Transport

Opening Transport

Click Transport in the left nav (under Operations). You'll see upcoming runs, past runs, and any runs waiting for confirmation.

Creating a transport run

1. 1
   Click New transport run.
2. 2
   Give the run a name (e.g., "Saturday Shelter Pull -- Riverside") and set the date.
3. 3
   Add stops in order -- origin, any waypoints, and final destination. Each stop has an address and arrival time.
4. 4
   Add the animals being transported. Select from your current animal records. Each animal is assigned to a leg (from stop A to stop B).
5. 5
   Assign a driver to each leg. Drivers can be team members or volunteers.
6. 6
   Click Save. Drivers receive an email with their leg details, pickup address, and the animals they're carrying.

Tracking the run

Open an active run to see its real-time status. Each leg shows one of five states:

• Pending -- not yet scheduled
• Scheduled -- date, time, and driver are set
• In progress -- driver has confirmed pickup
• Completed -- driver has confirmed handoff
• Cancelled -- the leg was called off

Drivers confirm each handoff by clicking a link in their email or SMS (if SMS is configured). Your team sees the update in real time. Each leg also has its own chat thread, so staff and the driver can message each other directly about that leg -- day-of directions, delays, or anything else that comes up.

Completing a run

1. 1
   Once all legs are marked Completed, open the run and click Mark complete.
2. 2
   Click Confirm. This closes out the run and moves it to your completed runs history -- it doesn't change any animal's status on its own, so update each animal's record separately if the transport changed where they landed.

Coalition transport

If your rescue is part of a Fosterling coalition, transport isn't just one rescue assigning a run to another -- it's a needs-and-offers marketplace across the whole coalition. Rescues post transport needs ("this dog needs to get from County Shelter to our partner clinic 200 miles north") and transport offers ("we have a driver going that direction Saturday"), and any rescue in the coalition can match to one.

For longer moves, Fosterling can suggest an AI-assembled multi-leg chain that stitches together offers from several coalition rescues -- so an animal can travel further than any single rescue could drive on its own, handed off leg by leg between coalition partners.

Can I track the same animal across multiple transport runs?

Yes -- each run is a separate event, and it shows up on the animal's timeline alongside their other scheduled events (vet visits, meet & greets, and so on).

What if a driver can't make it last-minute?

Edit the leg to update the driver, or cancel that leg and create a new one with the new driver -- there's no automatic reassignment notification today, so let both drivers know directly.

Does Fosterling show a map of the route?

Not yet -- route mapping is on the roadmap. For now, driver emails include the full address of each stop.