An alternative braking apparatus for a vehicle includes a gear type automatic transmission having at least one clutch and at least one brake for changing the meshing state of gears, and a control unit configured to switch the shift stage of the automatic transmission by controlling the clutch and the brake. The control unit is configured to perform alternative braking that controls the clutch and the brake so that an output shaft of the automatic transmission is braked by a braking force of the brake through the gears when the control unit determines that a braking device of the vehicle cannot normally apply braking forces to wheels despite that the vehicle needs to be braked.