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The number of West Valley hikers can vary considerably from week to week. This makes it difficult to efficiently plan who will be riding with whom each week. To address this issue, we have automated the process to make it fairer and more efficient. The process utilizes two tables.
The first dynamic web page is the West Valley Carpool. This page has recently been merged with the Attendance page. Scroll down to view the Carpool table. Hikers use this to choose whether they plan to hike the following week, or not. The second spreadsheet is the Driver Selection Process.
Here is how the process works in practice:
- On Wednesday evening or Thursday, the Driver Selection spreadsheet will be updated based on that day’s hike attendance, and will identify the primary and secondary drivers for the following week. Additionally, the updated West Valley Carpool will be posted, with the primary and secondary drivers identified, and the meeting location and departure time indicated. The meeting location will normally be the home of the primary driver.
- All West Valley hikers will input their plans into the West Valley Carpool as early as possible but no later than Monday at 8:00 pm. If either the primary or secondary driver will not be hiking or cannot drive, then the next available driver(s) in the Driver Selection spreadsheet will be the replacement driver(s).
- On Monday (after 8:00 pm) or Tuesday, all West Valley hikers who plan to hike will check the schedule to make sure they know the correct meeting location and departure time. (Note: If any hiker changes their plans at the last minute, they will input the change into the West Valley Carpool and call anyone who might be affected by their change.)
- On Wednesday morning, all hikers will meet at the designated meeting location 10-15 minutes before the departure time, and the primary driver will take all hikers if his or her vehicle has sufficient capacity. If the secondary driver is needed, the hikers will divide up between the two cars.
- The Driver Selection spreadsheet calculates carpoolers' passenger-miles based on miles driven and number of passengers for that week and also calculates cumulative passenger-miles from previous weeks. The two carpoolers with the lowest (most negative) cumulative passenger-miles will be the primary and secondary drivers for the following week.
- If designated driver(s) are not hiking that week, then the next available driver(s) will be chosen based on the next driver priority on the Driver Selection spreadsheet. It is the responsibility of the absent designated driver(s) to reselect the next designated driver(s) on the West Valley Carpool.
- We think this approach will be fair to all hikers, efficient in optimizing use of our vehicles, and (over the long run) simpler than the previous system. It will ensure that all hikers get a ride when they want to hike, and accommodate changes in the number of hikers from week to week without a lot of phone calls, texts or emails.
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