Welcome to QRoutes!

QRoutes is map based software to help you quickly create optimised transport plans. You load the trip requests (who needs to go where and when) and use QRoutes’ tools and features to schedule those requests.

In QRoutes, we use Route to refer to a vehicle itinerary or sequence of pick-up and drop-off points and Solution to refer to the overall transport plan (a collection of routes).

Getting started

The requirement needs to be specified in a QRoutes File, a Comma-separated Values (CSV) format file which can be produced by most spreadsheet and database applications. Alternatively, you can upload an Excel (.xlsx) file with the same layout.Download the QRoutes File templates.

Upload the QRoutes File by selecting the Upload file button or dragging the file into the drag box.

Once the data is loaded QRoutes is intuitive and fun to use.

Pop-up dialog boxes

You can always take any of the following actions when a pop-up dialog box appears:

Move the dialog box by clicking on the box and dragging it.
Access the help panel by clicking on the ? symbol.
Clicking x to close the dialog.

Data security

It is impossible for anybody, even a QRoutes administrator, to access any data uploaded by you to QRoutes.

The software doesn't store any data between sessions and so you should ensure you save your results before the end of the session.

QRoutes Support Request

Need some help? Click the button below to open a message box where you can request support and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Templates & Training Data

Download QRoutes User Training Data

Download Template Files

Release Notes

Find out what we added, changed and fixed in current and previous versions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Browsers

Which web browser can I use?

Account

How do I reset or change my password?

Who are the other QRoutes users in my organisation?

Data Import

Why do I get the "Map routing data (time and/or distance) has changed" message when loading a file?

Are there any limitations on the size of the QRoutes File?

Why does QRoutes corrupt some characters from the QRoutes File?

Functionality

Can I delete a passenger from my solution?

Can I automatically generate the return journeys?

Will my scheduling be cancelled when I close my browser?

Can I assign a passenger to a specific vehicle?

Can I use QRoutes to plan the delivery of parcels or bags?

Can I load a route trace (a route without passengers)?

Reporting

Can I print out the route itineraries?

Google Street View

Why do I not always see an image when using Street View?

QRoutes Support Request

Need some help? Click the button below to open a message box where you can request support and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Back to FAQ list

Your web browser must support the latest TLS security protocols. This is to protect the data in transit between your machine and the QRoutes server.

All modern web browsers support these protocols. Your browser should keep itself up to date. If not, get help checking for updates to your browser:

1: Open an internet browser and go to the QRoutes log-in page.

2: Enter your username (please email support@qroutes.co.uk if you have forgotten this).

3: If you have forgotten the password press the Reset Password button. QRoutes will send you an email with a link to reset your password.

Only an Admin user has access to this information. They can see the list of users by going to Settings, then Information, and then Account Information.

The Admin user can also manage users from here - freeing up licenses from inactive users and assigning them to new users.

QRoutes produces this message when the distance or time of one or more of the routes being loaded is calculated to be different to the values recorded in the file.

This is normally because the average road speeds associated with some or all sections of roads have changed, although it is possible the route itself has changed slightly, e.g. from the introduction of a mini-roundabout.

Please see the Map timings change message video for more details.

You will see two options:

Recalculate distance and time (recommended). This updates the route distance and times to the latest and most accurate estimates.
Keep original distance and time. This keeps the original distance and times and is useful if, for example, you want to review provision which has been contracted in the past.

QRoutes standard data limits for any Solution are 1500 passengers, 100 vehicles and 10 locations.

QRoutes will not allow you to upload a file with more than 1500 passengers.

If you have more than 100 vehicles set up in a fleet, the application will only use up to the first 100 vehicles in a Solution.

If the QRoutes File has more than 10 destination locations, the application will only schedule to the first 10 locations.

You can request a change in these limits by raising a support ticket if the limits are significantly compromising your use of QRoutes.

This is a problem with the character encoding of the .csv file when it is, for example, saved from Excel. QRoutes expects the .csv file to be encoded in the UTF-8 standard.

Excel users can select the CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) encoding when using Save as.

Alternatively users can use utilities such as Notepad++ to change the encoding of their .csv file.

Yes, QRoutes has a two-stage process to do this:

1. Click on the passenger icon that you are looking to remove to open the passenger information. Select the Unallocate passenger(s) from route option and apply it. The passenger icon will change from the numbered passenger icon to a grey unallocated icon with a letter.

2. Click on the now unallocated icon to open the passenger information again and select Delete passenger from solution option and apply.

When you download the results file the passenger's data will still be there but with no pickup time or route number.

Yes, QRoutes will create the reverse of your routes, generating the outbound itineraries (those from common sources) given the inbound itineraries (those to common destinations) or vice versa. See Reverse Solution in the Schedule help for more information.

In general, yes.

If the browser has been closed for more than 10 minutes QRoutes will cancel the scheduling. On the other hand, if the user logs back in quickly enough their scheduling may still be active and will complete as per normal.

Yes, but it takes some setting up.

1. First set up a new Passenger Type for the passenger, e.g. Oxygen User and set the Vehicle Accommodation type to Stop.

2. Next modify or create a vehicle layout to accommodate the new passenger type using Stop, e.g. the vehicle can accommodate 13 single seats and 2 Stop.

3. Finally ensure the relevant passenger types are set to the new Passenger Type in the QRoutes File and schedule using a Fleet with the modified vehicle(s).

Please see the Assign a passenger to a specific vehicle video for more details.

Yes. Please see the dedicated help page Planning bag deliveries.

Yes, there are two ways to go about this:

Zero-load stops. A route can be defined as a sequence of stops with zero-load (no passengers). The entries in the QRoutes File for the route are the same as for a standard route excepting the passenger fields should all be empty apart from Load Type, which should be set to Empty Stop. Once loaded the user can assign passengers to zero-load stops manually or using Allocate passengers to existing routes.
Leavers. The user can specify a passenger as a Leaver in the Skip column of the QRoutes File. QRoutes will load Leaver trips along with non-skipped trips but an additional option to Remove all leavers becomes available on the Schedule drop-down menu. Selecting this will remove the Leavers but the route trace and any stops on it will remain even if there are no longer any passengers served by it. Unallocated passengers can then be assigned to those routes manually or using Allocate passengers to existing routes.

Yes, you can generate a PDF report summarising the solution and providing an itinerary and map for each individual route. The button to do so is in the Results menu on the Map Screen.

Not all road locations are covered by Google Street View, for example some roads may be on private land or Google may not have the permission to show the image.

The Street View image database is owned and maintained by Google and QRoutes has no influence on what is shown.

Version 2.16

What's new

Load fixed or public transport routes in the QRoutes File. These routes will not be modified when scheduling.
Load a QRoutes File as an .xlsx rather than .csv file.
Export routes in GTFS format.
Vantage customers can now load transport requirements for multiple weekdays.

What we have updated

Scheduling is between 2-8x faster.
Add a passenger in QRoutes when in Vantage mode.
Retrieve route mileage for current solution over the API without scheduling.
Store plans in Vantage over the API.

What we have fixed

Depots were not showing in some cases after loading from a QRoutes file.
When sorting routes by time or distance, then modifying a route, a route disappeared and another route appeared twice in the list of routes.
Scheduling over the API on licensed school accounts did not always use the correct map calibration value.
In rare cases, you could not route to or from certain locations using the new mapping (OSRM).
After opening Street View from a point and returning to QRoutes, the QRoutes map moved around.

Version 2.15

What's new

View upcoming roadworks on the map and get warnings if they affect routes.
A "Routes information" window is available from the Schedule dropdown. This allows you to see differences in route time and distance after you make changes.
Vantage customers now have an Analysis tab which provides a graphical analysis of your transport provision, e.g., a breakdown of routes per route size or a breakdown of passenger on-vehicle times. The analysis can compare multiple data sets, including before and after bulk route optimisation.

What we have updated

You can now specify custom fleets and vehicle layouts over the QRoutes API.
When assigning a passenger to an existing stop on a route, the route will only call at that stop once.

What we have fixed

When scheduling with 'add new routes to current solution', a route number was sometimes duplicated.
Roadworks alerts sometimes stopped working when a user was removed from a QRoutes account.
Some columns were duplicated when downloading the QRoutes file.
Dashboard sometimes did not update automatically after uploading a new plan.
Results.csv no longer downloads multiple copies of the same file

Version 2.14

What's new

Avoid routing through "access-only" areas, like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods or School Streets (paid add-on).

What we have updated

Overlays will still be visible after logging out and logging back in again.
You can set a passenger as "allowed to use stop" from the Edit passenger screen.
QRoutes now ignores blank rows in import files.
Vantage is now faster when scheduling routes with 6 or fewer passengers.
Customers using OpenStreetMap can now get warnings when a route passes through an area in an uploaded overlay (this has been available for customers using Ordnance Survey since QRoutes 2.12).

What we have fixed

It was not possible to add new users.
After scheduling with "Add new routes to current solution", colour of passenger popup did not match colour of route in routing panel.
Roadworks warnings were not showing in some specific cases where roadwork location data was unusual.

Version 2.13

What's new

Get email notifications when roadworks affect your routes (paid add-on).

What we have updated

QRoutes warns you when you upload a QRoutes file with invalid OSGB coordinates or UPRNs.
You can now upload a QRoutes file with more locations than your account "Max number of common locations to schedule", but you will not be able to schedule to those locations.
Ordnance Survey mapping data has been updated to March 2025 version.
A solution with a bus stop with no name could not be published from Vantage.

What we have fixed

Route numbers were lost when scheduling with "Add new routes to current solution".
"Allocate passengers to current routes" would add passengers to stops who were not allowed to use a stop.
Solution summary showed incorrect statistics when you uploaded a QRoutes file with depots.
Unused bus stops from bus stops file disappeared when you uploaded a QRoutes file.

Version 2.12

What’s new

Get warnings when routes pass through an area in an uploaded overlay.

What we have updated

If you upload a QRoutes file with missing required data, QRoutes now tells you which row or rows have errors.
QRoutes Support can, on request, configure the time delay before QRoutes automatically logs you out when you are inactive.
Map panels (e.g. routing panel) stay in the same place when you go to the configuration pages and return.

What we have fixed

Issue where a bus stop that was moved from one route to another, or removed from a route, would return to its previous route.
Occasional issue where walking distance to a bus stop was incorrect.

Version 2.11

Minor update with a few bug fixes and some extended functionality for QRoutes Vantage.

What we have updated

Allocation to bus stops is now much faster.
Empty stops are now kept by default when bus stop scheduling or optimising the route.
Longer passenger notes are now included on the PDF report.
Otherwise valid QRoutes Files with a blank row at the end can now be loaded without error.
Passenger icons for Must Travel Alone and Travels in Isolation are now different colours.

What’s new

Vantage users can load passenger assistants into QRoutes.
Vantage users can see the number of routes requiring a passenger assistant in the summary.
Vantage users will be warned is the subset of passengers taken into QRoutes potentially breaks a must share rule.
Vantage users can quickly see any unallocated passengers' destinations.
Vantage users can download a complete list of errors when attempting to publish data to the Dashboard.

What we have fixed

Occassional issue with unallocating passengers from routes.
Incorrect labelling of places to automatically resolve U-turns.
Incorrect route number output in the vehicles file.
Inability to set both must-share and must-not-share rules through the User Interface.
Notes can be up to 2048 characters long when publishing from Vantage.

Version 2.10

What we have updated

Look and feel - the application has an updated colour scheme.
House Name column added to the overlays file.
Rebranding of the enterprise module extension to Vantage:

Process extremely large files quickly.
Retain route numbers when re-scheduling.
Compare routes before and after re-scheduling on a map.

What’s new

Passenger Assistants can have different pick-up and drop-off addresses.
Extended the way to define the time requirements when reversing routes.
Improvements to the exported vehicle file.
Find Optimal Route for a passenger is much quicker.
More options on the PDF download:

Passenger Assistant requirement per passenger.
Address and notes for unallocated passengers.

What we have fixed

Assigning a Must Travel Alone passenger to a route with other passengers now raises a route violation.
Passenger Assistants are now scheduled correctly when reversing routes.
Scheduling works correctly for fleets with vehicles from different depots.

Version 2.9.1

Minor update with a few bug fixes and some extended functionality for QRoutes AI.

Version 2.9

What we have updated

Look and feel - the application has a fresh new colour scheme.
Schedule filters added for passenger types and passengers requiring a General Assistant.
Option added to anonymise reports on download.
Improved search, e.g. for NaPTAN stop codes or passenger types.
Options added to rename or re-colour polygons in overlays.

What’s new

Addresses can be specified by just their UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number).
Define and manage fixed routes, with or without passengers assigned.
Bulk assign vehicles to routes.
Optional warning whenever routes contain U-Turns.
Option to specify vehicle attributes (width/height/length/weight) for more accurate warnings on road restrictions.
QManager module extension:

Process extremely large files quickly.
Retain route numbers when re-scheduling.
Compare routes before and after re-scheduling on a map.

What we have fixed

Occasional issue with scheduling Must Travel Alone passengers.

Version 2.8

What we have updated

Ordnance Survey map data is now updated at least bi-monthly.
NaPTAN database is now updated at least bi-monthly.

What’s New

Creating bus stops from the stops in the current solution.
New vehicle file format.
New route export in KML and GeoJSON formats.
Retained file names when downloading results or vehicle files.
Admin users can now add, amend and delete users from the user list.
Login with an email address as the username.
Login with Azure Active Directory.

What we have fixed

Vehicle restriction panel will update after route change or undo/redo.
Vehicle file will have the correct distance from a depot to a Passenger Assistant pick-up.

Version 2.7

What we have updated

Ordnance Survey map data is now updated at least bi-monthly.
NaPTAN database is now updated at least bi-monthly.

What’s New

Faster loading of larger QRoutes files.
Ability to validate addresses when loading a QRoutes file.
New sort and search functions in the route results panel.
New drag and drop functionality in the route results panel.
New simpler format for specifying passenger sharing rules.
The ability to assign two Passenger Assistants per vehicle.
Choice of route re-optimisation on Find Optimal Route function.
Administrator users can manage their own user accounts.

Version 2.6

What we have updated

Ordnance Survey map data updated.
NaPTAN database updated.

What’s New

Passenger assistants are assigned to the same route on Reverse by default.
Routing tool now has selection for Quickest or Shortest driven route, as well as walking route.
Route name can be edited from the route panel.
PDF report has alphanumeric names and information about total mileage.
Vehicle file includes alphanumeric route numbers.

What we have fixed

Incorrect passenger count in route panel for large data files.
Vehicle allocation when using mixed vehicle fleets (smaller vehicles are now preferred).

Version 2.5

What we have updated

OS Map and Address data update
NaPTAN database

What’s New

Address Validation from any QRoutes template file
Alphanumeric Route Numbers
New Search function, by name, by area or everywhere
Map Calibration using Google traffic data
Vehicle restriction warning on passenger report
PDF report customisation
Support Chat function
Partial bus stop creation for people that are not assigned to a stop

What we have fixed

Bus Stop scheduling now has cancel button
Changed Passenger Assistant information now saved in results file
Minor bug fixes

Version 2.4

What we have updated

OS Map and Address data update
NaPTAN database
Extended data search for address resolving

What’s New

Address validation now shows locations on the map
Alphanumeric Unique ID numbering
ID number in Add New Passenger dialog
New floating help panel
New floating Overlay dialog
QRoutes lite availability

What we have fixed

Improved speed of address resolving
Passenger icons not assigning correctly on Bus Stops
Multiple passengers not showing at the same Bus Stops location
Minor bug fixes

Version 2.3.1

This is a minor release which adds the capability to plan the delivery of parcels or bags.

What we have updated

Help, Q&A and Videos.
Template Files.

What’s New

Planning of parcel and bag deliveries.
Address validation can now also record the target geographic co-ordinates without a full postal address.

What we have fixed

Bug fix, Batch Merge now fully respects Maximum Ride Time constraints in all circumstances.

Version 2.3

This is a major release with new features that we believe make QRoutes an even better routing tool.

What we have updated

All map data.
NaPTAN bus stop data.
Help, Q&A and Videos.
Template Files.

What’s New

Who can travel with who - defining who individual passengers cannot, or must, share with.
Warning if routes include roads with height, width, length or weight restrictions.
Exact point-to-point walking route calculations.
Increased report customisation, including the ability to return a single PDF per route.
Increased account administration tools, showing the number of licenses in use and who they are assigned to.
Extended API to return walking routes and the geocoding or Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs).

What we have fixed

Bug fix, display of map in PDF report corrected.
Improved functionality for allocating passengers to stops.
Improved ability to multi-select and process passengers.

Version 2.2

What we have updated

All map data
Help and Q&A pages. Video links have now been included.
Training and template files

What’s New

Advanced scheduling options to extend or roll-over existing routes.
Passenger Assistant scheduling as first pickup and last drop-off.
Ability to edit passenger information from the map screen.
Ability to specify addresses by clicking on the map.
Recalculation of route timings following map updates.
Addition of mileage and Passenger Assistant time to the PDF report.

What we have fixed

Bug fix, Cropping of map in PDF report.
Bug fix, Route trace not visible with undefined vehicles.
Bug fix, Some vehicle layouts not loading correctly.

Version 2.1.1

This is a bug fix release following the major update to version 2.1

What we have updated

Removed the button to version 1
Routine Security updates and patches

What’s New

Version Information added
Single Location pin on map covering 2 Addresses now show both addresses
Assign to route & stop when assigning passenger to stop
Bring route trace to the top on roads that have multiple routes.

What we have fixed

Bug fix, New Passenger Address search now clears data after each search.
Bug fix, Reverse Route, add passenger Error.
Bug fix, Allocate Passenger to Desired Position on a Reverse Route.

Version 2.1

What we have updated

Updated OS map data 2019/3-V10
Updated NaPTAN Database 2019/03
OS Address Checking Service
Updated Help and Q&A pages

What’s New

New Context menu on routes panel accessed by right click
Ability to change vehicles after routing
Ability to Un-allocate all passengers from a current route.
New Clear data options, Clear all / Un-allocate passengers and clear routes
General/Dedicated Assistant Icons on left panel to show type of assistants on routes. Uses new values in the csv file None, Dedicated, General.
Exact points, new map tool button - show the passenger and stops at their exact geocoded position.
Filter U-turns, highlights any passenger that has been scheduled using a U-turn
Override max ride time, New options to change to value or by percent
Dual destination routes now show different colour for passenger on routes for different destinations
New warning icons in route panel for, time violation, vehicle capacity, unknown vehicle.
Stops on reports will only show the stops on routes (without passenger) as a report
Show requested blocked road as No Entry icons on map