Commuters may soon be able to leave their cars at home thanks to a new community bus service.

The commuter community bus scheme has already proved a great success in Coggeshall and now the Braintree Community Transport Project is seeking council funding to set up a similar bus to serve the district's railway stations.

It would use one of the transport project's existing vehicles, and the route would have to be registered with the Traffic Commission.

Project co-ordinator Sheila Wright said: "The idea is to provide a timetabled service to run commuters to the station in the morning and pick them up again in the evening. This would reduce car usage."

She added: "We would rely on volunteer drivers to operate the scheme and would be able to charge a fare because it would be a registered bus route."

Having a large bank of voluntary drivers will be vital to the success of the service as once the route is granted the transport project will be legally bound to run the service for the public.

Between the peak commuter times the bus would be available for local groups. Braintree and Witham railway stations are both to be considered for the scheme - a final decision being made after market research targeting potential passengers is carried out.

"It is no good establishing a service if there is no user base," said Mrs Wright.

The cost of operating the service of half a year would be £5,000 - including initial publicity and promotional costs.

A decision on funding will be made by Braintree district's community committee when it meets today.

Council officers state the project would fit into the Essex County Council and Braintree Council objectives of reducing car use.

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