Unlike taxi services, our rides are prearranged days or weeks in advance, and most companies will routinely schedule a vehicle and a chauffeur beforehand. Once done, it seems to become set in stone more from habit than for efficiency.

Because many trips are “as directed,” we have no idea where the ride will actually end in the area. It just may end in an area close to another pick-up location.

It makes more sense in this era of high-priced fuel to reassign the vehicle already in a neighborhood to do that pick-up and reassign the previous vehicle to another trip. This will require having your vehicles well stocked and equipped to be refreshed in the field.

You also might consider scheduling early-morning pickups in advance by assigning the chauffeur who lives closest to the pick-up location. To use this type of scheduling, you will need to create an “overlay,” or map all residence locations for your chauffeurs.

On some occasions, it just makes more sense to have the chauffeur go straight home and start in the field in the morning. If a last-minute order comes in late at night, this chauffeur might be the best one for the assignment since he already has the vehicle. You may need to reassign his previous run to another chauffeur with the help of GPS mapping.