How it works
From the phone call to the mileage claim
Via does not change how your scheme runs. It follows the same journey you already do — a request comes in, someone drives it, and the paperwork has to add up. Here is what each of those looks like.
1. The phone rings
Take the request the way you always have
Someone calls asking for a lift to the surgery. You type it straight into Via while you are still on the phone — who is going, where from, where to, and what time they need to arrive.
Via already knows your regular passengers and the places your scheme goes, so most of it is a couple of keystrokes rather than a full address.
2. Finding a driver
Ask the volunteers who can actually do it
Instead of working down a list making calls, Via gathers the journeys still needing a driver. You pick the ones you want to send out, and it writes the message for you.
Notes travel with the request — a passenger who needs help with bags, an entrance on the far side of the car park — so drivers are not ringing you back to ask.
3. The week ahead
Everyone can see who is covering what
The duty rota shows who is on, day by day. Anyone on your team can look at it from home, which means the person holding the diary is no longer the only one who knows.
If a driver drops out, the gap is visible immediately rather than the evening before.
Every morning
One screen that tells you what needs doing
Journeys coming up, anything still without a driver, and who is on duty today. If nothing needs you, it says so.
And afterwards
The part nobody volunteers for
The admin that used to happen at the kitchen table on a Sunday.
Mileage adds itself up
Each completed journey records its distance, so a volunteer's expenses claim is a total you can already see rather than a sum somebody does by hand at the end of the month.
The year builds as you go
Journeys, passengers and destinations accumulate into the figures a parish council asks for — so the funding application is a report, not an archaeology project.
Someone answers the phone
Guidance sits inside the app, and there is a support area for questions. If you would rather talk to a person, ring 01223 969459. Coaching is free and there is no limit on it.
What scheme organisers say about Via
Via puts everything into one place and takes the guesswork out of running our scheme.
I am so pleased to see our scheme up and running. It is largely due to the ease of using your software that we have achieved as much as we have so quickly.
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See it with your own scheme
Free for 3 months, no card and no salesperson. If you would rather be shown round it first, we will do that on the phone.
Or call 01223 969459.Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.