We offer a Minibus Hire Scheme for voluntary groups in our district. You can hire our minibuses with a driver or drive them yourself.
We have 5 accessible minibuses which carry 12 passengers each. We have adapted our minibuses with removable seats to take 2 wheelchairs. Each bus has:
- hand rails
- low entry steps
- a tail lift
We train all our to MiDas standard (Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme). All our drives have an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) clearance
You can hire our minibuses for:
- day trips
- lunch clubs and day centres
- support groups
- rehabilitation groups
- educational trips and after school activities
- scouting and guiding expeditions
- shopping trips
- most other social activities
Due to COVID restrictions, some of our procedures have changed. Contact us to check or for more details.
It costs £30 to join the scheme and then you pay for each journey depending on how far you travel.
Join the scheme
You can join the scheme using our online form.
To complete the form you will need:
- your name, address and contact details
- your email address
- the name of your group
- details of the group’s activities
Once you have submitted your application, you will need to phone us to pay your joining fee. To pay you need to:
- call us between 10:00am and 3:00pm Monday to Friday
- have your debit or credit card with you to make the payment. We don’t accept American Express
- send in a cheque for £30 made payable to Braintree District Council
You can’t make bookings for trips until you have paid your joining fee.
How it works
Once you have paid your joining fee, you can make bookings to use the scheme.
- you can make a booking by calling us between 9:00am and 3:00pm Monday to Friday.
- our hire charges, including fuel, are £2.00 per mile. We make a minimum hire charge of £40
- we will provide you with a quote for your trip when you make your booking
- we will invoice you for your booking once you have made your trip
- you can pay for your hire when you make your booking
- our minibuses are available for you to hire 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
- you should make your booking as soon as you know you need to travel. You must make your booking at least 24 hours in advance
- you can make your booking as far in advance as you like
- we charge a fee of £40 if you cancel a confirmed booking
- you can make as many bookings as you like. All bookings depend on the availability of our drivers and vehicles
We can provide quotes for any trip you are planning including regular and block bookings.
You can contact our Community Transport team if you have any questions about the scheme or a booking.