Calculate ETA/ETD With Time‐Based Routing & Traffic Data
PC*MILER’s time‐based routing offers more precise travel time estimates, taking into consideration the time of day, day of the week, and time zones in route calculation and reports. Optionally, real‐time and historical traffic data can also be used in route calculations for even more accuracy (a subscription to PC*MILER|Traffic and an Internet connection is required).
At this point in the Tour, we will enter a target arrival time. When the route is run, PC*MILER will calculate the necessary departure time at the origin, and arrival times at two intermediate stops.
1. Minimize Route 1 and press <CTRL+N> to open a new route window (Route 2).
2. Open the Arrival/Departure drop‐down in the route window and select Arrive By.
3. Under Specific Date, click the calendar and choose any future day in the current month.
4. Under Local, set the time to 4:30 PM: first click the pick list to the right and select “4:00 PM”; next, click the minutes setting and type “30” or use the up and down arrows next to the pick list.
5. Click OK. If your copy of PC*MILER includes a subscription to PC*MILER|Traffic, select Traffic Disabled in the pick list to the right (we’ll get back to this feature in a minute). The route window is now ready to calculate a route that arrives at its final destination at 4:30 PM on the selected day:
NOTE: Both the time format (24 hours vs. AM/PM) and the time zone that is used for reporting can be changed in the File > Application Settings dialog. The time zone does not affect calculations.
6. Now let’s enter an origin, destination, and stops on this route. Enter the following locations in this order: Elizabeth, NJ; Hamilton, NJ; Camden, NJ; and Pittsburgh, PA using any ZIP codes.
7. Run the route. In the ETA/ETD column (scroll to the right if it’s not visible, or float the route window) you can see the approximate time at which the truck would have to depart from Elizabeth to get to Pittsburgh at 4:30. We didn’t set the amount of time the truck will spend at each stop in the HOS Manager, so this reflects only the driving time.
8. (If PC*MILER|Traffic and an Internet connection are not available, skip to Step 10.) Now we’ll make one change to this route: select Traffic Enabled in the drop‐down. The route will recalculate using real time and recent historical traffic pattern data, at the specified time, on the specified day of the week. Using traffic data, the estimated time of departure at the origin in our sample route is 37 minutes earlier for this route.*
9. We won’t be using this route again, so close Route 2 (gear button > Close Route).
* PC*MILER default routes, distances and travel times are calculated based on average road speeds by state/province, urban/rural, and class of road. Using traffic data can further enhance the accuracy of driving time estimates.