FAQ
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Account and billing
Section titled “Account and billing”How much does CertaBus cost?
Section titled “How much does CertaBus cost?”CertaBus is priced by the number of buses: $59 per month for your first bus, plus $19 per month for each additional bus. Paying annually costs $531 per year for your first bus, plus $171 per year for each additional bus, which is the same as getting 3 months free. There are no setup fees. See the pricing calculator on the home page for your fleet size.
Is there a free trial?
Section titled “Is there a free trial?”Yes. Every new venue gets a free 30-day trial, and no credit card is needed to start.
How do I manage my subscription?
Section titled “How do I manage my subscription?”Go to Admin → My Account. The Subscription section shows your status and number of vehicles. Click Manage to update your plan or billing details.
Can I change my venue’s name, address or contact details?
Section titled “Can I change my venue’s name, address or contact details?”Yes, if you’re an owner or admin. Go to Admin → My Account and edit the Organisation section. Other users can see these details but can’t change them.
Bookings and runs
Section titled “Bookings and runs”What’s the difference between a run and a job?
Section titled “What’s the difference between a run and a job?”A run is one trip by one bus, with a date and departure time. A job is a single booking on that run: a pickup or drop-off for a passenger. A run is made up of jobs. See the Overview for the other key terms.
How do I add a booking?
Section titled “How do I add a booking?”On the Runs page, find the run and click Manage Jobs. Enter the passenger’s details, or start typing a name to pick from your regulars, then choose Pickup or Dropoff and click Save Job. The Getting started guide walks through it step by step.
Can I have more than one bus leaving at the same time?
Section titled “Can I have more than one bus leaving at the same time?”Yes. Runs at the same time are grouped together on the Runs page, one per bus. Click the map pin next to the time to see every bus’s run at that time on a map, and move jobs between buses.
How do I change the order of the stops?
Section titled “How do I change the order of the stops?”Drag the jobs into the order you want. The new order is saved for everyone and shows up straight away in the driver app. Drivers can reorder jobs from their phone too, by pressing and holding a job.
Why can’t I delete a run?
Section titled “Why can’t I delete a run?”A run can’t be deleted while it still has jobs on it. Delete the jobs, or move them to another run, then delete the run.
Can I change the date of a run?
Section titled “Can I change the date of a run?”No. A run stays on the day it was created. To move it to another day, create a new run on the new day and add its jobs there, then delete the old jobs and run.
How do I stop the bus being overbooked?
Section titled “How do I stop the bus being overbooked?”Set each bus’s Capacity in Admin → Buses, then turn on Enable capacity checking in Admin → Settings. Each job shows how many seats are occupied after that stop. You can also set a Maximum jobs per run in Admin → Settings.
Can I check whether an address is within our service area?
Section titled “Can I check whether an address is within our service area?”Yes. On the Runs page, click Address Lookup. It shows where the address is on a map relative to your venue, how far away it is, whether it’s inside your service radius, and the driving route.
Can I print the day’s runs?
Section titled “Can I print the day’s runs?”Yes. Click Print on the Runs page.
Where do finished runs go?
Section titled “Where do finished runs go?”Once a driver marks a run complete, it moves to the Completed tab on the Runs page. Completed runs are read-only.
Regulars
Section titled “Regulars”What are regulars?
Section titled “What are regulars?”Regulars are passengers you’ve saved, with their name, membership number, phone, address and any special instructions. When you take a booking, start typing their name to fill in their details automatically.
Can I stop someone from booking the bus?
Section titled “Can I stop someone from booking the bus?”Yes. On the Regulars page, click the STOP button next to the passenger to ban them. Click it again to lift the ban.
Timetables
Section titled “Timetables”What’s a timetable?
Section titled “What’s a timetable?”A timetable is a reusable set of runs, such as your usual Friday night schedule. Instead of creating each run by hand, you import the timetable into a day.
How do I use a timetable?
Section titled “How do I use a timetable?”Create timetables on the Timetables page. Then, on the Runs page, pick a date and click Import timetable. Runs that are already on that day aren’t added twice.
Why can’t I edit a timetable?
Section titled “Why can’t I edit a timetable?”Only owners and admins can create or change timetables. Users can view and import them.
The driver app
Section titled “The driver app”Do drivers need to download an app?
Section titled “Do drivers need to download an app?”No. The driver app runs in the phone’s web browser, so there’s nothing to download from an app store. On the driver’s phone, tap Install Driver App on the CertaBus website to add it to the Home Screen, where it opens like any other app. See Get your drivers on the app.
What can drivers do in the app?
Section titled “What can drivers do in the app?”Drivers can choose the bus they’re driving, see the day’s runs with every job in order, call guests, open directions in Google Maps, mark jobs complete or cancel them, and read messages from the office. Go Home gives them directions back to the venue.
A driver can’t see any runs. What’s wrong?
Section titled “A driver can’t see any runs. What’s wrong?”Check that they’ve chosen the right bus in the app, and that there are runs for that bus today. The app shows today’s runs by default. If they’ve changed the date, they can change it back from the calendar.
How does a driver cancel a job?
Section titled “How does a driver cancel a job?”In the driver app, the driver cancels the job and chooses a reason (No show, Patron cancelled or Other) with a short explanation. Cancelled jobs stay on the run, so the office can see what happened. They can be restored if cancelled by mistake.
How does a driver finish a run?
Section titled “How does a driver finish a run?”Once every job on a run is completed or cancelled, a Complete Run button appears in the driver app. Tapping it moves the run to the Completed tab in the office.
How do I send a message to a driver?
Section titled “How do I send a message to a driver?”On the Runs page, click Message Driver. You can message one driver or all drivers at once. Drivers see the message in the app, and get a notification on their phone if they’ve turned notifications on.
Why isn’t a driver getting notifications?
Section titled “Why isn’t a driver getting notifications?”Check these in order:
- Enable driver notifications is turned on in Admin → Settings.
- The driver has tapped Turn on in the driver app and allowed notifications when asked.
- On an iPhone, the driver has added the app to their Home Screen and opened it from there. iPhones only allow notifications for apps opened from the Home Screen: tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
Do changes in the office show up on the driver’s phone straight away?
Section titled “Do changes in the office show up on the driver’s phone straight away?”Yes. Changes made in the office, or by another driver, appear in the driver app instantly. If a phone has been asleep, the app catches up as soon as it’s opened again.
Users and access
Section titled “Users and access”How do I add a staff member or driver?
Section titled “How do I add a staff member or driver?”Owners and admins can go to Admin → Users and click Add a user. The person receives an email invite to set a password and log in.
What can each role do?
Section titled “What can each role do?”- User: can take bookings and manage runs, and view and import timetables. Use this for drivers.
- Admin: everything a user can do, plus change users, buses, zones, timetables and settings.
- Owner: everything an admin can do, plus add and edit owners.
Someone didn’t get their invite. What do I do?
Section titled “Someone didn’t get their invite. What do I do?”Ask them to check their junk or spam folder first. If it’s not there, open their details in Admin → Users and resend the invite. Users who haven’t accepted their invite yet are marked in the list.
How do I remove someone who has left?
Section titled “How do I remove someone who has left?”Owners and admins can delete a user in Admin → Users. Admins can’t delete owners, and nobody can delete their own account.
I’ve forgotten my password.
Section titled “I’ve forgotten my password.”On the login page, click Reset Password and enter your email address. We’ll email you a link to choose a new password. If the email doesn’t arrive, check your junk folder, or contact our team.
Reports
Section titled “Reports”Can I see how busy the bus has been?
Section titled “Can I see how busy the bus has been?”Yes. Admin → Analytics shows jobs, passengers, pickups and drop-offs for any date range, broken down by customer. It also includes a map of where your trips start and finish.