GROUP MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

On behalf of this organisation I wish to apply for Group Membership of Cambridge Dial-a-Ride. I have read the notes below. I enclose a cheque for the £15 annual membership fee payable to “Cambridge Dial-a-Ride”.

Please send the completed application form by post to:
Cambridge Dial-a-Ride, Unit B, Rene Court,1 Coldhams Road, Cambridge. CB1 3EW
camdar05@hotmail.co.uk

NOTES RELATING TO YOUR APPLICATION FOR GROUP MEMBERSHIP

Please read the following notes when completing the Group Membership application form.

Note A
Payment for travel undertaken Group Membership of Cambridge Dial-a-Ride is made against an invoice issued by Dial-a-Ride after completion of the journey. Please ensure that the appropriate recipient for invoices is identified by name and postal address.

Note B
Cambridge Dial-a-Ride operates minibuses with a range of capacities up to a maximum of 15 seats. It is important that we have a broad idea of likely numbers in your groups so that we can ensure that your requirements can be matched by our resources. Cambridge Dial-a-Ride has a fixed charge for journeys booked by Group Members up to a total of 40 miles for the return journey. This charge is independent of the distance actually covered for the return journey up to 40 miles, the group size, and the seating capacity of the minibus allocated to the booking. In this way Dial-a-Ride endeavours to achieve equality of treatment for its Group Members irrespective of the size of the organisation or the number of members, for which it wishes to organise outings. Bookings where the total return journey exceeds 40 miles are charged at a set rate per mile irrespective of distance, group size or the minibus allocated to the booking.

Note C
Cambridge Dial-a-Ride requires accurate information on the passengers booked under Group Membership in order to ensure that we can provide appropriate facilities in the minibuses. Please note that Cambridge Dial-a-Ride cannot provide escorts for passengers with special needs. The Group Membership organisation must take responsibility for providing escorts where these are necessary and for managing the behaviour of its members while using the services of Cambridge Dial-a-Ride. Our drivers offer assistance where passengers may need help in boarding and alighting from the bus, or in fastening seat-belts. Drivers also take responsibility for operating the tail-lift to enable wheelchair users and those who cannot easily use steps to enter the bus, and they also ensure that wheelchairs are secured during transport. Animals other than guide dogs are not carried by Cambridge Dial-a-Ride.

Note D
Each booking made under Group Membership will require precise information to be supplied on the planned boarding point for the start of the journey. Cambridge Dial-a-Ride must ensure that its minibuses can legally and safely stop to collect and disembark passengers at the specified location in a way that offers no risk to the passengers or to staff of Cambridge Dial-a-Ride. Passengers will be returned to the point of original embarkation unless alternative arrangements have been agreed with the organisation by Cambridge Dial-a-Ride at the time of the booking being accepted.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP OF CAMBRIDGE DIAL-A-RIDE

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION ON GROUP TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

Making your group booking

Once your organisation has taken out Group Membership of Cambridge Dial-a-Ride, bookings from your group can be accepted. We would recommend that you contact us initially to discuss your plans so that dates can be agreed and the type and size of vehicle best suited to your group’s needs can be identified. We are happy for organisations with Group Membership to make bookings well in advance of the date on which their group wishes to travel. Some groups choose to book ahead for the coming year so that they can plan and publicise their activities to their own members.

When you make a booking for your group we will need to know if your members will be bringing any of the following:

Cambridge Dial-a-Ride must be able to guarantee that sufficient space is made available for passengers using wheelchairs, which necessarily reduces the number of fixed seats in our vehicles. We must also ensure that buses are not overloaded with other mobility equipment, which must not be permitted to compromise doors or gangways or to block emergency exits.

Precise passenger numbers will be required when each booking is made in order to provide for sufficient seating and any necessary storage space in the vehicle to be used for your travel. We appreciate that the numbers travelling in a group of elderly or disabled people may change at short notice due to personal difficulties or health problems, but we would ask you to ensure that we are informed of any significant changes in the number of people travelling with your group so that we can make changes to our arrangements if necessary.

Charges

Charges set by Cambridge Dial-a-Ride for bookings by its Group Members are structured dependent upon the length of the planned journey as follows:

• Journeys not exceeding 40 miles for the return journey
  This charge is a set rate irrespective of the distance actually covered for the return journey up to 40 miles, the group size and the seating capacity of the minibus allocated to the booking.
• Journeys exceeding 40 miles for the return journey
  This charge is a set rate irrespective of total distance, group size, and the seating capacity of the minibus allocated to the booking.

Cambridge Dial-a-Ride reserves the right to vary the charge within either of these categories according to circumstance. For current charges please consult Fares and Fees or contact the Cambridge Dial-a-Ride office.

Cancellations

Cambridge Dial-a-Ride advises its Group Members to secure their bookings well in advance of the journeys they wish to make. However, Dial-a-Ride acknowledges that planning in advance brings with it the possibility that a booking previously made may have to be modified if plans change. We would recommend that your organisation stays in touch with us in the weeks before a planned journey in order to ensure that as many variables and changes as possible can be anticipated. If unforeseen changes mean that a booking for group travel has to be cancelled, perhaps because reduced numbers make your plans no longer viable, we would ask that you keep us informed about the possibility of a cancellation at the earliest possible time.

Where an organisation cancels a group booking at short notice, Cambridge Dial-a-Ride has to cope with a significant disruption to its scheduling and income stream, and as a result we have reluctantly taken the decision to introduce a financial penalty for short-notice cancellations.

The following scale of cancellation charges now applies:

• A cancellation made within 2 weeks of the booked date of travel will be charged at 50% of the due fee.
• A cancellation made within 1 week of the booked date of travel will be charged at 100% of the due fee.

Bookings cancelled and notified in writing more than 2 weeks before the booked date of travel continue to incur no cancellation fee.

Contacting Cambridge Dial-a-Ride

You can contact us in the following ways:

Company Limited by Guanantee: Registered Number 3172130     Registered Charity: Number 1053924