This handbook is for everyone who drives for BüFoBus as a volunteer. It explains how to set up and protect your account, what is in your profile and what to do when something does not work. The chapters on shifts, tours and the driving day will be added as soon as these areas are enabled in the app.
Good to know: Above the table of contents is the field Search the handbook. Type a keyword and you will see the matching sections with a short excerpt.
1. Your account as a driver
What your account can do
Your account is the same as a passenger's, only with the role Driver. The coordination team gives you this role as soon as you are part of the team. With it you see the areas for drivers after signing in instead of the booking. You can still book, for example for relatives, as soon as booking is enabled.
Email is mandatory
For drivers an email address is mandatory so that monthly summaries and important notices reach you. Enter it under My account › Security and confirm it via the link in the email.
Two-factor sign-in
The coordination team can make the second factor mandatory for the team. The app then guides you to the setup the next time you sign in:
- Open an authenticator app on your phone (for example the one from Apple, Google or Microsoft; many password managers can do this too).
- In BüFoBus under Security, tap Set up next to Second factor (2FA) and scan the displayed code with the authenticator app.
- Enter the six-digit code from the authenticator app and tap Confirm.
- Save the recovery codes in a safe place, for example printed in the driver folder.
Switching the view
The bar at the bottom, More and the overview always show one view only. As a driver you start in the Driver view with Today, Shifts and History. To book a ride yourself or read the news, switch to Passenger in the account menu at the top right or at the top of More; switching back works the same way. The choice applies on all your devices.
2. Signing in
With your mobile number
On the Sign in page, enter your mobile number and tap Send code by text message. Enter the code from the text message on the next page. The code is valid for ten minutes; after three failed attempts you need a new one.
With email and password
Tap Sign in with email and password. You set the password under Security › Set password; at least eight characters, no well-known password, not your name. A phrase like "I like driving on Tuesdays 3" is easy to remember.
With a passkey
Under Security › Passkeys › Add passkey you set up Face ID, fingerprint or your device PIN as your sign-in. This is especially worthwhile on the vehicle tablet: one tap and you are in.
3. Your profile
Personal details and contact channels
Under My account › My profile are your name, address and contact channels. Your mobile number must be confirmed so that messages about tours reach you. If the number changes, enter the new one and confirm it with the code from the text message.
Profile picture
Under Profile picture, upload a photo and crop it. In the driving team the picture is required so passengers can see who is driving them: it appears with your first name on your rides, in the service hours and, together with your “About me” text, publicly under Our team. You can replace it at any time but not remove it; your last name never appears.
Under My account › Driver profile, add a line about yourself in Occupation or what else I do. Our team also shows your age as a decade (such as “mid-50s”, from the date of birth under My profile), since when you have been in the driving team, how many rides you have driven and since when you have held a class B licence. This helps passengers trust you. Anything missing is not shown.
Display and language
Under Display and language you set the text size, light or dark and your language. The driver view is made for sunshine and darkness; Dark is easier on the eyes at night.
My data and deleting your account
Under My data you request a copy of your data or schedule the deletion of your account. For drivers there is one more rule: your shifts and trip logs are kept for the operator's accounting, with your name removed.
What’s new
Under More › What’s new you find what has changed in the app. A small dot on the entry shows that something was added since your last visit.
4. Notifications
Notifications to your phone are your main channel
As a driver you receive rides, shifts and changes first as a notification to your phone. Allow notifications when the app first asks; in the browser you turn them on under My account › Notifications with Turn on notifications to your phone and check it with Send test notification. If notifications to your phone are not on on any device, an SMS goes to your verified mobile number, otherwise an e-mail.
The list of notifications
The list of notifications in the app (icon at the top right) collects all notifications, including those that came to your phone. A tap on an entry opens the matching page. Mark all as read clears the number on the icon. Remove read deletes all read entries from the list.
What you can set
Under Notifications you set each area to Instantly or Off and whether BüFoBus may send you SMS or e-mails. Urgent messages about your rides and your account always arrive; they are listed under Always arrives.
5. Stops
The loop
Under More › Stops you see all hop-on stops in the order of the loop, the driving time and distance to the next one and, at the top, the figures for the whole round. Start and end is the stop where every round begins and ends. The coordination team maintains the order and the dwell times; what you see applies.
Side of the street and dwell time
Every stop has a side of the street (left, right or both sides in the driving direction of the loop) and a dwell time. Stop on the given side so nobody has to cross the road. A stop's page also shows a picture of the bench or the sign in case you approach it for the first time.
6. Vehicles
Project vehicles
Under More › Vehicles you see the project's vehicles with passenger seats, walker suitability, odometer reading and the next inspection. A red mark Currently blocked means service, repair or inspection: the vehicle cannot be used during that time. Tap a vehicle for technical data, equipment, due dates, extra details and the odometer history.
Your own vehicle
If the coordination team allows private vehicles, you add your own car under My vehicles with Add vehicle: Registration number, seats, equipment, due dates and extra details. Available to other drivers lets other authorised drivers choose your car for their shifts; Show on the vehicles page presents it publicly. You record the odometer reading on the vehicle page; a reading lower than the last one needs the Correction switch. You upload a photo there as well.
Insurance
Before you use your car, tell your motor insurer about the volunteer rides; when adding the vehicle you find a Sample letter to the insurer to copy and a link to further notes. Confirm I have read the insurance notice., then the vehicle may be used in shifts. If you have a confirmation from your insurer, upload it with Upload proof (PDF or photo); only you, the coordination team and admins can see the file. The coordination team reviews the proof and you get a push.
Good to know: If you delete your account, the vehicle stays with its history, but without an owner and inactive.
7. Becoming a driver
Application
Under More › Become a driver you apply: person, contact (without an account you create one here with email and password), address, Driving licence with Categories and optionally a scan, languages, a few sentences about yourself and the Kind of participation. After sending you get a confirmation; the coordination team sees your application and invites you to an interview. You see your status under My account › Driver profile. A Profile picture is required: without a picture the coordination team cannot activate you and you cannot create shifts. You also give your Size for T-shirt, hoodie and jacket and the Cut; you can change it later in your Driver profile.
Activation and authorisations
After the interview and the briefing the coordination team activates you; from then on you have the driver view. Which project vehicles you may drive is listed in the driver profile under Vehicle authorisations; without an authorisation you cannot add a shift on the vehicle. Keep the expiry date of your driving licence up to date in the driver profile: you and the coordination team are reminded in time, and with an expired licence no new shift is possible.
8. Shifts
Adding a shift
Under Shifts you see your upcoming shifts; Add shift opens the form: Vehicle, Date, From and Until in 15-minute steps, plus a note. While you type, the app checks whether the time is free and names conflicts such as “The vehicle is driven by Otto” with the suggestion Take from 14:15. A new shift is Awaiting approval; the coordination team approves it or declines it with a reason, and you get a push. Only an approved shift can be booked by passengers. The app plans breaks automatically according to working time law.
Series
With Every week you add a series: tap one or more weekdays (for example Mon and Tue), then the times, From and Until; if you leave Until empty, the series runs without end. Each weekday becomes its own series. The app adds the shifts twelve weeks ahead and fills up weekly; dates with a conflict are skipped and you are told, as is a weekday where nothing was free. End stops the series, existing shifts remain.
Cancelling and cover
You cancel a planned shift directly. If it is already approved, better ask first with Request cover: all authorised drivers get a push, and whoever accepts first under Cover requests with Take over drives the shift; you keep it until then. If you still have to cancel, that only works with a reason; the coordination team then takes care of booked rides. If a day has no shift, coordination sends you a push “Who can?” with the day and time; if you can, create the shift as usual and coordination approves it. If someone takes over your shift, the planned and running tours of the shift pass to them as well: they see them under Today and Shifts and get a message, and the passengers learn who the new driver is. If you cancel a shift or report sick, the booked rides are taken out of the tour and coordination reassigns them. You withdraw your own cover request under Cover requests with Withdraw as long as nobody has taken over. If nobody takes over by 60 minutes before start, the app cancels the shift and tells you and coordination; booked rides go to coordination. If you answer “Who can?” via the push, date, time and vehicle are prefilled and the shift applies immediately without approval. If coordination approves your holiday, your shifts in that time are dropped (the message states how many); if your driver account is paused or a vehicle authorisation ends, upcoming shifts are cancelled and you get a message with the reason. Less than an hour before the start, Request cover is no longer possible; instead it says “It is too late to find a substitute now. Please call the coordination team.”.
Absences
Under Shifts › Absences you report holiday or other absences; the coordination team approves them and no shift can be added during that time. Sickness applies immediately: for every approved shift in that time a cover request “Will you take over?” goes to all authorised drivers, planned shifts are cancelled, and coordination is informed. If nobody takes over, the shift is cancelled shortly before start. Get well soon.
Calendar
In the driver profile under Subscribe to calendar there is a secret link for your phone's calendar app; your shifts appear there automatically. Do not share the link.
9. Rides in your shifts
Declining
The rides that passengers booked into your approved shifts are shown in the shift (tap the shift under Shifts) and on the driving day under Today: time, pickup window, From and To, people and walkers, notes. You get a message for every new ride; if it starts in less than an hour, it comes as urgent. You see the passenger's name and phone number from two hours before the shift starts until two hours after it ends. If a ride does not work for you, tap Decline on it and give the reason; this is possible until the deadline shown. The coordination team reassigns or cancels the ride; you cannot cancel a ride yourself.
Declining
If you cannot take a ride, tap Decline, give the reason and confirm with Decline ride. This works until 30 minutes before pickup; the ride goes to the coordination team, which gives it to another driver or cancels it. The passenger only learns that the coordination team is taking care of it. If you cancel a whole shift, all its rides go the same way.
Booking a ride for a passenger
If someone calls, you create the ride under More › Book a ride for a passenger: like booking, but at the end For whom? with Search passenger (name or number) or new details with mobile, landline or email. The passenger gets the confirmation on their channel; an internal note is seen only by the coordination team. Without a fitting shift only the coordination team can create the ride as a request.
10. Tours and Today
What a tour is
A tour is the bus's trip in your shift: all pickups and drop-offs of the booked rides, the breaks of your shift and, where it fits, stops on the way. The app creates the tour itself as soon as the first ride is booked into your approved shift and orders the stops with real travel times: pickup before drop-off, by pickup window, passengers on board first to their destination. Under History you see your past tours with the state of the trip report; what is coming is shown by Today and Shifts. A tour's page shows map, stop list and history. For a planned tour you can change the order with the arrows and keep it with Save order.
Today: the next stop large
The Today tab is your tool at the wheel. At the top are your shift and the tour, below them the next stop large: kind, passenger's name, address, pickup window, expected arrival, people and walkers, the passenger's notes and phone. When a pickup is next, the card also shows the Mobility note from the passenger's profile and, folded away, the Emergency contact with phone; for a ride booked for someone else, “Booked by” names the account the notes come from. Only you as the tour's driver see this, and only at this stop. During the tour a map with the bus and the next stop sits above it; below the big button there are tiles for whatever is possible right now, such as Skip or Break, and All stops opens the remaining stops. If someone without a booking gets on or off, tap +1 boarding or −1 alighting; above the big button you then see how many passengers are on the bus. Booked passengers count automatically via Boarded. When the bus is full, +1 boarding is disabled, and the trip report takes over the counted boardings. Below there is exactly one large button per situation: Start tour, then at the stop I am here, then Boarded or after the waiting time Passenger did not show up, at the drop-off Dropped off, continue, at stops, breaks and charging stops Continue or Skip. When everything is done the button reads End tour. When you tap I am here, the passenger immediately gets push and SMS “Bus is here”; Announce again sends it once more. When the vehicle position comes close to the stop, I am here is highlighted; nothing is triggered by itself. The bus only counts as on its way for the next stop: only when a pickup is next does that passenger see “Bus on its way” with the live position; later rides stay confirmed. If a stop drops out or a ride is added, the next stop moves up by itself. If your phone fails, coordination presses the same buttons on the tour page. If it is too early or a trip report is missing, the reason appears instead of Start tour, for example “You can start from 7:30.”. End tour only appears once no ride is waiting to be picked up.
Navigation to the next stop
When you drive a tour, the Navigation tile guides you to the next stop. At the top you see the next manoeuvre in large type with arrow, distance and street, below it the step after that, the map with the route and your position, and at the bottom the destination, remaining distance and arrival time. The map turns with you in the direction of travel. The phone announces the manoeuvres in the app language, for example “In 200 metres, turn right” and shortly before “Turn right now”, even with the screen locked or another app in front; Android then shows the notification Navigation running. The speaker button switches the voice guidance off and on again. If you take a different turn, the app calculates a new route within a few seconds. At the destination the app reports I am here by itself as soon as you stop and shows the next step in large type: Boarded, then Continue or Dropped off, continue. After that it takes you straight to the next stop. You only need Back to Today for the other buttons such as the chime or the counter. If you prefer the phone's maps app, tap Open in the maps app. Your phone's location is only used for navigation while it is open: it is sent to our own server to calculate the route and is not stored.
Break, cancelling and round tour
Break pauses the tour; with Continue tour the app recalculates the arrival times, and passengers with a large shift are told. Cancel tour only works with a reason: the open rides go to the coordination team, which reassigns or cancels them, and nobody is cancelled silently. Without a booked ride you create a loop over the stops under Today with Create round tour (shift, start time, stops, loops); whoever taps “I am waiting here” at the sign attaches to your round tour, and you get a push.
Tour report
After End tour the Tour report opens: odometer at the end (required, the start is prefilled from the vehicle), people carried and no-shows (prefilled from the rides), donations in the box (optional), incidents and Report a vehicle issue, which the coordination team learns at once. Without the report of the last tour no new one can start; after twelve hours the app reminds you. The odometer goes into the vehicle (chapter 6). Under Handover you enter the Charge level in 5 % steps for the next driver and under For the next driver keys and anything unusual; whoever drives the vehicle next sees your report for seven days at the top of Today as the Handover card with driver, time, charge level, odometer and note, the coordination team on the tour page. The odometer at the end is prefilled from the vehicle's tracking when a fresh reading exists; check it against the dashboard.
Statistics of your tour
After End tour, the app calculates a small tracking statistic for the tour page (under History) from the positions of the tracker in the bus: distance, duration, driving time, average and top speed, and speed limit violations with time and road, shown on the map as red dots. The limits come from OpenStreetMap, with a tolerance of a few km/h for GPS and speedometer. The coordination sees the same figures per day, month and year and a ranking by driving time to honour the most active drivers.
11. Help with problems
I cannot get past the second factor
Use one of your recovery codes. Each works once. If you have none left, the coordination team resets your second factor; you then set it up again.
My phone is new
Sign in with email and password, set up the authenticator app again and create a new passkey. Remove old passkeys under Security.
I do not see the driver areas
Then your account does not have the role Driver yet. Contact the coordination team; they assign the role, you sign out once and sign in again.
I do not receive notifications on my phone
Open My account › Notifications and tap Send test notification. If nothing arrives, check notifications in your phone's settings. Signing out removes the device for notifications to your phone; after the next sign-in it registers again by itself.
Who can help me?
The coordination team of BüFoBus. For errors in the app a short description is enough: what you did, what happened, on which device.
12. Events for drivers
Under More › Events you additionally see the events only for drivers and coordination: trainings, briefings, drivers' get-together. When coordination creates a new driver event you get a push; a few days before a reminder arrives, and a message when it is moved or cancelled. Reply with I will come, Maybe or Decline so coordination can plan; Add to calendar puts the event next to your shifts in your calendar.
13. Passenger display
If your bus has a screen in the passenger area, it shows passengers the next stop with the minutes until arrival and the stops after it. You do not need to do anything extra: the display follows your tour under Today. A chime sounds at the start, for every new next stop and when you tap arrived, and at the end of the tour it shows the final stop. Door-to-door pickups appear only with the street name, never with a name or house number.
Below the big button there is the Chime tile. The dot on the bell is green when the display is connected, otherwise grey. Chime sounds the chime by hand, for example when you want passengers to pay attention. The button only works while the tour is running, not during a break.
Pairing the display: If the display shows “This display does not belong to a bus yet” and a six-digit code, open More › Pair display, enter the code, choose the bus and tap Pair. This is only needed once per bus: after that the display finds its bus by itself every time it starts. The code changes every ten minutes; if it has expired, use the new one. You can also enter the code on the bus page: More › Vehicles, tap the bus, section Passenger display. There you also see whether the display is paired and currently connected. If the bus already has a display, first tap Unpair and then pair again.