Travel time between appointments
Appointment scheduling software that accounts for travel time
CalMov helps solo mobile businesses offer appointment times they can reach. It allows time for the service and the journeys before and after it, based on the customer address and the bookings already in your diary.
What travel-time appointment scheduling means
Travel-time scheduling includes the journey when checking whether a new booking fits. You need enough time to leave the previous customer, complete the new service and reach the next customer.
For example, a 60-minute gap cannot fit a 60-minute home visit if you also need 20 minutes to drive there. Packing equipment, finding parking and setting up may need extra time too.
How CalMov handles travel availability
Lite
A travel buffer you set
Choose a fixed gap between appointments. CalMov leaves that amount of time for every journey.
Pro
Road and expected traffic checks
CalMov checks roads and expected traffic for the planned appointment time on the journeys before and after the job, then checks the journey again before the booking is confirmed.
Lite leaves the travel gap you choose around every appointment. Pro checks roads and expected traffic for the appointment time, on the journeys before and after the job. Allow extra time for parking, access and unexpected delays when setting up your services.
| Method | Best suited to | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Lite: A travel buffer you set | A small service area where most journeys take about the same time. | The same gap may be longer than you need for a nearby customer and too short for a distant one. |
| Pro: Road and expected traffic checks | A busy diary, or one where journeys vary, so roads and expected traffic can change which appointment times fit. | Unexpected traffic and appointments that run over can still cause delays. Allow extra time for parking, getting into the property and setting up, and keep a sensible margin in your day. |
Why previous and next appointments must both be checked
A proposed booking can fail in two directions. There may be too little time to reach it from the previous customer, or its service may end too late to reach the next confirmed customer. Checking only the incoming drive can accept a new booking while making an existing commitment impossible.
At the start or end of a working day, there may be no customer before or after the new booking. CalMov then works from your business base and working hours instead of inventing another appointment. You still decide how long each service and its setup really take.
Service areas and booking addresses
Coverage settings define where you are prepared to travel. The customer location is collected during booking so the system can apply the relevant availability rules.
A worked appointment and travel calculation
This example keeps service time separate from the time between visits, so the diary does not hide pack-down, parking or onward travel inside an apparently free gap.
- 109:00 — the existing customer service begins.
- 210:00 — the configured service ends and fifteen minutes of pack-down begins.
- 310:15 — departure; the journey to the proposed customer takes twenty minutes.
- 410:35 — arrival leaves ten minutes for parking, entry and setup before a 10:45 start.
- 511:45 — the proposed 60-minute service ends, followed by fifteen minutes of pack-down.
- 612:00 — a twenty-minute onward journey and ten-minute setup protect the confirmed 12:30 visit.
Automatic travel fees as well as travel time
A journey affects both your diary and the price of a visit. CalMov's travel time checks decide whether the service and the journeys around it fit. Automatic travel pricing on Pro applies your travel-charge brackets to the one-way journey from your business base to the customer.
Price by distance
Set a charge for each distance bracket. Brackets are measured in miles. CalMov uses the road distance from your base to the customer to find the matching travel fee.
Price by journey time
Set charge brackets in minutes when time spent travelling is the better basis for your fee. CalMov uses the journey time from your base to the customer.
Choose one pricing basis and enable your brackets for customer-address visits. The booking review shows the travel surcharge and total before confirmation. Coverage rules still control where you serve, and the availability checks still decide whether an appointment is reachable.
Learn how to choose your travel chargesBenefits for mobile businesses
- Offer appointment times that reflect customer geography.
- Reduce repeated manual address checks before confirmation.
- Protect confirmed customers on either side of a proposed booking.
- Choose a travel gap you set, or road and expected traffic checks on Pro.
- Apply distance-based or time-based travel charges automatically on Pro.
- Use coverage rules to shape a more workable mobile service day.
How it works for your business
A haircut, a car detail and a massage need different amounts of time. See how to plan your services, setup and travel around the visits you make.
Mobile barber booking software with travel time between appointments
Protect haircut duration, cleaning and travel between customer locations.
Mobile massage therapist booking software with travel time
Allow for treatment length, equipment setup, pack-down and home-visit journeys.
Mobile dog grooming booking software that adds travel time between appointments
Keep configured grooming time, cleaning and the next customer route reachable.
Mobile car detailing booking software for detailing and valeting, with travel time
Schedule fixed detailing packages around setup, addresses and onward jobs.
Industries that benefit
Mobile barber booking software with travel time between appointments
Let customers book mobile barber appointments based on your availability, service area and realistic travel time between addresses.
Mobile hairdresser booking software with travel time between clients
Plan mobile hair appointments around service duration, customer addresses and the travel time needed between home visits.
Mobile beauty therapist booking software with travel time
Let clients book mobile beauty, nail, lash and brow treatments at home, with treatment length and travel between appointments allowed for.
Mobile nail technician booking software with travel time between clients
Online booking for mobile nail technicians: set times for gel, BIAB, acrylics, removals and infills, and allow for travel between clients.
Home visit booking software with travel time between visits
Schedule customer home visits using service durations, your service area and the travel time needed before and after each appointment.
Mobile pharmacy visit scheduling with travel time between appointments
Organise bookable mobile pharmacy visits around customer addresses, working hours and the travel needed between appointments.
Mobile car detailing booking software for detailing and valeting, with travel time
Let customers book mobile car detailing and valeting appointments around service duration, customer addresses and realistic travel between jobs.
Mobile dog grooming booking software that adds travel time between appointments
Let customers book mobile grooms with travel time between homes, reuse saved pet details and answer questions for each visit.
Booking software for solo cleaners, with travel time between properties
Online booking for solo cleaning businesses: set each job's length, your service area and the travel time needed between properties.
Mobile massage therapist booking software with travel time
Let clients book mobile massage appointments around treatment duration, home addresses and realistic travel time between visits.
Mobile podiatrist booking software with travel time between home visits
Organise bookable podiatry and chiropody home visits around service duration, patient addresses and travel between appointments.
Mobile ear wax removal booking software with travel time between visits
Schedule bookable mobile ear care visits around appointment duration, patient addresses, coverage areas and realistic travel time.
Mobile tyre fitting booking software with travel time between fittings
Let customers book planned mobile tyre fittings around each job's length, their location and the travel time between fittings.
Field service booking software for solo mobile trades, with travel time
Online booking for one-person mobile trades doing planned jobs at customer addresses, with travel time between jobs. Not dispatch software.
Product test
How to test travel time between appointments with your own diary
Do not judge appointment scheduling software with travel time from a feature list alone. Build a test week that looks like a difficult working day, then check what a customer can book. Use your own services, customer addresses and the appointments either side, rather than a demo route picked because it works.
Step 1
Create two confirmed appointments in different areas
Place one before and one after an open period. Use customer locations that create a meaningful route rather than two neighbouring addresses.
Step 2
Request the longest normal service between them
Enter a proposed customer address and check whether the service, the drive there and the drive on to the next customer all fit before confirmation.
Step 3
Repeat with a nearby and edge-area location
On Pro, roads and expected traffic should change which times are offered for each location. On Lite, the travel gap you set should apply consistently.
Step 4
Test the first and last appointment of the day
Check what happens when there is a customer on only one side: the first visit after leaving your base and the last visit before you finish.
Step 5
Compare planned and actual journeys
Record service finish, pack-down, departure, arrival and ready-to-start time for a representative period, then adjust one duration or margin at a time.
Edge cases to decide before launch
No journey estimate is returned
Use a safe fallback or manual review rather than treating the missing journey as zero. Ask how each plan behaves before allowing automated confirmation.
The customer changes the address
Recheck availability because the original time was assessed against a different route. A stored time is not automatically valid at the new location.
A neighbouring appointment is cancelled
Available times can change when the appointment before or after is removed. The remaining bookings, your base and your working hours decide which new times can be offered.
Parking, access or setup varies
Keep a practical operating margin based on completed visits. Travel estimates describe the journey; they do not guarantee a parking space or readiness to begin work.
Frequently asked questions
Can CalMov price travel as well as allow time for it?
Yes. Automatic travel pricing on Pro uses your charge brackets based on either distance or journey time from your business base to the customer. It adds the applicable travel surcharge to the booking review, while CalMov separately checks the journeys around existing appointments.
Does CalMov use live traffic?
CalMov Pro checks roads and expected traffic for the planned appointment time. It should not be described as predicting every live incident, closure, parking problem or delay.
Can I add my own travel buffer?
Yes. Lite uses a standard travel gap selected by the business. You should also retain a practical margin for parking, customer access, setup and normal service overruns.
Does CalMov check travel after a proposed appointment?
Yes. Where a following booking exists, CalMov checks whether the proposed service leaves enough time for the drive to the next customer and their confirmed start time.
Which travel-time scheduling plan should I choose?
Lite suits a simple travel gap you set yourself. Pro adds road and expected traffic checks for the planned appointment time. Test both against difficult examples from your own diary before choosing.
Ready to make travel part of availability?
Compare travel-time scheduling and automatic travel pricing, then try them with a free Pro trial.