About the pricing pilot
We are partnering with the Australian Community Transport Association and 32 selected CHSP transport providers to undertake the Community Transport Pricing Pilot.
The pricing pilot will aim to:
- develop and test a more accurate way of calculating transport costs
- develop and test alternative policy arrangements
- incorporate social engagement and client choice.
The University of South Australia will collect pilot data, evaluate the pilot, and report on its results.
Why it is important
The current CHSP transport pricing policy is too simplistic. Prices and reporting for one-way trips do not include factors such as:
- distance travelled
- fuel costs
- thin markets
- social engagement.
Who is participating in the pilot
The pricing pilot working group includes the Australian Community Transport Association and 32 CHSP transport providers from across Australia.
The participating transport providers:
- range from small, medium, and large in size
- have differing business models
- deliver to metropolitan, regional and remote areas
- provide services for First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
| Organisation | State/Territory |
| Capital Region Community Services Ltd | ACT |
| Communities at Work | ACT |
| Dementia Australia | ACT, NT, TAS |
| Access Sydney Community Transport | NSW |
| Bankstown Canterbury Community Transport | NSW |
| Bathurst Community Transport | NSW |
| GoCo Care / Gunnedah Shire Council | NSW |
| Kirinari Community Services | NSW |
| Live Better Community Services | NSW |
| Peppercorn Services Inc | NSW |
| Transcare Hunter Ltd | NSW |
| Burnie Brae Ltd | Qld |
| Commlink Australia | Qld |
| Hinterland Community Care | Qld |
| Transitcare | Qld |
| Volunteering Gold Coast Ltd | Qld |
| Bene Aged Care | SA |
| Community Care and Transport Incorporated – Care in Motion | SA |
| Noarlunga Volunteer Transport Service Inc. | SA |
| Tailem Bend Community Center Murray Mallee | SA |
| Red Cross (Australian Red Cross Society) | SA |
| Community Transport Services Tasmania | Tas |
| Centre for Participation | Vic |
| Community Accessibility | Vic |
| Eastern Volunteers (EV Strengthening Communities) | Vic |
| South East Volunteers | Vic |
| Whittlesea Community Connections | Vic |
| Astley Care Inc. | WA |
| Chorus Australia | WA |
| Chung Wah Community and Aged Care | WA |
| Derby Home and Community Care Inc. | WA |
| Tennant Creek Transport Inc. | NT |
How participants were selected
In 2023, the Australian Community Transport Association ran an expression of interest process. This was widely publicised through:
- their network
- state groups
- the New South Wales Community Transport Organisation Conference
- targeted engagements with CHSP providers in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
We worked with Australian Community Transport Association to select the successful participants because they:
- have a current funding agreement to deliver CHSP community transport services
- provide balanced representation by fitting into at least one of the following categories:
- large provider with greater than 100,000 outputs a year
- medium provider with 30,000 to 100,000 outputs a year
- small provider with fewer than 30,000 outputs a year
- metropolitan provider
- regional provider
- remote providers in MM6 and MMM7 areas
- providers supporting First Nations and/or CALD communities
- can provide data to the University of South Australia using appropriate software on an ongoing basis
- demonstrate a long-term commitment to be part of the pricing pilot
- did not have compliance issues against their CHSP funding agreement
Working group meetings
We have held 5 working group meetings to date:
- On 5 December 2023: introductory meeting with Australian Community Transport Association and all the pilot participants to start the project and discuss its objectives.
- On 7 February 2024: discussed key policy issues and definitions for consideration and testing. Participants shared their community transport experiences.
- On 17 April 2024: participants gave feedback on the definitions to test under the pilot and discussed policy parameters to support the pilot.
- On 8 May 2024: participants gave feedback on key policy considerations under the pilot.
- On 4 June 2024: participants gave feedback on updates to the 2024–25 CHSP Program Manual, and discussed client service complexity, benefits of community transport, definitions and CHSP cancellation policies
Status
We are preparing updates related to the pricing pilot for the CHSP Program Manual, including service delivery arrangements for participating transport providers for the 2024–25 financial year.
Learn more
We held a webinar on 28 March 2024 for all CHSP transport providers to share more details about the pricing pilot and answer questions. Over 370 participants joined the webinar.
Watch the recording of the webinar.
Frequently asked questions will be available soon.
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