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Community car schemes provide transport for local people who cannot make reasonable use of other options. They are a door-to-door service, and can usually accommodate a passenger’s particular needs.

For many communities a local volunteer car scheme is a lifeline. It offers a vital and affordable service to people who would otherwise struggle to live independently.

How schemes run varies. Most are made up of volunteer drivers and organisers. Drivers collect passengers and take them to and from their destination. Organisers keep the scheme going — finding new drivers, answering requests, and handling the administration and the money.

As cuts to public services deepen, people who do not drive are increasingly struggling to reach essential services — and even to manage routine trips like the weekly food shop.

That is especially true for older and disabled people, and for the millions living in rural areas of the UK where bus services are limited or have disappeared altogether.

There is no single model. Most schemes were started by local volunteers responding to a lack of accessible transport, and each has evolved its own way of working. A few roles come up almost everywhere:

• Passengers — the people who use the scheme, often though not always for medical and GP appointments.
• Coordinators — who take requests and organise trips, acting as the link between passengers and drivers.
• Drivers — usually volunteers, though many schemes reimburse mileage.
• Treasurers — once a scheme reaches a certain size, someone dedicated to reimbursement, subsidies and the rest of the finances.

Some schemes are supported by local government initiatives that subsidise fuel costs per mile or offer similar help. If you run a scheme, or are thinking of starting one, it is worth checking what is available in your area.

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Volunteers are the scheme. Most coordinators tell us the hard part is not finding them once, it is keeping them.

A few things nearly every scheme puts in place:

• Recruiting. Word of mouth, parish magazines, notice boards and local Facebook groups tend to work better than anything formal. Existing drivers are usually the best recruiters you have.
• Checks. Most schemes ask drivers for a DBS check, and confirm that their licence, MOT and insurance are current. What level of check is appropriate depends on who you carry and how, so it is worth taking advice rather than guessing.
• Insurance. Drivers should tell their insurer they are volunteer driving. Many UK insurers cover it at no extra cost, but it must be declared.
• Expenses. Reimburse mileage promptly. Being out of pocket for weeks stops more volunteers than the rate does.
• Saying thank you. A note, a get-together, being told the difference they made.

Via keeps DBS dates, insurance expiry and licence details against each driver and reminds you before they lapse, so none of this depends on someone remembering.

The Community Transport Association publishes detailed guidance on volunteer drivers, and is the best starting point if you want chapter and verse.

There are more options than most new schemes expect:

• County council subsidies. Many county and unitary councils support community transport directly, often through a mileage subsidy. Ask your local transport or communities team what is available.
• Parish council funding. You are delivering a service the parish would otherwise have to do without, and parish councils are often very receptive. Requests in the range of £100 to £1,000 and above are common.
• Community chest grants. Many areas run small grant funds — typically up to around £1,000 a year — for exactly this kind of local initiative. Check what your area calls its equivalent.
• Local fundraising. Donations, coffee mornings and cake sales sustain a great many schemes, and have the side effect of drawing in new volunteers and passengers.

Via’s reports are designed with funding applications in mind: you can show a parish council precisely how many journeys you made, for whom, and where.

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Managing the money is the part of running a scheme coordinators tell us they find hardest.

What tends to work:

• Keep scheme money separate. A dedicated bank account in the scheme’s name, never a personal one. It protects you and makes everything else simpler.
• Be clear what passengers pay. Most schemes ask for a contribution based on mileage, and say so plainly up front. People are far more comfortable when they know the figure before they travel.
• Reimburse drivers on a predictable cycle. Monthly is common. Consistency matters more than speed.
• Keep a record of every journey. Date, distance, driver, passenger and what was collected. This is what a funder or an auditor will ask for.
• Know the mileage rate you are using. HMRC publishes approved rates for volunteer drivers; check the current figure rather than carrying one forward.

Via works all of this out as journeys are booked, and produces reimbursement claims in the formats county and parish councils accept, so the arithmetic is done before your treasurer opens the file.

If your scheme handles significant sums, or you are unsure about tax or reporting duties, take proper advice — the Community Transport Association and your local council for voluntary service can both point you in the right direction.

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Not necessarily — and plenty of good schemes run for years without doing so. It depends on your size, whether you hold money, and what your funders ask for.

The common routes, roughly in order of formality:

• An unincorporated association. A written constitution, a committee and a bank account. Simple to set up, and enough for many small schemes. Members can be personally liable, which is the trade-off.
• A charity. In England and Wales, registration with the Charity Commission is generally required once annual income passes a set threshold; the rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Charitable status can unlock funding and rate relief, and brings reporting duties with it.
• A charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). Charity status with limited liability, and less administration than a charitable company. A popular choice for schemes that are growing.
• A community interest company (CIC). A company locked to community benefit rather than shareholders. It is what Community Sparx itself is.

Two practical prompts: if you are holding other people’s money or applying for grants, most funders will expect a constitution and a bank account at minimum. And if volunteers are worried about personal liability, that usually points towards an incorporated structure.

This is a summary, not legal advice. The Charity Commission, your local council for voluntary service and the Community Transport Association can all advise on your specific circumstances, usually free of charge.

Via is a simple, secure web application for managing every part of running a community or volunteer car scheme. It is used by schemes up and down the country and helps manage thousands of journey bookings every month.

It has been built to be as straightforward and accessible as possible. To use Via, all you need is a web browser and an internet connection — there is nothing to install and nothing to keep up to date.

This is the question we are asked more than any other, and it is a fair one.

Via was built alongside the people who actually run car schemes in the UK — most of whom are giving part of their retirement to it. It is designed for them, not for a software company’s idea of a user. Coordinators of every level of confidence with computers have picked it up.

Where it helps, we offer unlimited coaching and support, one-to-one if that is what works. There is no charge for it and no limit on how often you ask. If one of your team would rather be shown than read about it, we will show them.

Via automates most of the administration involved in running a scheme. The parts coordinators tell us make the biggest difference:

• Finding an available driver for a journey in seconds rather than phone calls
• Giving every organiser and coordinator one shared place to work from
• Automatic warnings before a driver’s DBS check or insurance expires
• Alerts when a booked journey still has no driver, or needs your attention
• Optional automatic reminders for passengers and drivers before a trip
• Doing most of a treasurer’s routine work for them
• Detailed statistics on how your scheme is used — which carries real weight in a funding application to a parish council

Pricing is banded by how many journeys and activities your scheme records in a year, starting free. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.

Payment is currently by bank transfer. We expect to add other payment methods in future.

What you pay goes into maintaining the service, building new features, and widening access to volunteering schemes like yours. If you have thoughts on where it would do the most good, tell us.

Yes. Every scheme gets the first three months free, whatever its size. After that, Via stays free for smaller schemes — up to 100 journeys and other activities a year.

Plenty of schemes outgrow that. If cost is the obstacle, talk to us. Our advice on raising money for a car scheme may help too.

Volunteer organisations quite reasonably take a while to move to a new way of working, and we would rather you took the time than rushed it.

We do not press for payment until your group is properly settled on Via. It matters more to us that you are confident using it for years than that you start paying this month.

Yes. Free accounts get exactly the same features as paying ones.

Nothing is held back to push you onto a paid plan.

Yes. We can set your group up with a demo account holding made-up data, so you can click around at your own pace without worrying about breaking anything.

Ask us through the chat on this website, or ring us — either is fine.

You can use Via at any time, from anywhere. Once you have an account, all you need is a computer or tablet, a web browser and an internet connection.

Log in at app.communityscheme.org.

Yes — a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a desktop computer all work. All you need is a web browser and an internet connection.

There is nothing to install and nothing to keep updated. You will not need to visit an app store.

As many as you like, at no extra cost. There is no per-person charge and no reason for anyone to share a login.

To add someone, go to the People page in Via and invite them.

Put your records into a spreadsheet — Excel or CSV — and Via’s import tool walks you through three steps, matching your columns to its own fields.

It takes about a minute to set going and up to five to finish. More than one person can upload, so it does not have to be done from a single login.

What the spreadsheet needs depends on what you are importing. Volunteers and passengers hold different information, but you will generally want name, address, phone or mobile, email and date of birth — plus, for drivers, things like their licence details.

If a spreadsheet is not where your records live, ring us. We have moved schemes across from card files and notebooks before.

Yes. You can export your journeys and your volunteer and passenger details whenever you like, along with a set of ready-made reports that speed up the accounting and volunteer reimbursement.

Your records are yours. Nothing about Via is designed to keep you in it.

Several ways, and none of them cost anything:

• Guidance built into Via itself, on the screen you are already looking at.
• A support area inside the app where you can raise a query and follow it. We usually reply within 24 hours.
• The chat on this website, if you would rather type than ring.
• The phone. If it is urgent, call us — that is what the number is for.

Community Sparx is a small community interest company based in Cambridge. We apply new technology to long-standing social problems. Our founders have worked in both community engagement and the technology sector — and, most relevant of all, we are volunteer car scheme drivers ourselves.

We aim to make a modest profit so the business is sustainable. What sets us apart is what happens to it: any profit is reinvested in the business or used to create social change in the community, rather than paid out to shareholders.

A community interest company is a particular kind of company. Unlike a conventional business, we are legally bound to reinvest all of our profit into the community one way or another. Where an ordinary company is driven by returns to private shareholders, we are driven by community impact — and we have to keep proving that our activities deliver social benefit.

For you, that means confidence you are paying a fair price, and the security of dealing with a professionally run organisation whose interest is in your scheme still working in ten years, not in this quarter’s revenue.