Booking the village minibus

Text 1: Why we ask for Thursday, by Siobhan Carvell

An original contemporary blog.

Our community minibus has twelve seats, a wheelchair lift and a rota of nine volunteer drivers, most of them retired. It runs to the market town every Tuesday and Friday, the only link many villagers have since the 41 bus was withdrawn. Passengers must book by noon on Thursday for the following week, and some grumble about this. The deadline has good reasons behind it. Our coordinator, Pat, needs time to plan a route that collects everyone from their own front door without anyone sitting on board for over an hour. She also has to find a driver trained on the lift whenever a wheelchair user is travelling, and only three of our nine have done that course. Late bookings are squeezed in when a seat is free.

Explain two reasons why passengers must book the minibus by noon on Thursday.