A good driver and a good relationship with that driver has been instrumental in the success and enjoyment of my career as a Tour Director.   I was fortunate enough to have a two week gig offered to me even before I graduated ITMI.   A week and a half after I left San Francisco I was at the front of a coach, leading a large group of Brits on a Deep South tour.  My driver was a veteran for Grayline of Nashville, Franklin McFadden.   He quickly put me at ease and we instantly bonded.  At the end of the tour he took me aside and said, “Ken, I will cancel any assignment I have to be able to work with you again.”

That did wonders for my confidence.   I have had several more tours, with different operators, that used Grayline of Nashville.  Franklin has driven every one for me. Once, I called his dispatcher and requested Franklin for an upcoming tour.  The dispatcher told me that Franklin had retired and only drives occasionally anymore.   I told her to call him and say that Ken is working this tour.   Five minutes later Franklin is on the phone with me… “Hey, buddy!  It’s you and me on the road again!”

It’s like a family reunion each time we meet.  I introduce him as my brother, despite the fact that Franklin is an African-American.  We’re close as brothers and keep up with each other through the year.

Another driver I have worked with many times is Karl John, who drives for Nationwide out of Apple, Wisconsin.   Karl, too, has become a close friend.  He drives all of my “Around Lake Michigan” tours that I do for my company “World Wide Country Tours.”   Karl has driven this tour close to 60 times now with many different TDs but he tells me that he would rather work with me than anyone else.
We click.  We understand and respect how the other works.  We are a team and the fun we have together rubs off on the group.  We joke back and forth.  I use Karl’s local expertise for commentary for our quick drive-through city tour of Milwaukee and our stop at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.    At a lunch stop we always do at a little church in Michigan’s UP, Karl plays the piano and I sing and play the autoharp.  The pax just love it.

Sometimes you run into problem drivers.  Someone who is not only unfamiliar with the route but who has not bothered to even study it and relies on you to give instruction.  Someone who doesn’t pay attention and misses turnoffs.  (My iPhone GPS has saved us many times.)  I had one driver once who was on the cell phone all the time.  We had words and I put a stop to that but I’ve rarely had to get out the big stick and pull rank on a driver.

There is one driver who frequently operates the UK and Ireland tours for Collette.  He was notorious for being rough on rookie TDs.  He felt like he was always having to ‘train’ new and unprepared TDs. I know of two ITMI grads who were in tears nearly every day because of him.   I knew his reputation beforehand, so the first time I worked with him out of London, I introduced myself and told him that I had heard he sometimes had a problem with new Tour Directors.  I assured him that I was not only experienced but was prepared for this tour.  I told him that I would be there every morning to help with bags and I would carry my load, but that I would also rely on him to help me out with questions that come up along the way.  He smiled, shook my hand,  and said “we’re in for a great trip, then.”   And it was, indeed, a great trip.  I was prepared for commentary and he would cue me when something was coming  up ahead.  We made a great team and the pax often asked how many tours we had done together!

There are other drivers that I have worked with more than once.  I try to get along with all of them.  I treat them as a partner, not an employee.  I confer with them on timings and routes.  I may have to make the ultimate call but it will be done with their input and they appreciate that.   I give them a big ‘thank you’ when we pull into the hotel at the end of the day, and I give them a big, public “good morning!” as we pull out the next morning.   I also always arrange for them to disappear for a couple of minutes on the next to last day so I can do a pep talk in their behalf and suggest a proper thank you (gratuity) for them.   I never talk about myself regarding tips, but by building up my driver,  better tips come my way, too.

I heard a story about an ITMI grad, new on the job, who met his driver one morning and immediately told the driver “Your job is to drive and not talk!”   Now, why the hell would anyone want to start out like that?  Karma, being the bitch that she is, came back to bite this TD before long.   Apparently, somewhere out in the Canyon lands, the driver started to slow down to make a left turn onto another highway.  The TD said “We don’t turn here.  Keep going!”   And so the driver did.  About 45 minutes later, the TD woke up and realized they were way off course and had to turn around and backtrack, throwing them off schedule for the day.  Served the TD right, though it was detrimental to that day’s operation.

Many TDs are afraid that a friendly, charming, outgoing driver is going to steal the spotlight from them.  This just reflects their own insecurities.   While I don’t want a driver to constantly pick up the mic and tell jokes and give commentary, I have no problem with them doing so when I ask them for help.   And again, a fun, easy going relationship between the TD and driver rubs off on the pax.  Happy pax mean better tips, better end-of-tour surveys,  repeat customers, and job security.

I’ve done close to 70 tours in my five years in this business and I can assure you that a good driver is your friend.   And I now have several good friends that happen to be my drivers!

Cheers!

Ken Thompson
Class 220   August 2004

Although I have truly been blessed with fantastic drivers, my favourite will always be Hugh Miflin.  He works for MTR out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  He’s truly a professional, always tidy, guests are always royalty, the coach is always impeccable (inside and out), and he always helps with information in a discreet manner.
Brenda Pirani

Honestly – i get too into navigation, and they rely too much on me rather than the map, so I get distracted from giving narration.  I need to work on this.

The positive is that they have tended to like me and be very cooperative when needed.

Andrew

I know a truly fine, humble, quiet man, who is an amazing driver, and over 3 years of working together, has become a true working partner.  We have developed a work system that makes the guest always comment on what a great team we are.  When I first started my tours, it was mentioned that 2 drivers were available.  One was happy, cheerful, a natty dresser, laughing, and spoke a little English.  Or there was another, known as the “great silence.”

Now, TD’s, be honest – which would you choose?  Yep, it was the “great silence” Olivio Samoes.  Slowly over the next months, into the next year, I finally got him to come out of his shell enough to turn around and bow when I introduced him.  Now he even smiles, but his manners could never be faulted.  He hands the guests in and out,  we team work the luggage loading,

I have copies of all Amelia Rodrigues’ fado’s, which I play for the guests. Thanks to his tour last year with a group of Polish people, we had more than enough water to go around for the remaining tours of the year, in spite of immense heat.  That’s because the Polish people never drank a single bottle of the cases loaded on for them – they infinitely preferred vodka.  When the coach was on the verge of breaking down in the middle of nowhere, he never showed panic, and I did not realize how close a call it was until we pulled into  the only rest stop and I saw him rushing around the coach, looking worried. ”what’s the matter, Olivio”  “the bus is dead.”  What do you mean – the bus is dead?”  “Just that, she is not moving anymore.”  He stayed with it until a relief coach  arrived from Lisbon around 2 AM, drove  into Cordoba and was up at 6 am because Cordoba is where he washes the coach.  By hand.  With a bucket.  Every other day, inside and out!  So well, in fact, that he found a diamond stud earring in between the seats the morning after it was lost.  I am sure you could eat off the lavatory floor.  He has a small farm, where he raises one pig a year, and has a young vineyard.  Through him, the guests get to know the culture a little more, with updates on the wine production, when the pig will be shared amongst his relatives and how much olive oil he has gotten by the simple expedient of picking up the downed olives that have fallen onto the road from neighboring places on his way to and from the village.  He hates waste!

He drives carefully, always in his soccer clubs’ baseball cap.. He doesn’t drink, always order fish and for desert, “some  kind of fruit.”  Makes me feel a right glutton when I wolf down desert..  He never interrupts commentary or makes remarks about the guests.  He changes name cards, moves even the partial water bottles forward or back and the trash is promptly gone.  We have never lost a guest, a bag, or even an earring!  He is never late. And knows his route thoroughly, even occasionally talking his son, a driver also, through tricky switchback up in the mountains so he doesn’t get stuck  I hope some of the rest of you have a driver you love to work with as much as I love working with Olivio.  He is a credit to his profession, and makes my job much, much easier.  All those “first tour of the season” nerves go right out the window when he turns up at the hotel front for the first day.  A very special driver indeed. He works for Isodoro Duarte out of Mafra in Portugal.

Lee Greene

I’m afraid I only have very funny, almost scarry, stories about my Greek coach drivers.  I can end in happy memories for sure and even praise them for ‘making-up’ for their stubborn attempts to do their own tour… unless this is out of character of what we want to share?

Mary Damigos

We think it s about time to give motor coach drivers some well deserved appreciation… not only for their driving expertise and keeping us safe, but the multitude of other ways they make our job and the tour experience so much more enjoyable.

Today we want to salute the motor coach drivers!

So, the question of the week is:

How has the partnership with your motor coach driver really made a difference?

Please share your stories and, perhaps even, the names of your favorite drivers and motor coach companies.

Ted, Randy and the entire ITMI Staff