Bearing capacity classes (BK)

If PTV v2 is being used, it is possible to set the distance calculation to take into account the road bearing capacity classes to get a more accurate distance on the order. Opter then takes the setting into account and calculates the distance using roads suitable for that vehicle, which may not always be the shortest route between sender and receiver.

More information about bearing capacity classes for roads and bridges in Sweden is available on the Swedish Transport Administration website.

Information about which bearing capacity classes can be used in Opter, and which countries they apply to, is available on the PTV website.

Setting the bearing capacity class of a price vehicle type

You specify which bearing capacity classes a price vehicle type should preferably use, and then set a penalty value for roads with different bearing capacity classes. If a price vehicle type can have a total weight of 46 tonnes, it should use roads with classifications BK2 (max 51.4 tonnes) and higher. If you specify that it should be able to use BK1, BK2 and BK4, this means BK3 (max 37.5 tonnes) is penalised with the penalty value you specify.

The bearing capacity class is not a mandatory restriction. If it is not possible to reach the receiver without travelling on a road that the vehicle is basically not supposed to travel on, that road will be used anyway.

This setting therefore differs from the vehicle profile and dimensions, as these are mandatory. For example, if you specify a height of 4 metres on the price vehicle type, and there is a viaduct with a clearance of 3.5 metres on a road, that road will not be used because the vehicle would not be able to pass under the viaduct.

How to set the bearing capacity class:

Click on Economy > Price lists > Price vehicle types and go to the Distance calculation tab.
Enter the dimensions of the price vehicle type. As the PTV vehicle profile may not contain values for all dimensions, it is important to fill in the fields to ensure that the distance calculation is correct.
Select Take limitations, such as vehicle heights at viaducts and vehicle weights at bridges, into account when calculating distances. Recommended for trucks and other large vehicles. May lead to longer calculation times..
Enter MapAndGuide.PreferredRouteTypes and MapAndGuide.PreferredRoutePenalty in the table under Route optimization settings. To create a new row, place the cursor in the table and press Enter.
- MapAndGuide.PreferredRouteTypes: Bearing capacity class that the price vehicle type should preferably use, e.g. “BK_4”. Information on which bearing capacity classes can set is available on the PTV website. It is possible to enter multiple classes separated by commas. It doesn't matter in which order the bearing capacity classes are listed.
- MapAndGuide.PreferredRoutePenalty: A value between 0 and -100. The value indicates how much less weight is given to roads that do not have the bearing capacity classes you specified above when calculating the distance. If no value is entered, “-75” is used. The value applies to all the bearing capacity classes that have been specified. It is not possible to use different penalties for different bearing capacity classes.

Set up a few different test orders with different distances. Then test various values in order to find a penalty value for a price vehicle type you know should have different distances depending on the bearing capacity classes on which the vehicle is allowed to drive. Adjust the value until you get a route choice you are happy with for all orders. For example, a penalty value may give a good result for Gävle-Luleå, but not at all the expected result for the Lidingö-Solna route.

If the settings for the bearing capacity classes are changed on the price vehicle type, something needs to be changed in the addresses and the order has to be saved for the distance to be updated. For example, change the sender and receiver back and forth with F3. It is not enough to simply recalculate the prices by adding and removing a fuel extra, for example.

Example

Courier Services has an order between Betongvägen 1 and Källtorpsbacken 10 in Hässleholm.

If we do not take into account the dimensions of the price vehicle type and the bearing capacity class of the roads, the distance is 9.7 km, which is the shortest route between the addresses.

Take limitations, such as vehicle heights at viaducts and vehicle weights at bridges, into account when calculating distances. Recommended for trucks and other large vehicles. May lead to longer calculation times. is deselected on the price vehicle type used on the order.

If we instead set the price vehicle type as shown in the figure above and specify that only roads with bearing capacity class BK1 and BK4 may be used, the distance is 30 km. BK2 and BK3 are penalised with -92 when the distance is calculated.

Both longer and shorter distances can be obtained by changing the value of MapAndGuide.PreferredRoutePenalty, which in this case is set to "-92". BK2 and BK3 are penalised with 92.

Reference Materials

Price vehicle types (window)