Our Covid-19 response
As a company, we are used to being humbled by the problems our software helps address.
No less so now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when QRoutes is being used by several local authorities to help plan the delivery of 1000s of food deliveries to vulnerable families and individuals.
As Covid-19 approached, it was apparent that this was a time for all-hands-on deck. We issued a statement saying we would support, free of charge, any public sector body facing extraordinary routing tasks until at least 21st June.
We know that some of our customers quickly adapted their use of QRoutes to planning delivery of free school meals and PPE to care homes. But we have also been working on some bespoke processes, including with non-customers and third parties supporting the effort.
Andrew has been working closely with Manchester City Council (MCC) to develop a custom route planning process to support vital food deliveries across the city.
“The support from QRoutes has been a huge help in enabling efficiencies with daily driver planning.”
Victoria Harper, who is leading the Food Response team at MCC.
And in Scottish Borders, alongside a similar process for planning meal deliveries, there is a separate process where carers need to stay for a short while to cook food.
In Redbridge, we were able to help planners test various alternatives policies to establish the most practicable way to get food to the families that need it.
In Birmingham, we’ve been helping to deliver around 1,000 food parcels each day to vulnerable people. Jeff has been working closely with the Council and National Express, who are undertaking the deliveries. Priority requests often arrive late in the day and QRoutes has been able to plan the deliveries so that National Express can set off promptly the next morning.
We have even been able to help pop-up cargo bike delivery services.
Altogether, QRoutes currently plays a part in the delivery of 10,000s meals and vital supplies up and down the country every day.
In the grand scheme of the sacrifices people are making during the crisis, we recognise our support is a small part of the overall effort. But we are delighted to be able to help where we can.
If your Covid-19 emergency response means you need a quick, efficient and optimised route solution, please get in touch. We’re here to help.
