Introduction
Care time and travel time are often described as two separate problems: care time is a "quality issue" and travel time is a "logistics issue". In practice, both are governed by exactly the same planning variables – which visits are placed in which order, with which staff, in which zone.
That means you cannot optimize care time in isolation. A planner who tries to squeeze more visits into a shift without also managing routes and zoning risks simply moving the problem: less slack between visits, but longer travel between them.
Care Time and Travel Time – Two Metrics, One Planning Problem
Care time is the share of working time staff spend with the client. Travel time is the share spent moving between visits. Add in miscellaneous time (documentation, reporting, handover) and the three sum to 100% of working time.
If you raise care time without lowering travel time, miscellaneous time has to go – which often hurts documentation or handover. The sustainable way to raise care time is to lower travel time through better routes and zoning, not by squeezing out administrative time.
Common planning mistake
Adding more visits per shift without optimizing order and zoning often increases travel time as much as care time – the net effect is small or negative.
Why Travel Time Is a Scheduling Issue, Not Just a Routing Issue
Travel time is not determined solely by distance between addresses. It is determined by the order visits are run in, which staff member is assigned to which zone, and how time windows and continuity requirements constrain which reshuffles are possible.
That is why route optimization and scheduling must be solved together. Optimize only the route for an already-locked schedule and you can lower travel time marginally. Optimize schedule and route simultaneously and the same staff member can get shorter trips and more consecutive visits with the same client.
Three Levers to Lower Travel Time and Raise Care Time at Once
Lever 1: Micro-zones and primary teams
Group clients geographically and assign fixed primary teams per zone. This reduces travel between scattered addresses while increasing continuity, since the same staff naturally return to the same clients.
Lever 2: Joint optimization of visit order and route
Let the planning engine weigh visit order, driving route, time windows, and working-time rules together – not in separate steps. Otherwise you optimize a sub-problem and suboptimize the whole.
Lever 3: Real-time adjustment without breaking continuity
When a visit is moved or cancelled (sick leave, cancellation), the replanning must account for both travel time and which staff member the client already knows – otherwise travel time and continuity problems build up during the day.
Calculation Example: What Does 5 Percentage Points Lower Travel Time Mean?
A home care unit with 20% travel time that lowers it to 15% frees up 5 percentage points of working time. Distributed across more visits or increased care time, that represents a significant capacity gain without a single new hire.
Assumptions
- 20 full-time-equivalent staff
- Travel time lowered from ~20% to ~15% of working time
- Freed-up time reallocated to care time or more visits
- Realization rate 50–70% of theoretical gain (as with other planning changes)
−5 pts
Lower travel time as a share of working time
~1 FTE
Practical capacity gain per 20 FTE
Just as with care time improvements, you rarely realize 100% of the theoretical gain. Expect some of the freed-up time to go toward increased flexibility and buffer rather than more visits – that is an intended effect, not leakage.
Checklist for Planners Who Want to Lower Travel Time
Before changing schedules, make sure you have the data and ground rules that make optimization measurable and explainable.
Geodata on all visit addresses
Without accurate coordinates, route optimization becomes guesswork – check address quality before optimizing.
Clear zone boundaries
Define which geographic areas belong to which teams, so optimization does not sprawl across the entire unit.
Continuity rules in the planning engine
Set limits on how many different caregivers a client can meet – otherwise the system optimizes purely for shortest trip.
Human review of larger reshuffles
The planner should be able to see and approve proposals that affect multiple clients at once, in line with transparency requirements for automated decision support.
Compare Your Unit With Industry Data
Want to see how your travel time and care time compare to other home care operations in Sweden? Sveriges Hemtjänst aggregates industry data and metrics per municipality and provider.
Explore industry data on Sveriges HemtjänstRunning a home care operation? Create a free profile in Mitt Caire to appear in comparisons and reach the right audience. Create a Mitt Caire profile
Sources and Related
Conclusion
Care time and travel time are not two separate goals to balance – they are two measurement points on the same planning problem. Lower travel time through better zoning and joint schedule-and-route optimization, and you get higher care time as a direct consequence, without overloading staff or losing continuity.
Want to see where your unit leaks the most travel time? Start by measuring travel time per zone and per shift for two weeks, then build a pilot with integrated schedule and route optimization.
Ready to Lower Travel Time and Raise Care Time at Once?
See how Caire's AI scheduling and route optimization solve both in the same planning engine – with the planner in control.