day trips (just easier than figuring out drive time, then rest time... and it's 80 km/h and 40 km/h in Canada).

 

strange as it may seem in today's world ,sometimes you just have to think for yourself and figure stuff out.

 

It seems truck drivers want to replace everything they do with technology then get mad when they hear technology will be replacing them. If you can't figure out when you should leave, start your trip to the closest yard and turn your truck in.

 

Instead of dividing by 50 or 55, just MULTIPLY the number of miles by 2 (this is the same as dividing by 50), it is much easier. This will give you the number of DRIVING HOURS you need. The longer the trip, the more accurate the number actually is, because the greater time smooths out of all the unexpected variables. For each 11 hours of drive time, throw in an hour's worth of breaks, and 30 minutes worth of inspection/on-duty time. This total number will give you the time you need on your 14-hour clock.

So let's do an exercise together, shall we?

You are taking a trailer full of cranberry juice from Ocean Spray in Henderson, NV to the Walmart DC near Pottsville, PA. There are 3 main routes all within 30 miles of each other. So let's call it 2440 miles to make things simple. By the way, you spent the night in the Ocean Spray staging area, so you are ready to roll after getting loaded at 0900 on Monday morning.

When will you get to the Walmart DC? Answer: Friday at 0848

So how to arrive at this number?

1- Determine your route miles: 2440

2- Multiply by 2. This gives us 48.80 (move the decimal 2 places to the left). This is the driving hours you need.

3- How many multiples of 11 are there? 4. This is the number of 10-hour breaks you need. So you ADD 40 to the driving hours, giving you 88.8.

4- 88.8 DOES NOT include breaks, inspections and fueling stops. So we need to figure this out, based on your work habits. I take one 30-minute break and two 15-minute breaks a day, for a total of 1 hour daily. So I need to add 4 hours to 88.8, which gives me 92.8.

5- I do 30 minutes worth of inspections a day, so I need to add 2 more hours to 92.8, which leaves us at 94.8.

6- Next, I add 1 hour total fueling time for the trip. This will include probably 2 fuel stops and whatever comes along with it: a quick bathroom visit, coffee, etc. So add this hour to 94.8 to give us a final number of 95.8.

7- This will give us the total trip time: 95.8 hours. So you add this to your original departure time of 0900 Monday morning. Usually, you will actually have a lot of time to spare, because this method factors in an average driving speed of 50 mph. If most of the driving is highway, then 50 mph is pretty conservative. But I don't like to tempt the trucking Gods, so I always use this method.

You can skip a few steps to make things easier if you want. I skip steps 4, 5 and 6 by just adding 2 hours total for each 11-hour set. Now, the beauty of this system is that you can make adjustments because you will usually find yourself ahead of schedule as the days go by. So you can adjust accordingly if you want. I just try to stick to it to get to my destination a few hours early, unless I am really tired during the trip and want to catch some extra rest along the way.

 

I use the Hammer app for trip planning. My S&S fuel card is restricted to PFJ. So figuring in my 30 and incidentals I look for a PFJ at the max distance I can drive and find or buy a parking place. I usually pull in with 30 to 40 minutes on the clock, sometimes less. Those points on the PFJ card pay for a lot of parking and I have yet to pay for a shower.

 

unless you're like me, (as when i was a newbie) and don't have a second watch or clock, and are on East coast time, and have to be in CA at 7:30 AM...

which i was there for about 7:00 AM, but then again, they are 3 hours behind..

sucked to be waiting from 3 AM till 7:30......

am i ever glad, after that, i got hosed for an alarm clock at the truck stop...(no walmarts back then)

 

Piece of string taped to a pencil

 

IDK. Trip planning stuff like that isn't exactly rocket science. I never considered using an app for such.
I aim to show up for appointments 1 to 2 hours early. I figure how far away I am, how long I think it will take me, which depends on what kinds of roads and normal traffic I'll probably have to contend with at that time of day, and then how long from when I wake up to when I'll be ready to start my pretrip and naturally contend with where my clock is at and when I can actually legally get moving. All together and I know when to set my alarm and get up.

 

They actually HAD truck stops back in your day?



OMG, I'm killin' myself here... just killin' myself, I tell ya...