Gippsland community e-Bus pilot

Can community-run mobility services be successful where other forms of public transport are not viable or available? This project will pilot a community-run electric shuttle in Venus Bay and Sandy Point in Gippsland, Victoria.

Neither of these regional towns have any bus, taxi or other publicly available services. The project will evaluate best practices to run such a service, as well as measure the benefits that the service delivers to the community.

This will inform the government and other rural communities on future policy development with regards to community mobility services.

Participants

• Venus Bay Community Centre
• Sandy Point Bus Management Committee
• Department of Transport and Planning
• La Trobe University

Project background

The Venus Bay and Sandy Point communities have recently applied for and been successful in securing funding through Victoria’s Flexible Local Transport Solutions Program, that will provide two 10-seater (9 if transporting a a wheelchair passenger)  e-Buses for community transport. This is governed by a separate agreement with the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP).

As agreed by project partners, this work undertaken will capture activities the DTP requires be undertaken in collaboration with the supply of the buses and the two communities. These activities, for a two-year period, will allow information to be captured that will assist with future community transport projects.

In addition, this project will provide some resources and guidance to the two respective communities to maximise the chances of achieving a meaningful and sustainable service to their stakeholders.

Recently iMOVE completed a project Community transport: Defining the problems, fixing the future, that investigated best practices for community transport. In that project’s final report, the following points are made:

True now, and set to become worse over the next decade, older people, people with disability, and those living in rural and remote areas are among the most likely to experience difficulties with access and mobility. And community transport is absolutely crucial for these very customers.

The most prominent users of community transport tend to be older people, people living with a disability and people living outside major cities. This is in part a consequence of the way community transport is structured to respond to specific government funding streams and eligibility for services, rather than necessarily reflecting the broader needs and experiences of transport disadvantage in the community.

And while this part of the population is strongly reliant on community transport, it also is crucial for the wider community. It fills in the gaps where other transport is in short supply, or non-existent. It fills in means for people to be involved in community activities, and to social and community care and health.

Such gap-filling services are expensive to provide, making this area of transport one that is expensive to provide, and therefore needs strong support from governments.

The study shows that there is a fragmented approach to dealing with community transport (CT). It could be that it is currently considered too hard, or too expensive, but what has been found is that there is “a limited depth of understanding about what CT is and how it works.” As with all endeavours, it’s extremely difficult to fix what you don’t understand.

In the same report four key areas for innovation are identified, and these are planned activities in this project. They are:

This project sets out to understand what can be achieved with technology that is available today to deliver a sustainable, community transport service in two remote communities with limited or no public transport and an over-representation of elderly. It will not only deliver good outcomes for VBCC and SPBMC and the communities they represent, but also capture best practices for other communities to benefit.

The project covers the development of deployment strategies (passenger facing, operational and technical functionalities), the measurement of the impact, and on ground activation support.

Below is some background information about the communities involved in this project. It should noted that both communities will make use of volunteer drivers.

Sandy Point

Sandy Point is a small seaside township near Wilsons Promontory, approximately 200 km south-east of Melbourne. With some 300 permanent residents, the population grows by several thousand during holiday seasons.

Sandy Point Community Power has been developing renewable assets within the community including 30kWh of battery storage at the Community Centre and a 15kW solar array at the Men’s Shed which has also recently installed a 20kW EV charger.

The shed committee have endorsed the project concept and are very enthusiastic to see it implemented. They can house the bus in their shed adjacent to the charger which will draw power from the shed’s rooftop solar array, and they have plenty of drivers and ideas for use of the bus.

There is also a strong case for a service ferrying non-mobile people to and from Fish Creek (pharmacy/shops/pub) and Foster (hospital/medical centre/shops).

The bus will also be a great asset in getting people and children to/from local township, for example ferrying kids to the surf club/shops which will be much safer than having to cycle on the 100 km/h narrow road.

Venus Bay & Tarwin Lower

Venus Bay is a small coastal town in South Gippsland, an isolated peninsula with one road in & out, high fire danger and limited infrastructure. With around 2,400 full and part time residents the population swells up to 8,000 during peak holiday seasons.

The Venus Bay Community Centre (VBCC) represents the district of Venus Bay, Tarwin Lower, and Walkerville where one ongoing area of great need and concern relates to transport – there is no public transport in the district and its community members are socially and geographically isolated.

A community vehicle would address many of the known issues relating to transport – while leading the way to enable the establishment of infrastructure to support electric vehicles (EV).

The VBCC has established a demonstration stand-alone solar/battery system at the Centre that can operate fully during outages and is currently undertaking a 12 month Community Resilience and Reliable Energy Feasibility Study funded by the Commonwealth Government.

The bus would be based at the VBCC, which has a 3-phase charger. The electric minibus will replace the diesel bus hired as the free ‘Summer Beach Shuttle Bus’ during peak visitor season, providing access to Venus Bay Surf Life Saving Club, reducing parking congestion, allowing access for emergency vehicles and transporting people to the safely patrolled beach.

Project objectives

The overriding project aim is to further the understanding of community transport services, that is, how can community transport be delivered in a viable and sustainable manner and does it then deliver the socio-economic benefits expected?

This will help governments determine long term policy and support.

More specifically, the project aims to answer the key question for Gippsland and for other communities – Can mobility services be provided in an area where other forms of public transport are not viable?

This project will pilot community run mobility services in Venus Bay and Sandy Point, with neither of these regional towns having any bus, taxi or other publicly available services.

Aims of the Community Transport Service include:

• Improved, convenient and flexible services to the permanent community, as well as being adaptable to tourist peak season demand;
• Improved connection to fixed route public transport services (e.g., V/Line coach in Wonthaggi);
• Reduction of social disadvantage – increasing access to employment, medical services, shopping and socialising for vulnerable and other community members;
• Economic benefit. Unlock workforce cohorts that are disadvantaged by our current transport system;
• Increased environmental sustainability;
• Increased resilience to bushfires/outages (if run on a microgrid); and
• Strengthen and build the capacity to find and implement suitable green energy solutions.

The project will evaluate best practices for the service (from this, and other potential community transport projects), as well as measure the benefits that such a service delivers to Venus Bay and Sandy Point.

There are other towns across Gippsland working on energy solutions for their communities. This pilot, if successful, could extend to these, as well as other communities.

UPDATE: January 2024

A couple of recent snapshots from the Gippsland e-Bus project, showing customers and volunteers, and the newly-liveried buses. And those two buses now also have names – Sunny and Sandy.

Please note …

This page will be a living record of this project. As it matures, hits milestones, etc., we’ll continue to add information, links, images, interviews and more. Watch this space!