Rewards
Bus Buck$
Book direct with any Waggie Group operator and every completed trip earns credit worth 10% of what you paid, against the next one.
Three ways to hold them
How it works
Bus Buck$ are a credit currency, not a points scheme. They have a face value in Australian dollars and they can be pooled, gifted or traded.
Earn on tours
Every passenger on a tour booking receives Bus Buck$ worth 10% of their own fare when the tour is completed. Book as a group or individually — it makes no difference.
Example: you pay $100 and your friend pays $150. You receive $10 and they receive $15 in Bus Buck$.
Earn on charters
The person who organised and paid for the charter receives Bus Buck$ worth 10% of the total charter value, issued on completion, redeemable against a future charter.
Charter Bus Buck$ can cover up to 10% of the value of a future charter.
Buy them up front
Buy $100 of face value for $85 and use it against the regular price of a charter or tour. That is a 15% saving before you have travelled at all.
Purchased Bus Buck$ cannot be combined with earned Bus Buck$ on the same booking.
Where they work
Redeemable across the whole group
Bus Buck$ earned with Byron Bay Buses can be spent with any Waggie Group operator, and with Exclusive Representative Partners in the Partner Program.
Byron Bay Buses
Charters, tours and airport transfers across Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers.
Cooee Tours Australia
Day and multi-day touring across Australia and New Zealand.
Cooee Coach Charters
Coach charter through South East Queensland.
PartyParty Bus
Party bus hire from 10 to 45 passengers.
Sunshine Coast Bus Lines
Charter and transfers across the Sunshine Coast.
Bus Charter Services Australia
National charter booking across the group's fleets.
Bus Buck$ terms
Issuing
Bus Buck$ are issued by Waggie Pty Ltd on completion of a paid tour or charter, or on purchase online. A valid voucher carries a booking or purchase number, the issuing company's seal, the date of issue and the current Bus Buck$ design. Vouchers that do not carry all four cannot be redeemed.
Where they can be redeemed
Bus Buck$ are redeemable on bookings made directly with a Waggie Group operator, or with an Exclusive Representative Partner in the Waggie Partner Program. They are not issued on, and cannot be redeemed against, bookings made through third-party agents.
If you travelled with us on a booking originally made through a third-party agent, you remain entitled to earn and redeem Bus Buck$ on any future booking made directly with us.
Validity
- Purchased online: valid for three years from the date of purchase.
- Earned on a completed trip: valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
- If purchased Bus Buck$ are unused after 12 months, they may be exchanged for cash at the purchase price up to 15 months from the date of purchase.
Redemption limits
- Bus Buck$ can only be applied to advance bookings, not retrospectively to a trip already taken.
- Purchased Bus Buck$ and earned Bus Buck$ cannot be used together on the same booking.
- Charter Bus Buck$ can cover up to 10% of the value of a future charter.
- Tour Bus Buck$ held by multiple people may be pooled against a single future tour.
- Bus Buck$ cannot be used in conjunction with any other current promotion.
Selling, gifting and trading
You may sell, gift, swap or trade your Bus Buck$ with another person. Any such transaction is solely between you and the other party. We are not a party to it, cannot verify it and accept no responsibility for it. Take the same care you would with any other transfer of value.
Your statutory rights
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees and the protections that apply to gift cards.
Worked examples
What it is actually worth, with numbers
Loyalty schemes are usually explained in percentages and understood in dollars. Here are the three situations people ask about, with the arithmetic done.
A couple on a day tour
Two adults on the Point Danger tour at $89 each is $178. Each passenger earns Bus Buck$ worth 10% of their own fare, so that is $8.90 each, $17.80 between them. Pooled against a future tour, it covers most of a child's fare.
The important detail is that it is per passenger, not per booking. A family of five earns on five fares.
A wedding charter
A three-run wedding charter at $1,400 earns $140 in Bus Buck$, issued to whoever organised and paid for it. That is redeemable against a future charter — and charter Bus Buck$ can cover up to 10% of the value of that future booking.
In practice this is why so much of our wedding work comes back as a milestone birthday or a family reunion two years later.
Buying them up front
$100 of face value costs $85. If you know you are booking a $2,000 charter, buying $2,000 of Bus Buck$ costs $1,700 and saves you $300 before you have travelled at all.
The catch, and we would rather state it than bury it: purchased Bus Buck$ and earned Bus Buck$ cannot be combined on the same booking. You use one or the other. For a large charter the purchased route is almost always worth more; for a small tour, the earned route is simpler.
A social club that travels monthly
Thirty members on a $70 tour is $2,100, earning $210 across the group. Twelve trips a year and the pooled balance is meaningful — enough to run a trip that costs the members nothing.
This is the case Bus Buck$ was designed for, and clubs that pool systematically get more out of it than anyone else.
The rule in one line
Ten per cent back on everything you complete, redeemable anywhere in the group, poolable, giftable, and worth 15% more again if you buy it up front instead of earning it.
Buying up front
How the purchase option works
Earning is passive. Buying is the version people use deliberately, usually when a large booking is already on the horizon.
The mechanics
You buy Bus Buck$ at a discount to face value — $100 of credit for $85 — and then redeem that face value against the regular price of a tour or charter with any operator in the group. There is no minimum purchase and no cap.
Validity
Purchased Bus Buck$ are valid for three years from the date of purchase. Australian gift card law has required a minimum three-year validity on cards sold to consumers since November 2019, and we apply it. Bus Buck$ earned on a completed trip are a loyalty benefit rather than a purchased card, and carry a 12-month validity.
Changing your mind
If purchased Bus Buck$ are still unused after 12 months, they can be exchanged for cash at the purchase price, up to 15 months from the date of purchase. That is a genuine refund route rather than a technicality — if plans change, you are not stuck holding credit for a trip you will never take.
Earned Bus Buck$ are not redeemable for cash. They are a discount on future travel, not a currency we issued you in exchange for money.
When buying is not the right call
If you are not confident you will travel with us again inside three years, do not buy them. The earned version costs you nothing and carries no risk. We would rather say that than sell credit to someone who will not use it.
Validity at a glance
- Purchased: 3 years from purchase
- Earned on a trip: 12 months from issue
- Cash-back window (purchased only): months 12 to 15
- Combining purchased and earned: not permitted on one booking
Pooling, gifting, trading
Bus Buck$ move between people. Most schemes do not.
This is the part that makes the programme unusual, and the part that needs the clearest explanation, because it also carries the only real risk in it.
Pooling within a group
Everyone on a tour booking earns their own Bus Buck$, and those balances can be combined against a single future tour. For a club, a village or an extended family that travels together, this is the difference between a token discount and a trip that pays for itself after a year.
The practical approach: nominate one person to hold the vouchers. Twelve people each holding $8.90 achieves nothing; one person holding $106.80 books a seat.
Charter Bus Buck$ go to the organiser
On a charter, the person who arranged and paid for the booking receives the full 10%. That is deliberate — on a wedding or a corporate job there is no per-passenger fare to divide, and the organiser did the work.
What the organiser does with them afterwards is their business. Plenty of wedding couples pass them to whichever relative is planning the next family event.
Gifting
You can give Bus Buck$ to anyone. They are not tied to a name or an account, so a voucher handed over is a voucher transferred. People use them as wedding presents, milestone birthday gifts and staff rewards.
Selling and trading — and the risk
You may sell, swap or trade your Bus Buck$ with another person. We permit it, and we want to be completely direct about what that means: any such transaction is solely between you and the other party. We are not involved, we cannot verify it, and we accept no responsibility for it.
If you buy Bus Buck$ from a stranger and the voucher turns out to be invalid, that is a dispute between you and them, not between you and us. Treat it with the same care you would any other transfer of value from someone you do not know.
How to check a voucher is genuine
A valid Bus Buck$ voucher carries four things. If any one is missing, it cannot be redeemed:
- A booking or purchase number
- The issuing company's seal
- The date of issue
- The current Bus Buck$ design
If you are being offered vouchers by a third party and you want them checked before you pay, send us the numbers. We will confirm whether they are valid and current, at no charge. That takes about five minutes and has saved people money more than once.
Where they work
Six operators, one currency
Bus Buck$ earned on a Byron Bay charter can be spent on a Sunshine Coast transfer or a Cooee Tours multi-day trip. That breadth is the main reason people bother collecting them.
Direct bookings only
Bus Buck$ are issued on, and redeemed against, bookings made directly with a Waggie Group operator, or with an Exclusive Representative Partner in the Waggie Partner Program. They are not issued on bookings made through third-party agents, and cannot be redeemed against them.
Importantly, that is a rule about the booking, not about you. If you travelled with us once on a booking an agent made, you can still earn and redeem on every future booking you make with us directly.
Advance bookings only
Bus Buck$ apply to a booking you are making, not one you have already taken. We cannot retrospectively discount a trip that has happened, and we cannot apply them alongside another current promotion — one discount per booking.
How to redeem
Tell us at enquiry stage, not after the quote. Mention the vouchers when you send the booking details and the discount appears on the quote itself, so the figure you approve is the figure you pay. Redeeming after a quote has been issued means reissuing it.
Redeemable with
- Byron Bay Buses
- Cooee Tours Australia
- Cooee Coach Charters
- PartyParty Bus
- Sunshine Coast Bus Lines
- Bus Charter Services Australia
Avoidable problems
The six things people get wrong
None of these is a trap. They are all in the terms, and every one of them comes up often enough to be worth spelling out in plain language.
1. Mentioning them after the quote
Tell us at enquiry stage. If the quote is already issued and approved, applying Bus Buck$ means reissuing it, which is a delay for no reason. One sentence in your first message solves it.
2. Trying to combine purchased and earned
You can hold both. You can use both. You cannot use both on the same booking. For a large charter, spend the purchased ones; save the earned ones for a smaller trip where they cover a bigger share of the total.
3. Letting earned Bus Buck$ lapse
Earned Bus Buck$ are valid for 12 months from issue. A wedding in March generates vouchers that expire the following March. Most people who lose value lose it here — put the expiry in a calendar the day you receive them.
4. Everyone holding their own
Ten people each holding $8 achieves very little. One person holding $80 books a seat. If your group travels together, nominate a keeper on the first trip.
5. Assuming an agent booking counts
It does not, in either direction. But it does not disqualify you either — book directly next time and you are earning again from that trip on.
6. Buying from a third party without checking
Trading is permitted and we are not a party to it. Before money changes hands, send us the voucher numbers and we will confirm validity for free. It takes minutes and it is the only protection available on a transaction we are not part of.
Your statutory rights, plainly
Nothing in the Bus Buck$ terms limits or excludes any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees and the specific protections that apply to gift cards. If those protections give you a better outcome than anything written here, the law prevails.
That is not boilerplate. Gift card rules in Australia changed in November 2019 to require a minimum three-year validity on cards sold to consumers and to ban post-supply fees. We apply the three-year term to purchased Bus Buck$ and we charge no fees against a balance at any point. If anything on this page ever reads as though it contradicts the law, the law is right and the page is wrong — tell us and we will fix it.
Why this exists
A discount for booking direct, and not much more complicated than that
Transport companies lose a meaningful share of every booking made through a third-party platform. Bus Buck$ is us handing a portion of that back to the people who come to us directly, rather than spending it on commission.
It also does something an account-based points scheme cannot: because Bus Buck$ are transferable, they work for the way groups actually travel here. The person who organises a wedding is not the person who books the family reunion two years later. A points balance locked to an email address would be worth nothing in that situation. A voucher that can be handed over is worth exactly its face value.
Byron Bay Buses has been running since 1992 and most of our work is repeat work or referral. Bus Buck$ is the mechanism that makes that measurable rather than accidental.
Asking us to work it out
If you want to know what a specific trip would earn, ask when you enquire. We will put the figure on the quote alongside the price, so you can see what the booking is worth to you afterwards as well as what it costs today.
Four marks on every valid voucher
- Booking or purchase number
- Issuing company's seal
- Date of issue
- Current Bus Buck$ design
By group type
How different customers actually use them
Social clubs and retirement villages
The clearest winner. A group travelling monthly accumulates a pooled balance fast, and because tour Bus Buck$ can be combined, that balance turns into free seats rather than a rounding error on an invoice. Nominate a keeper, log the expiry dates, and plan one trip a year around the balance.
Wedding couples
A wedding charter is usually the largest single transport booking a couple ever makes, so the 10% is a real number. Most couples will not book another charter soon — which is exactly why the vouchers are transferable. Pass them to whoever in the family is planning the next thing.
Corporate and conference organisers
Earned by whoever paid, which is normally the company rather than an individual. Organisations that run an annual conference or a recurring staff shuttle find the balance covers a meaningful part of the following year's transport.
If your finance team needs the accounting treatment explained, ask — it is a discount against future supply, not a rebate, and we will confirm that in writing.
Families and repeat visitors
People who come back to Byron Bay every year are the second-best fit after clubs. Earn on the airport transfer, earn on the day tour, hold both, and use them on next year's transfer. The 12-month earned validity lines up almost exactly with an annual holiday.
Schools
Earned by the school on charter bookings, and redeemable against the next excursion. Worth flagging to whoever manages the excursion budget, because it accrues to the institution rather than the teacher who made the booking.
Anyone planning a large one-off
This is the case for buying rather than earning. If a $3,000 charter is already decided, purchasing $3,000 of face value for $2,550 saves $450 immediately, with no waiting and no accumulation. Just remember you cannot then stack earned vouchers on the same booking.
Not sure which route suits you?
Tell us roughly what you expect to book over the next couple of years and we will tell you honestly whether buying up front is worth it or whether earning is the simpler answer. Sometimes it is the second one.
Getting started
You do not need to sign up
There is no membership, no card, no app and no account to create. Book directly with us, complete the trip, and the vouchers are issued automatically, in your name. That is the whole enrolment process, and it is deliberate — a loyalty scheme that requires a login is a loyalty scheme most people abandon at the login.
If you would rather we simply hold the balance against your name and apply it next time, ask and we will note it on your record. Plenty of regular customers never handle a physical voucher at all.
Questions we are happy to answer
What a specific trip would earn, before you book it. Whether buying up front makes sense for what you are actually planning to do. Whether a voucher someone has offered you is valid. How the expiry dates fall against a trip you are considering. Whether a booking made a particular way qualifies.
Call or email and you will get a straight answer, including when that answer is “earning is better for you than buying”. We would rather you used the programme in the way that actually suits your travel than in the way that happens to take the most money from you today.
One more thing worth knowing
Bus Buck$ are issued on completion of a trip, not on booking it. If a trip is cancelled, no vouchers are issued for it — and if vouchers were redeemed against a booking that is later cancelled, they are returned to you with their original expiry date intact rather than being consumed.
That last point matters and is easy to miss. Redeeming a voucher does not put it at risk. If circumstances change and the trip does not happen, you have not lost the credit.
Before you book
Bus Buck$ questions
How much do I earn?
Bus Buck$ to the value of 10% of what you paid, issued when the tour or charter is completed. On tours this is per person. On charters it goes to the person who organised and paid for the booking.
How long do they last?
Bus Buck$ purchased online are valid for three years from the date of purchase, in line with Australian gift card law. Bus Buck$ earned on a completed trip are valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
Can our group pool them?
Yes, for tours. Everyone on a tour booking earns their own Bus Buck$ and they can be combined against a future tour. Charter Bus Buck$ are issued to the organiser.
Can I use them if I booked through an agent?
Bus Buck$ are not issued on bookings made through third-party agents. However, if you travelled with us via an agent, you can still earn and redeem on any future booking made directly with a Waggie Group operator.
Can I get cash back?
Bus Buck$ purchased online can be exchanged for cash at the purchase price if they are unused after 12 months, up to 15 months from purchase. Bus Buck$ earned on a trip are not redeemable for cash.
Can I use bought and earned Bus Buck$ together?
No. On any single booking you can redeem either Bus Buck$ you purchased online or Bus Buck$ you earned on a trip, not both.
Ask us how many Bus Buck$ your trip would earn
We will work it out against a real quote so you can see the number before you book.