Hire A Bus
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Operator Terms

Baseline terms, pending final review by a qualified solicitor before launch.

1. Who we are, and who these terms cover

Hire A Bus Limited (registered in England & Wales, company number 11419973), trading as "Hire A Bus" ("we", "us", "the platform"). You can reach us at [email protected].

These terms are the agreement between Hire A Bus and each transport operator that receives work through the platform. They apply from the moment you apply to join and for as long as you hold an operator account. The terms that govern customers' use of Hire A Bus are the Terms of Service.

2. Your relationship with us

You are an independent transport business. Nothing in these terms creates employment, a joint venture, a franchise, or an exclusive relationship — you remain free to take work from any other source.

Hire A Bus is an aggregator and intermediary. When a customer books you through the platform, the transport contract for the trip forms directly between you and the customer — we are not a party to it, and we do not own, drive, or control any vehicle. Our role is to find the work, run the quoting process, collect the customer's payments, pay you, and provide support when something goes wrong.

3. What you are responsible for

  • Holding, and keeping current, every licence, permit, accreditation and insurance that the law of your market requires for the vehicles and services you offer through the platform, and telling us promptly if any of them lapses.
  • The vehicle, the driver, safety, punctuality, and the delivery of every trip you accept.
  • The accuracy of your company, fleet and service-area details on your profile.
  • The conduct of your drivers and staff towards customers.

4. Quoting and winning work

We send you trip requests that match your fleet and service area; whether to quote, and at what price, is always your decision. A quote you submit is a firm price — if the customer books it, that is the price of the transport contract you have entered.

To protect both sides, customer and operator contact details stay private until the customer pays a deposit. Once the deposit is paid, the booking is confirmed to you with the customer's details and you deal with each other directly.

5. The platform fee

Our fee for finding and managing the work is a percentage of the booking total — 10%, unless a different rate has been agreed on your account. The fee and the amount you will receive are shown on the job breakdown before you take the work; the figure you are shown is the figure that applies.

6. Getting paid

Customers pay for trips through the platform: a deposit at booking and the balance before departure. After a job completes, we pay you the booking total less the platform fee.

  • Payout account. Payouts go to the payout account you set up during onboarding with our payment provider, Stripe. If your payout account setup is incomplete, anything you earn is recorded and released to you as soon as setup completes.
  • When we pay. You choose one of two payout schedules, and can change your choice at any time from your Payouts page:
  • Daily — paid per job, the next working day after the job. This carries the deduction in section 7.
  • Weekly — one payment each Wednesday covering the week's completed jobs, with no deduction.
  • A job becomes payable once it has been completed and the customer's payments for it have been collected in full.
  • Every payout is itemised on your Payouts page: what the customer paid, the platform fee, any deduction, and what you receive.

7. Choosing daily payouts: the payout deduction

Paying out every working day costs more to run than one weekly payment, so the faster schedule carries a small deduction and the weekly one does not:

  • Daily: we deduct 0.25% of each payout, capped at £2 per payout.
  • Weekly (Wednesday): we deduct nothing.

The deduction is a Hire A Bus charge, not a charge by any payment provider. It applies only to daily-schedule payouts for completed jobs — it is never applied to a cancellation fee (section 8) — and every deduction is itemised against the individual payout on your Payouts page. No other amount is deducted from a payout. You can switch schedule at any time; the switch applies to payouts made after it.

8. When a customer cancels

If a customer cancels a confirmed booking, you are owed a cancellation fee under the published cancellation policy, calculated on the deposit (the 25% the customer paid at booking):

  • 14 days or more before departure: no fee.
  • 7 to 13 days before departure: 50% of the deposit.
  • Less than 7 days before departure: 100% of the deposit.

The figure quoted to you when the cancellation happens is the figure we pay. It can never exceed the money the customer actually paid that remains with us after their refund — the fee is funded from what we retain. No platform fee and no payout deduction is taken from a cancellation fee. It is paid once the customer's refund has settled, normally within two working days of the cancellation, whichever payout schedule you are on.

9. If you have to cancel

Cancelling a confirmed booking should be a last resort. If you cannot deliver a trip, tell us immediately so we can help the customer. No cancellation fee is payable to you for a booking you cancel, and operator-caused cancellations count against your standing on the platform, including eligibility for preferred status.

10. Customer details

Customer contact details are shared with you when a deposit is paid, so you can deliver that trip. Use them only for the booked trip and matters arising from it — not for marketing, and not to move the booking off the platform — and handle them in line with the data-protection law of your market. See our Privacy Policy.

11. Standards, reviews and your account

We vet operators before they join, and customers can review completed trips. We may suspend or remove an operator account where we reasonably believe there is a safety risk, a licensing or legal problem, repeated failure to deliver booked trips, or misuse of the platform. Money already earned for completed work is still paid out under section 6. You can close your account at any time; bookings already confirmed must still be delivered, or handled under section 9.

12. Calls and AI assistance

We use AI to help parse trip requests and to assist phone calls. Phone calls may be recorded and transcribed for quoting, quality, training, and dispute resolution. See our Privacy Policy.

13. Liability between you and us

You are responsible for claims arising from the performance of the transport itself — which is why the licences and insurance in section 3 matter. We are responsible for running the platform and handling the payments described above. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our liability to you is limited to the platform fees we have received for the relevant booking. That limit does not apply to amounts we owe you under sections 6 to 8.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England & Wales, and the courts of England & Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute. Nothing in them limits or excludes a right you have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that cannot be excluded by agreement.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version in force for a booking is the one published here when the booking is made, and changes to fees or payout schedules apply only to work taken on after the change. Material changes will be highlighted where reasonably practicable.

Questions about these terms? Email [email protected]. The terms that apply to customers are the Terms of Service.