Your advice please

[bobleponge]

Imagine yourself in a country that isnt your own, away from home for anything up to 2 months at a time, without family etc.
During that time you have one day off a week to do pretty much as you please, and you have a driver with a car.
You work longish hours, and half an half hour commute to work and back every day.

I have around 65 of the above to look after, and one bit is to ensure they all get into work in the morning. I dont have a problem with punctuality, but the problem I have is this.

They live in different areas around the city, and we must have an escort to and from the site. I thus gather everyone in the hotel carpark and we set off from there. There are enough drivers and cars, so surely it would be logical to just get into a car for a half hour journey and get out at the other end??

Every day I have to send a traffic plan as to who will be in what car the next day (the numbers are roughly similar, but personnel turnover is constant) and every single day thus far I have had someone come into the office the second its left my outbox, complaining that they want this driver or that vehicle.

Despite the fact my tattoos on my butt are rubbish, after 23 years as a squaddie, I would just get into a car and get out at the other end, wouldnt bother me a fig.

Is that usual or would the driver/car be important to you on a half hour commute to and from work?

[SarzWix]

It would make no odds to me which car/driver I ended up with! But then I'm not accustomed to being chauffer driven, and I'd treat it like calling a taxi, you get whoever turns up, and as long as it has the right taxi company badge on it, you get in!

[dogsbody]

Bob,

If they knew you like we do they would trust your judgement. That's why I voted "any".

However, you are probably dealing with a bunch of people who are not "professional" at your level who will be very nervous and possibly liable to superstition / routines.

Now I know you cannot please all the people all the time, so hold a daily raffle.

[OllieMartin]

I'm somewhere between the top two.
If there was someone I liked sharing a car with then I'd probably want to be with them if it wasn't too much trouble. If it was; I'd get in any car I was told to.

[Glutton4...]

I guess if the area wasn't particularly safe, I would feel much more comfortable with a familiar face/vehicle. Why can't the same driver/vehicle do the same route most days?

I do appreciate that due to days off and vehicle servicing or breakdown, there will be the odd change to regular scheduling, but it is usually easier for all if people have a regular route. I used to do transport management - it is a headache.

[binley100]

If it was just a case of getting in a car to go to work and back I'd get in whatever was available. Mind you if they were a bad driver and scared the carp out of me I'd think twice about being driven by them again.

[bobleponge]

The reason the same driver/car cant do the same thing every day, is because I only have a limited amount of vehicles to collect a lot of people from several different areas of the city, some of which are about 20 minutes away.
When someone leaves, generally his replacement doesnt live in the same place, so have to juggle the cars pretty much daily.
We are allowed to drive around the city without an escort, but MUST have an escort from the city limits to the work site. I have seen people arrive at the starting point, the hotel, and get out of a big 4 x 4 with 4 people in it, and climb into a Twingo with 3 people already inside. Madness.

[miffy]

I would be glad of a lift to work. However i make a really bad passenger as i always drive the car when hubbie and i go out and would rather drive than be driven any day.
I also think it is much better to be driven by someone you trust and doesn't scare the carp out of you as binley says.

[smallblueplanet]

Might it be that one or two of the drivers drive dodgems in their spare time? I think I might want a certain driver, or not, if that was the case?

[ladylottie]

I voted that I would get in any car and as long as I got to my destination in one piece I wouldn't care who drove.

That is - UNLESS the driver was very bad and scared me. Then I would want to be able to avoid them!
But in that case a bad driver would be reported to you, surely.

[bobleponge]

Since my arrival I have been out on the road with every driver, and there isnt one of them so bad as to scare you (this is remembering that standards here arent quite the same as in wesern Europe).
Also, we drive in convoy to the site and back, and I am the rear car so I can see how they are driving, and they know that.

I forgot to say, the result of this poll will dictate entirely how my transport plan is managed afterwards.
If the goodly Grapes say they would get in any car, then I shall continue to tell them to stop flipping whinging and get in the flipping car.
If said Grapes tell me that actually the car and driver is important, then I shall, against my better judgement, do what I can to let them hold their friends hands in the mornings and evenings.

[dogsbody]

NOW you tell us.

I stand by my reply, go for a raffle !!

[ladylottie]

Bob, I've just thought of something else. Do these people who want to share the same car work together all throughout the day? (I don't know what line of business you're in).

What I mean is this - if they are friends and don't see one another all day while they're working, perhaps that's why they want to travel together.

I know it seems a bit of a silly reason (after all they are adults?) and personally I wouldn't care either way but if as you say they're away from their family & friends from home perhaps it's changing their usual attitude. Just something else to think about....

[zazen999]

I can't vote until I know the specifics in detail...

So, you pick them all up from different sites, they all go to a central point and from there; the lot of you are chaperoned to the final site?

Personally, I'd let them have the choice; but I'd tell them you are making your FINAL choices by 18:00 hours and those that want to allocate themselves into a specific car must do so by 17:00 hours in writing; and it will be strictly on a first-come first-served basis. The plan will then be set in stone for the duration....

Then it is fair all round, innit?

[bobleponge]

We all work in a U shaped single story office block. If Hans wants to go and see Juergen, he just needs to walk, at the absolute most, 4 minutes to his office and have a chat.