Dispatching and scheduling software in the transportation services industry is programmed to deal with different variables relating to drivers and customers, from processing service requests received from both customers and vendors to coordinating drivers in accordance with those service requests. However, dispatch software is imperfect in terms of the types of information it collects and stores for later processing when creating schedules. Errors or conflicts can slow processing speeds and compound problems that may eventually obstruct service. Organizing such information in a database and comprehensively querying it to preschedule service requests in an efficient manner presents numerous challenges, particularly where systems sort through one driver after another until a preliminary match is found. After finding a preliminary match, the driver must be contacted to see if he/she is actually able to provide the service. Alternatively, if the driver receives a list of already-scheduled trips, he/she may have to cancel one or more if a conflict arises.
In conventional systems, such problems can be extremely confusing and time consuming for a dispatcher to preschedule trips the day before, or taxing on a computing system. The process is further complicated when cancellations and booking changes are factored in, especially when there are multiple legs per trip (e.g. taking a customer from home to a store and then back home), simultaneous service for more than one customer, or multiple trips scheduled back to back. Changes or cancellations may necessitate that a service request be sent back to a “dashboard” for re-scheduling, often manually.
When presented with a service request, a driver may assume that he/she will be able to get it completed on time, but due to an unforeseen route change or a miscalculation, may have to work past his/her desired stopping time. Thus, drivers are often dispatched to service requests for which their schedules are incompatible, and customers and drivers sometimes have to cancel with little advanced notice. Dispatchers are not always familiar with who the customers are, and may not know their preferences. Situations arise where a dispatcher sends the closest driver to the customer, but that driver may be unfamiliar with the area or not like by the customer to which he/she is assigned. Although the driver is close and can quickly pick-up the customer, the customer may be dissatisfied with the service. Moreover, sometimes drivers who are prescheduled for a service have to wait extended periods of time outside for a customer who is not yet ready, even though the driver was dispatched to show up at a certain time. Dispatchers have no way of knowing or efficiently updating the driver as to when the customer may be ready. Providing dispatch and transport services is a complicated operation, and has numerous areas in need of systematic improvement. Traditional dispatching methods allow for less adaptability to new service requests or service requests that change unexpectedly.
It will therefore be appreciated that improved systems and methods are needed in the art to address these issues, streamline processes, increase driver utilization, improve efficiency, limit manual dispatching, address customer and driver dissatisfaction, enable customer and driver customization for prescheduling service request assignments, and utilize technological improvements for prescheduled services with automation.