Run the whole operation from one screen.
Scheduling, rostering, private hire, timetables, compliance and payroll, every part of a bus or coach operation in one platform. Less admin, nothing slipping through the cracks, and no more paying for five systems that don’t talk to each other.
- Built with UK bus & coach operators
- Every module included
- 30-day free trial
Met us at an event?
If we handed you a code at the NEC Bus & Coach Expo or another industry meet, drop it on the demo-booking form for an extended trial on top of the standard 30 days.
The moments that make or break the week.
None of these is a software problem, until the day it becomes one. Every one of them comes down to the same thing: the answer lives in a different place from the decision.
- 06:00, Monday
A driver's phoned in sick. Three duties need covering and the one person who knows who's legal to drive is still in bed.
- The post arrives
The Traffic Commissioner wants six months of walkaround records. They are in a folder, a filing cabinet and the cab of a van.
- Mid-shift
A driver is an hour from going over their hours, and nothing on the wall is going to tell you until it has already happened.
- At the roadside
An MOT lapsed three weeks ago. You find out when the vehicle is pulled in for a check, not before.
- Every single day
Half a route runs empty between the depot and the first stop, and it has done for years, because no one has ever measured it.
- The week they are off
The rota lives in a spreadsheet only one person really understands. Next week, they are on holiday.
RouteStra is one system built for exactly these moments, so the answer and the decision finally sit in the same place.
Five tools become one.
Rotas, sign-on, walkarounds, leave, incidents, private hire, timetables, the workshop, compliance. Most operators run each on its own spreadsheet, app or paper form. RouteStra replaces the whole patchwork.
- Spreadsheet rotasHours every week
- Paper walkaround formsFiled and forgotten
- WhatsApp leave requestsMessages missed
- A separate incident systemAnother subscription
- Manual sign-on sheetsError-prone
- Scheduling and rotas with live checks
- Digital walkaround checks with photos
- Leave requests with an approval workflow
- Incident reporting built in
- Real-time driver sign-on
The whole operation, on one honest platform.
Most software runs one corner of a bus or coach business. RouteStra runs all of it: built with the operators who use it, and priced so growth never costs you more.
One platform, not five
Scheduling, private hire, timetables, the workshop, compliance and payroll: 30+ modules on one login and one bill, sharing a single record instead of five systems that never talk to each other.
Runs both sides of the business
Quote-to-invoice private hire and registered-route timetables, off one driver pool and one compliance record, so a weekend coach booking cannot quietly break Monday’s school run.
Built for how the industry runs
Shaped with UK bus and coach operators around PSV rules, driving hours and the working-time directive. Fleet software built for the job, not generic software bent to fit it.
One price, everything included
Every module included for one per-user price. No tiers, no add-ons, no surprise upsell the day the business grows into another part of the platform.
Compliance that never lapses
Every MOT, PSV, insurance and licence expiry on one red, amber, green board, driven by the same data as your daily digest, so the screen and the email never disagree.
Live control of the running day
The Command Centre is one board for today: sign-ons, coverage gaps and walkaround checks, with replacement drivers suggested the moment someone drops out.
One platform. Two revenue worlds.
Operations, engineering and compliance underpin every operator. On top, choose your world: private-hire jobs, registered-route timetables, or both. Each module stands on its own; turn others on as you grow.
One driver pool, one compliance record, one bill, whichever side of the business is paying today.
The product, not a promise.
Every screen below is the real operator app. Follow a week through RouteStra, from building the rota to running the day, staying compliant, winning private hire and cutting the empty miles.
Build the rota on a grid that checks itself
Assign drivers and vehicles by dragging them onto the week. RouteStra checks the rules as you go, so illegal or expensive rotas never reach the drivers.
- Auto-assign drivers and vehicles
- Working-time and driving-hours breaks flagged live
- Leave conflicts caught before you publish
Two revenue worlds. One driver pool.
Contract and route work pays the depot. Private hire pays the weekend. Most operators run both, and most software makes them buy two systems that never speak. RouteStra runs both off one driver pool, one fleet and one compliance record, so a weekend coach booking can never quietly break Monday’s school run.
- Hours and rest checked across service and private-hire work alike
- One workshop queue and one audit trail for the whole fleet
- One login, one bill: both worlds included, not two systems that never talk
Coach hire, bus services, or both.
Private hire and registered bus services are two different jobs: quote-to-invoice on one side, timetable publishing on the other. RouteStra does each one properly. The rare part: it does both at once, off one driver pool and one compliance record.
Quote, dispatch, invoice: from one record
An enquiry becomes a quote, the quote becomes a job sheet, the job sheet becomes an invoice, without re-keying it three times. Customers approve, track and pay through a portal that carries your livery, not ours.
See private hire & jobs- Enquiry → quote → dispatch → invoice on one shared record
- Customer portal: approve the quote, track the booking, download the invoice, no login
- Plan and price the route on the map: deadhead miles, hours, vehicle class, peak / off-peak
- Native Xero / QuickBooks / Sage sync: invoice out, paid status back
Author your timetables once. Publish everywhere.
Build trip patterns and a service calendar once, and the same source feeds passengers, drivers and the journey planners. A disruption or a half-term variation goes out everywhere in one push.
See timetables- Trip patterns with a calendar that knows weekends and school terms
- One source feeds your website, the driver portal and passenger journey planners
- Disruptions and diversions written once, pushed to every channel
- Audit log on every edit: ready when the regulator asks who changed the 0732
Most operators run two businesses at once
Contract or route work pays the depot; private hire pays the weekend. RouteStra runs both off one driver pool, one fleet and one compliance record, so a coach booking can't quietly break Monday's school run, and you stop paying for two systems that don't talk.
See how running both works- One driver pool: hours and rest validated across service and private-hire work
- One fleet, one workshop queue, one compliance record
- Assigning a private-hire job warns before it breaks a service rota
- One login, one bill: both included, billed per user, instead of two systems that don't talk
Same platform. Different operators.
A duty manager at a single-depot operator and a network planner at a multi-depot one need different things from their software. RouteStra reshapes around both: same product, same login, same modules; the experience tightens or expands to fit.
One depot, one rota, one source of truth
Build the week, publish so every driver can see their shifts from any browser, run the day from the team-operations board. When the 7am call-in lands, RouteStra suggests replacements ranked by who's available, who's nearest and who isn't already over their hours.
- One ops manager, full visibility
- Sign-on, leave and incidents in one place
- Walkaround defects auto-route to the workshop
- Payroll-ready hours at the end of the week
Each depot owns its own, head office sees them all
Permissions are per-depot: a Manchester planner can't accidentally publish into Leeds. Org-level settings (working-hours rules, leave entitlements, depot rules) cascade so every depot stays on the same page without anyone re-keying.
- Per-depot data scoping with audit trail
- Org-level settings cascade automatically
- Roll-up reporting at any scope
- Drivers move between depots cleanly
Public service and private hire share the same drivers
The duty builder shows you whether assigning a driver to Saturday's coach trip would break Monday's school-run rota, before you commit. Private-hire jobs land in the same record customers see; the rota and the dispatch board agree without anyone re-keying.
- Quote-to-cash for private hire built in
- Shared driver pool with hours validated across both
- Customer-facing portal for quote acceptance, booking status, and invoices
- Xero / QuickBooks / Sage invoice + payment sync on the same job record
30+ modules, one platform.
Every part of a bus or coach operation, grouped by the job it does and connected by one shared record. Switch on what you need, when you need it.
From an empty grid to a published rota, in minutes.
Watch a week come together: add the drivers, drop shifts onto the grid, let the compliance checks run as you go, then publish so every driver sees it.
Add your drivers
Import or add each driver to the schedule. Their availability, contract hours, and licence details come along automatically.
Drag shifts into place
Drop shift patterns onto the grid. RouteStra lets you know what vehicle and person is able to do that shift.
Compliance validates live
Working-time rules are checked in real time. Conflicts highlight instantly so you can fix before publishing.
One click to publish
Hit publish and the finalised rota is locked. No more version confusion or last-minute spreadsheet edits.
Drivers see it instantly
Every driver sees it from their dashboard. Check-in and leave are all in-app.
Schedules, sign-on, leave and operations in one place
One self-service portal for every employee, not just drivers: view shifts, request leave and find documents from any device, with sign-on, walkaround checks and incident reports for the people out on the road.
- View shifts and route assignments
- Sign on to shifts in real time
- Request leave and complete walkaround checks
- Report incidents with photos
Nothing lapses without you knowing.
Every upcoming expiry across your fleet and drivers sits on one board, driven by the same data that sends your daily digest, so the screen and the email never disagree. The same checks run whether a driver is on a registered service or a private-hire charter, so a coach booking can’t quietly push someone over their hours. One audit trail, everything your traffic commissioner needs in one place.
Spreadsheets, legacy software, or RouteStra.
Most operators are running one of the first two. Here is how the three compare across the jobs that actually fill your week.
| Spreadsheets & paper | Legacy software | RouteStra All-in-one | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Build every tab by hand | Weeks of setup and training | Live in 15 minutes |
| Compliance & hours | You have to remember | A separate add-on | Checked live as you plan |
| Leave & shift swaps | WhatsApp and phone calls | Another HR system | Self-service, respects the rota |
| Walkaround checks | Paper in a folder | A bolt-on app | Digital, with photos and defects |
| Private hire to invoice | Re-keyed into the accounts | A different system again | One record, quote to invoice |
| What it costs | No licence fee, lots of manual work | Several subscriptions | One per-user price |
| The whole operation | Scattered across files | Modules that don’t talk | One shared record |
Set up your operation, your way.
You build RouteStra around how you actually run: your drivers, vehicles, depots, routes and rotas. Self-service import tools and a UK support team make getting going a short job, not a six-week implementation project.
Bulk import the basics
Add your drivers and vehicles from a CSV instead of one at a time, and invite drivers to fill in their own details. The repetitive groundwork is done quickly, by you, without waiting on anyone.
Turn on only what you need
Every module is optional. Set up the parts you run today and switch the rest on when the business changes, so you are never configuring things you do not use.
Usable from the first login
There is nothing to install and no implementation phase to sit through. You build your operation around how you actually run, and you can be putting together your first rota the day you sign in.
A UK team when you need it
You set RouteStra up yourself, but you are not on your own. If you get stuck getting started or running the day to day, the helpline reaches a real person, not a ticket queue.
- Every module optional
- Bulk CSV import
- Cancel any time
One platform, and it shows.
One login, one bill, one place for the whole operation. Here is what that adds up to.
Publish once. Found everywhere passengers look.
Author your registered-route timetables in RouteStra and they flow out to every place a passenger checks a time, without re-keying a single departure. Timetables in RouteStra connect to major consumer platforms, so passengers see your times right across the web from one input.
- Journey planners like Google Maps and Citymapper, and the apps passengers already use
- The national feeds, your own website and the driver portal
- One source of truth: edit a trip once and every channel updates
The questions operators ask first
More on the product page, but if you've got a different question, the contact form is one click away.
You set RouteStra up yourself, but it is built to make that quick rather than a rebuild-from-scratch slog. Bulk-import your drivers and vehicles from a CSV, invite drivers to fill in their own details, and turn on only the modules you run today. You are configuring the parts you actually use, not migrating a database by hand, and a UK support team is there if you get stuck.
Ready to run the whole operation from one screen?
Tell us about your fleet and we’ll set up a live demo on your own operation. We help you get set up and walk your team through every module you turn on.
We’re with you before, during and after setup. Our team is here to help every step of the way.