Planning transportation for large groups of people can be an extremely stressful experience. Keeping track of upwards of 1,000 people is a seemingly impossible task that can cause panic and distress, and is usually not something that most people look forward to planning. Booking with a professional company with experience in group transportation can take a lot that weight off of your shoulders. At Roman Worldwide Transportation, we have experience with seamlessly coordinating transportation for large groups from all over the world.

When booking transportation for large groups coming in from out of town, make sure you do so with a company that has plenty of experience. If you book with a small company who has never done this sort of thing before, chances are they’re going to find the task as overwhelming as you do. Reliability is essential in group transportation, and the more practiced the company is, the more reliable they’ll be. Many transportation companies, such as Roman Worldwide, have experienced transportation coordinators that will help assist you in the planning process, as well as the execution of your group transportation.

The first thing you’ll want to nail down when organizing large group transportation is an approximate number of people and the times they’ll be needing transportation. This is important, of course, because it will give you an idea of what kind of and how many vehicles to book. Having the most accurate headcount as possible is essential to ensure that you don’t book too many or too few vehicles. For example, if you have seventy people coming into town, but their flights arrive at different times throughout the day, booking a few smaller vehicles, such as a ten passenger limousine or a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter limousine, to do several runs would probably be your best option. If you have a group of forty people coming in, but their flights all arrive within a couple hours of each other, it might be a better option to book one motor coach to do one run instead of a series of smaller vehicles.

You’ll also want to keep in mind the amount of luggage that your guests will have with them. While motor coaches have ample cargo space in their luggage compartments, smaller vehicles like limousines and limo buses usually don’t have much space reserved for cargo, so your guests are likely going to have to carry their luggage with them in the passenger compartment on those vehicles.  So, if you’re booking transportation to have ten people picked up from the airport and all of them have large suitcases, it’s safe to say you’ll want to book something larger than the standard ten passenger limousine.

Once you have an accurate headcount, it’s time to go over the flight manifesto with your transportation company. We recommend arranging to visit the company’s headquarters in person if at all possible, so that you can see the fleet for yourself and meet with the person you’ll be working with to discuss scheduling for the airport runs, as well as any meetings or conventions your guests will be attending while in town. From there, they’ll be able to recommend vehicles and work around your schedule to ensure that the transportation goes as smoothly as possible.

It’s important to keep the transportation company completely up to date on any changes in flight times or cancellations prior to the day of the run so that they can accommodate accordingly and make sure that everything runs on schedule. On the day of, state of the art flight tracking technology can be used to keep track of fights and readjust plans according to any delays or early arrivals. On the day of the arrivals, the transportation coordinator will be onsite from start to finish, directing and making sure that everything goes according to plan. Chauffeurs will wait in the baggage claim with signs to greet your guests and help them with their luggage to the staging area, and ensure they get onto the correct vehicle if you have more than one booked. We understand that airport transfers are the most difficult aspect of planning group transportation, and we’re here to help.

Another thing to keep in mind when planning group transportation is if any of your guests are planning to stay for longer than the majority of the group, or prefer to be left out of the group itself. Obviously, group transportation serves a convenient purpose, and most are happy to use it. However, if you have any executives or higher ranking persons in the group, it might be of interest to them to travel in their own personal town car or limousine, rather than on the motor coach with fifty other people. Some people also prefer to stay longer than the duration of the event they are in town for, as a sort of mini-vacation. This is likely to come up when dealing with their flight information, so when it does be sure to ask if they’d like you to assist them in booking transportation around town or back to the airport, or if they’d prefer to arrange for transportation themselves.

Finally, here are some general tips for planning group transportation:

• Read the Reviews. This is advice I give often, and there’s a reason for it. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: nothing ruins a day faster than bad customer service. Booking with a reliable company with chauffeurs with professional attitudes is always a good idea, but when you’re planning group transportation, it’s essential. Websites like Yelp will give you a good idea of a company’s reputation.
• Ask about hidden fees. Some company’s try to sneak in charges without notice. Make sure to ask what’s included in the cost and what might get you charged with extra fees, so that you’ll be prepared.
• Have a back-up plan. Talk with your transportation company about what will be done if a flight is delayed 12 hours or some other catastrophe occurs so that you’ll be prepared if it does. With group transportation, unexpected snafus are a normal occurrence.