Building community transport: Gippsland eBus pilot lessons

The video recording of our 24 March 2026 webinar, Building Community Transport: Lessons from the Gippsland eBus Pilot, with practical insights from the Gippsland eBus pilot along with an exploration of how community-led transport initiatives can be designed, delivered and sustained in regional and rural areas is available to watch and share fro this page,

Background

Drawing on hands-on experience from participating communities and research reflections from La Trobe University, this session will unpack what it takes to move from idea to operation, including compliance and risk, vehicle selection, funding and operating models, volunteer attraction and retention, day-to-day bookings and promotion, and planning for the long term.

The webinar will also examine the role of electric vehicles as an option for community transport. While community services can operate with a range of vehicle types, we will look at what communities need to consider when assessing whether an EV is suitable, including charging infrastructure, costs, range, geography and operational demands.

The session will conclude with reflections on how other communities and policymakers can build on the pilot, including key lessons and resources to support similar future initiatives elsewhere.

More information: Final report and toolkit

A wrap-up of the project, along with its final report and a downladable toolkit to help other communities run such a program, is available at: A community e-bus pilot program for regional Australia.

Webinar video

Press the play button below to watch the recoding of the webinar. Presentations in the session include:

• Introduction and context: Department of Transport and Planning
• Getting started: things to think about up front: Venus Bay Community Centre and Sandy Point Bus Management Committee
• Volunteer attraction and management: Venus Bay Community Centre and Sandy Point Bus Management Committee
• Day-to-day operations: Venus Bay Community Centre and Sandy Point Bus Management Committee
• What to know about electric vehicles: Venus Bay Community Centre and Sandy Point Bus Management Committee
• How can other communities build on this pilot: La Trobe University
• Final panel and Q&A: All speakers

Webinar Q&A

A substantil part of the session saw questions asked of the project leaders and researchers, Copied below is a selection of the questins and answers.

For this 2-year trial, are there any stats on number of people carried, number of trips taken, etc.?

Across both communities, 2,892 passengers transported, 545 total trips made, 5,172 hours of volunteer time provided by a total of 50 volunteers.

These figures can also be found in the final report on page 8.

Are the trip donations based on cost per kilometre?

Yes, with a contingency. For essential trips to CV/Line (the Victorian regional train system), we would break even or even a small loss.

Was there much awkwardness around the concept of donations for trips?

Yes, there is some confusion around donations”- some people thought as it was initially a funded project that it should all be free – so it’s about telling the story

How much grant funding did each project require? Did grant funding cover capex (bus) and opex (fuel)?

The purchase of the buses came from the Department of Transport and Planning’s Flexible Local Transport Solutions Program.

The research project funding covered employment of researchers and local engagement officers and some operating costs like registration, insurance, roadside assistance  for the first two years, but running costs like fuel were covered by the communities.

Was there space/capacity on the buses for carrying sports equipment, shopping, packages, and the like?

There is limited space for equipment or shopping as there is a wheelchair lift in the back and that mechanism prevents use of back door.

Sorry if it has been discussed. But did you look at any cases tudies, best practice approaches to support the setup?

I should also say, that there isn’t a single model to follow, so the report draws on different elements from examples in Australia and internationally.

Have any other communities been in touch with you yet looking to replicate the service?

Yes, we have had a few enquiries from other communities – we are really happy to share our learnings.

Roughly how much seed funding was required to get you started?

~$130K for bus with wheelchair lift, plus some support from La Trobe University on insurance and other costs in first 2 years.

How many days a week do the services operate?

7 days a week.

Each of our two communities is different. Art Venus Bay we do weekly & fortnightly scheduled service/shopping trips, V/Line connection as required, social outings, private bookings and as a mentioned summer beach shuttle service.

How much lead time is required from the time of making the booking to actually carrying out the job?

We ask for 24 hours.

Have you thought about having a cut-off time, say 24 to 48 hours in advance? It sounds like you are a pseudo taxi service rather than a community bus.

We do have a cut-off time – by 5pm the day before for scheduled trips.

Have you thought about scheduling jobs, so that you can pick up more than one passenger on the way through and drop them off in sequence along a path?

Yes, we do drop people and pick them up along the way

Did you allow shelf hire options?

We did, but it creates other insurance complications and increase in cost, plus increases our risk

Was there a situation, or could there be a situation, in which if an urgent trip could not be accommodated by the bus, that a “side solution” could be arranged (i.e. one of the drivers using a personal vehicle)?

We have done this from time to time, although we try to avoid this.

Charging stations – what was available locally and were further grants needed for these?

We had to upgrade to 3-phase at the Venus Bay Community Centre to enable charging. There are very few fast-charging infrastructure locally. As mentioned during the webinar, the fact that we only had AC charging has been problematic with charging.

I notice that you framed community mobility as an expression of care.  Is it an essential expression of social value?

Yes, that framing actually emerged through the research, as we started to see how strongly the service supported connection and wellbeing.

Are there any recommendations for government to make it easier to implement these services?

We have talked about a simpler accreditation system for volunteer community transport services, not sure where this will go.

All the recommendations are available in thefinal  report (including a short version in exec summary).

Well done to all involved – the toolkit you’ve put together is great. I do have a question for the community groups though…  I note you mentioned the documentation was a work in process. If you had to use all these documents/templates in the toolkit, would it have overwhelmed you at the start? Is support to complete these critical to the success of the service?

I do think the documents in the toolkit are helpful – and clearly sets out all the things you need to think about.

Community Transport is often constrained by Aged Care and NDIS regulations…Do you work alongside these CT agencies?

We didn’t directly operate within Aged Care or NDIS frameworks, but we recognise how significant those systems are in shaping community transport.

Our model was designed to be open and community-wide, particularly to address gaps for people who may not be eligible under those programs, but who are still disadvantaged by geography and limited local transport options.

This is also why we started to think more broadly about what community transport actually is.