Definition of Travel Time for freelance interpreters
Thread poster: Wei Ralph
Wei Ralph
Wei Ralph  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
Member (2013)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Dec 20, 2018

What is your definition of Travel Time for freelance interpreters?

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
definition Dec 20, 2018

Question: What is your definition of Travel Time for freelance interpreters?
Answer: the total time it takes, door to door, for a freelance interpreter to get to a job, and back again.


Wei Ralph
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 13:06
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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@Wei Dec 20, 2018

Wei Ralph wrote:
What is your definition of travel time for freelance interpreters?


I'm not an interpreter, but if I had to hire one and payment for "travel time" was mentioned, I would have assumed it means the time it takes to travel to and from the event, rounded up to the nearest hour. However, your question prompted me to google for this, and I was surprised to discover that some interpreters' associations/agencies consider dead time (i.e. non-working time present at the venue, however this may be defined or agreed upon) to be included in "travel time".

If an interpreter were to complete multiple assignments per day, then I would have assumed that the travel time that I am liable for would include only time spent travelling from the previous venue to my venue (though I'm not sure how the very first and very last client of the day would feel about that).

I know that judicial interpreters often have to be available for more hours than their client may have initially stipulated (e.g. a matter gets postponed to later in the day), but I'm not sure if those extra dead hours would be considered "travel time", although I agree that they should be paid for (unlike what Applied Language believes w.r.t. UK MOD interpreters).

Tom in London wrote:
[My] definition of Travel Time for freelance interpreters [is] the total time it takes, door to door, for a freelance interpreter to get to a job, and back again.


Would you specify a maximum time, Tom, i.e. do your own calculation of how long that should take (barring exceptional circumstances) and require the interpreter to apply that time? Or would you consider travel time to be "travel time" even if the interpreter chooses to take a slower mode of transport (e.g. the bus is faster, but the train is a more relaxing ride)?

[Edited at 2018-12-20 20:08 GMT]


 
Wei Ralph
Wei Ralph  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
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English to Chinese
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TOPIC STARTER
City to city Dec 20, 2018

A state AOC reply stated their definition is city to city, not door step to door step. A 10 minute foot traffic going from parking lot to location (20 minutes round trip) was not under their definition.

Hedwig Spitzer (X)
 
Wei Ralph
Wei Ralph  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
Member (2013)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Multiple venues Dec 20, 2018

Samuel, you have raised a good question on sharing of travel time amongst multiple venues.
Allocation can be tricky.


 
IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 07:06
English to Russian
+ ...
Travel where? Dec 20, 2018

Commute within the same city, at least a commute over 1 hour, should be charged "from door to door" plus fares or mileage.

When I have to fly or drive for several hours to check into a hotel, it's usually 0.5 times 2 of the daily rate + 0.75 times 2 of the per diem (to and from) unless the client pays actuals instead, it's called "Travel Days" in the expense report. If an overnight stay is required to get back home, then a night at the hotel is also covered. In the US the clients u
... See more
Commute within the same city, at least a commute over 1 hour, should be charged "from door to door" plus fares or mileage.

When I have to fly or drive for several hours to check into a hotel, it's usually 0.5 times 2 of the daily rate + 0.75 times 2 of the per diem (to and from) unless the client pays actuals instead, it's called "Travel Days" in the expense report. If an overnight stay is required to get back home, then a night at the hotel is also covered. In the US the clients usually do not push you to leave on the last day of the meeting and cover extra night at the hotel on location, unless you yourself want to get back home faster. They can't force you to drive for 4-5 hours after a full business day. Also, there is always a risk of extended last day when most attendants are either local or guests who stay at the hotel on location, and the interpreters are from the same country but out-of-towners. Remind them that they might end up paying fees and extras for the ticket change:-) should the protocol discussion on the last day spill over your departure time.

Some of those conditions are hard to squeeze from some clients and then it's up to us - say, some go cheap on logistics/travel expenses but pay a rate that still makes the deal worthwhile. We can write off some minor things they do not cover. At least, no one in the US argues against mileage. Hotel/air fare out of my own pocket is absolutely out of the question.

[Edited at 2018-12-20 20:40 GMT]
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IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 07:06
English to Russian
+ ...
Samuel Dec 20, 2018

Samuel Murray wrote:

Or would you consider travel time to be "travel time" even if the interpreter chooses to take a slower mode of transport (e.g. the bus is faster, but the train is a more relaxing ride)?

[Edited at 2018-12-20 20:08 GMT]


Bus or train as common commute means are unknown species in my part of the world and, probably, Wei's too unless she resides in New York, DC, San Francisco or a few other US cities but I think that your strive for precision is slightly exaggerated. A sane client will not use a stopwatch. Actual commute time accompanied with the fare receipt should suffice. A presumably faster bus can get stuck in traffic. In case of driving, I use Google Maps for time and distance and, frankly, have no idea if the accountant bothers to double-check "the fastest route". Sometimes I do better than the navigator in my own city and never had a problem with a few miles or minutes difference in the expense reports.

I wouldn't recommend to work with the clients that actually use stopwatch From various posts and friends' stories I can conclude that European bureaucracy can reach heights unimaginable even for their US colleagues who are not too bad in that department themselves but still...


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Time Dec 21, 2018

Samuel Murray wrote:

Would you specify a maximum time, Tom, i.e. do your own calculation of how long that should take (barring exceptional circumstances) and require the interpreter to apply that time? Or would you consider travel time to be "travel time" even if the interpreter chooses to take a slower mode of transport (e.g. the bus is faster, but the train is a more relaxing ride)?


I'm going my my own experience. I used to travel a lot as part of my work (as an architect, not as an interpreter). We were a team, and we had a contract that included payment for travel time which, going by memory, was charged at 50% of our hourly rate. In fact as a team, we were working/discussing the job for most of that time, though not at full power because we were also checking in for flights etc.

The definition of "travel time" was agreed in advance. I can't remember what it was but to the best of my memory it was any time spent travelling from our own office in London to the place of work in Milan/Stuttgart/wherever . i.e. travel that the work required and that we would not otherwise have undertaken.

If the person is travelling alone and (therefore) not working whilst travelling, I think travel time would still apply but at a lower rate.

[Edited at 2018-12-21 09:28 GMT]


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 08:06
Romanian to English
+ ...
Hi Wei, Dec 22, 2018

Each AOC has its own rules regarding the travel distance, and travel time to be considered, but most AOCs don't pay if it is under 25-30 miles or within a certain radius of the city.
Some AOCs pay half of the lowest range of the rate for Certified court interpreters.
For miles and travel time, they take into account the distance and travel time given by Google maps or MapQuest. You can increase a little the travel time for rush hour or road work.

If you open the web sit
... See more
Each AOC has its own rules regarding the travel distance, and travel time to be considered, but most AOCs don't pay if it is under 25-30 miles or within a certain radius of the city.
Some AOCs pay half of the lowest range of the rate for Certified court interpreters.
For miles and travel time, they take into account the distance and travel time given by Google maps or MapQuest. You can increase a little the travel time for rush hour or road work.

If you open the web site of the AOC, or the site for federal court interpreters, you can find the answer to your question.

Everything is very clear-cut. No room for interpretation.

[Edited at 2018-12-23 23:26 GMT]

[Edited at 2018-12-24 15:57 GMT]
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:06
French to English
It depends. Dec 23, 2018

The time it takes you to travel should be covered in a way that is satisfactory to you, at least an hourly rate you are happy with for the number of (normal working) hours it takes. Clients should cover transport and accommodation costs too. Some of mine book plane, hotel and even, on one occasion a return helicopter flight. Now that was fun! That time, I had two half days travel for the return trip, but as I was only working for 2 hours in the evening, I invoiced a good full day rate and did no... See more
The time it takes you to travel should be covered in a way that is satisfactory to you, at least an hourly rate you are happy with for the number of (normal working) hours it takes. Clients should cover transport and accommodation costs too. Some of mine book plane, hotel and even, on one occasion a return helicopter flight. Now that was fun! That time, I had two half days travel for the return trip, but as I was only working for 2 hours in the evening, I invoiced a good full day rate and did not invoice the travel time at all. If travel etc. gets too expensive, then if the client has any sense, he will look for someone closer geographically.
On other occasions, I pass on to the client the cost of travel time and of driving to the location, plus the hotel. If I stay with friends, then so much the better and I obviously don't pass on costs of something I'm not doing.

[Edited at 2018-12-23 23:47 GMT]
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Srini Venkataraman
Srini Venkataraman
United States
Local time: 07:06
Member (2012)
Tamil to English
+ ...
Travel time Dec 27, 2018

I determine the time per google maps( mapquest data seems dated) and the hourly fee will be at 50% of the interpretation fee.I took this basis from Maryland court manual long back. It works ok all these years ( i.e. acceptable to the agencies giving the job). This is for "travel by car" locations. My travels are between 125 and 300 miles or so

[Edited at 2018-12-27 19:37 GMT]


Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 08:06
Romanian to English
+ ...
legal stuff Dec 27, 2018

http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/rateinfosheet.pdf

(a) The contract court interpreter agrees to perform interpreting services at the court
locations identified on the Rate and Information Sheet. Contract court interpreters
who reside within the court=s local commuting region will not receive
reimbursement for mileage, parking, taxis,
... See more
http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/rateinfosheet.pdf

(a) The contract court interpreter agrees to perform interpreting services at the court
locations identified on the Rate and Information Sheet. Contract court interpreters
who reside within the court=s local commuting region will not receive
reimbursement for mileage, parking, taxis, public transportation or other travel
expenses from the interpreter=s residence to the courthouse location listed on the
Rate and Information Sheet.
(b) For contract court interpreters who reside outside the court=s local commuting
region, any assignment under this BPA shall specify if travel is authorized, and
the method of transportation that is authorized. The contract court interpreter will
be reimbursed upon submission of a proper invoice and necessary receipts for
authorized travel expenses in accordance with this BPA and the Judiciary Staff
Travel Regulations.
(c) When a contract court interpreter is required to travel to a court location that is
beyond the local commuting distance from the interpreter=s residence, the
assignment will authorize that method of transportation determined by the
judiciary to be the most advantageous to the judiciary, as described in Judiciary
Staff Travel Regulations (see Attachment 11.1 for information). Any additional
cost resulting from the use of a method of transportation other than that
authorized on the assignment will not be reimbursed and shall be the sole
responsibility of the contract court interpreter.

http://www.pacourts.us/assets/files/setting-1700/file-229.pdf?cb=942e36

3. Interpreters are also entitled to reimbursement of mileage, parking, tolls, and travel time.
a. Mileage would be paid at the prevailing rate in the county or court whenever the
interpreter has to travel more the fifty miles round trip to an assignment.
b. Parking allowances would be paid when no free parking exists within a five block
radius of the assignment location
c. When travel to an assignment is more than two hours one way from the
interpreter’s normal business address or location, the interpreter can request
compensation for travel time at half the minimum hourly compensation rate for
his/her classification.
d. If travel by train or plane is required, the interpreter should be entitled to full
reimbursement of travel costs and a per diem.
e. If overnight accommodations are required for the completion of an assignment,
these expenses would also be reimbursable to the interpreter.
f. All requests for reimbursement must be accompanied by proper receipts.
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Definition of Travel Time for freelance interpreters







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