Departurestart

Departurestart is a term used in scheduling, logistics, and data systems to denote the start timestamp of a departure event. It is commonly viewed as the earliest time a vehicle or service is permitted to depart and may be defined as part of a departure window that also includes departureend. The concept is applied across domains such as freight, public transit, aviation, and software that manages timetables or routes.

In data schemas and APIs, departurestart is typically stored as a timestamp (often in ISO 8601 format) and documented as the field that marks the onset of a departure window. It is distinct from related times such as the planned departure time, the actual departure time, and the scheduled departure time. In practice, departurestart helps coordinators manage gate availability, crew readiness, and regulatory checks by signaling when departures may commence, even if the actual movement occurs later within the window.

Usage examples vary by system. A freight shipment might set departurestart to 2026-01-02T08:00:00Z and departureend to 2026-01-02T08:30:00Z, with the vehicle leaving the yard at 08:25. In passenger services, departurestart can define the permissible window before the train or bus can depart, while the actual departure occurs when conditions are met.

Etymology follows the combination of "departure" and "start" and is most common in technical documentation and data models. See also: earliest departure time, departure window, departureend, planned departure time, actual departure time.