Route factor
The extra distance traveled from origin to destination compared with the straight-line distance, caused by turns, terrain and obstacles along the way.
In logistics, the route factor, often called circuity factor, measures how much longer the traveled delivery route is compared with the straight-line distance between the origin and destination.
The term circuity factor can be used to refer to the route factor but also any other type of circuity such, as the detour index. For this reason, route factor is more specific and less ambiguous.
The formula to calculate the route factor is:
Route factor = traveled distance / straight-line distance
In this case the route factor is 10 km / 8 km = 1.25.
A lower route factor is considered to be better, since it reduces the delivery time, the amount of fuel or energy consumed and the GHG emissions. The theoretical minimum route factor is 1.00.
The route factor can be impacted by:
- The geography (road and air)
- The layout of the roads (road) or the waypoints (air)
- Toll roads (road) or navigation canals such as Panama or Suez (ocean)
- Construction work (road)
- Weather (air)
- Runways alignment (air)
- Vehicle size (road, ocean and air)
In carbon accounting, because of the complexity added by the concept of route factor, the word “distance” can be misleading. To avoid mistakes or confusion it is preferable to specify the type of distance: traveled distance or straight-line distance.
On a typical deliveries dataset, the average circuity is inversionally proportional to the straight-line distance. Meaning that shorter deliveries tend to have a higher route factor than longer ones.
Cite this entry
Aito. (2026). Route factor. In Aito Knowledge Hub. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://aito.science/knowledge-hub/route-factor