If you live in the district our Social Car Scheme can help you access your local community and its services.
Our Social Car Scheme provides transport for:
- local health related appointments
- local shopping trips
- visiting friends and family
- attending clubs
- attending day centres
- any local trips you need to make
It costs £21 to join the scheme and then you pay a contribution towards the cost of your journey. This depends on how far you travel.
If you are a wheelchair user or unable to get in and out of a car, you may want to join our Dial-a-Ride Scheme.
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
- details of any mobility or health issues
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 £21 made payable to Braintree District Council
You can’t make bookings 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
- a journey costs £3.60 for up to 5 miles or 72p per mile if your journey is over 5 miles
- you pay for each journey in cash and the driver will give you a receipt on request
- If you find handling cash difficult you can pre-pay for a block of ten trips, speak to us to arrange this.
- you can book a trip for anytime between 8.30am and 5.30pm, seven days a week
- you should book your trip 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
- you can book as many trips as you like. All bookings depend on the availability of our drivers and vehicles
Due to COVID restrictions, some of our procedures have changed. Contact us to check or for more details.
You can contact our Community Transport team if you have any questions about the scheme or a booking.