We hope the following will answer any questions to which you have not found the answers elsewhere on the site. If you have any further questions, you can contact us here.
Q. Do you allow visitors to board the buses on display and/or sit inside them?
A. Normally Yes, within reason.
With over 100,000 visitors a year, we have to protect our precious old buses from excessive wear and we also have to ensure the safety of our visitors. However, we usually have at least one bus open and, subject to the agreement of a steward, it is usually possible to board this. However, please note that, for safety reasons, it is not permitted for visitors to enter the driver's cab. Please also note that boarding a bus may not be possible during very busy periods when our stewards have to cope with large numbers of visitors and we ask for your understanding in this regard.
Children under 16 must be closely supervised by a responsible adult at all times. Our stewards are instructed not to allow children to board buses on their own.
Q. Is it possible to ride on your buses on the road?
A. YES – bus rides are offered subject to crews and buses being available at weekends and during Surrey school holidays, at our three annual regular events at Brooklands and on our heritage events.
Q. Do you hire out your buses for weddings, private parties, graduations etc?
A. No, as an Accredited Museum/Charitable Trust we are unable to use our buses for private hire purposes. But we can recommend these specialist firms who offer classic buses available for private hire.
Q. Are your buses available for film and TV appearances?
A. Yes. Film and TV work is a welcome source of funds for the charitable trust which runs the Museum and our buses are regular screen stars, appearing in films such as Nanny McPhee and TV series such as Foyle's War. Provided we are satisfied that the subject is appropriate and that suitable care will be taken of these precious artefacts, we can make buses available to provide contemporary background to most periods from late Victorian to the 1980s. For many periods, the Museum is the only source of suitable buses.
For more details and guide prices, see here.
Q. Can you provide a speaker for our function?
A. Yes, this may be possible, provided our criteria can be met. We only have very limited resources for this purpose. You can read more here.
Q. Do you buy and sell old buses?
A. No, this is not part of the remit of a Museum charitable trust. There are some links to bus dealers on our links page here and you may wish to conduct a wider search on the internet.
Q. Can you provide advice to owners of preserved buses about restoration, maintenance, spare parts etc?
A. No, we regret that we do not have the resources for this and this is not part of our remit. We recommend that you join a bus preservation group or society for this kind of information. That said, many of our Members are themselves active preservationists and a certain amount of mutual help is given amongst the regular volunteers so, by becoming a member and getting actively involved as a volunteer, you might well benefit from this. The Membership application form can be found here.