Brewarrina and Collarenebri will soon see their first official public transport service. 

The funding is part of the Transport Access Regional Partnerships grant from the NSW government. 

“People living in remote communities shouldn’t miss out on travel opportunities, family visits, and important appointments because of a lack of transport options. Improving public transport to remote communities will help have an impact on everything from cost-of-living pressures to medical outcomes for people in the bush,” Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said. 

The ‘Barray Waraba’, which is Gamilaraay for fast turtle, will deliver transport services to Collarenebri as early as Thursday 18 July.

Collarenebri has twice the average number of households without a motor vehicle and in Brewarrina the number is also above the state average. 

The Barray Waraba will run to Moree every Thursday and to Walgett on Monday and Friday where there is a connection to Dubbo. 

The Healthy Communities Foundation proposed the service to give the Collarenebri community a reliable transport service to get them to the services they need. 

Anyone who needs to use the bus service can ring the Healthy Communities Foundation or visit them in their office to book the bus.

CEO of the Healthy Communities Foundation Mark Burdack said that the bus delivers more than just a method of transportation. 

“What Transport NSW has been really clever in doing is working with a number of other agencies to ensure people have access to services on the day in which the bus is around.”

“It’s not just to get people from A to B, it gets them the services and health care they need.”

Mr Burdack said the new transport options open the door for community members to have access to many other services, such as lawyers, doctors, counselling, and Centrelink.

“We need more organisations like Transport NSW to actually sit down with communities and listen to their problems and how they can be solved.”

“The more of those services we can actually bring together, the better we get addressing the fundamental reasons why people are getting sick and intervene quicker.”

In Brewarrina, the Outback Express bus service will kick off on 31 July.

MP Roy Butler and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison in the Outback Express

The Outback Express will also service the neighboring reserves and villages, Bush Queen, Barwon 4, Newtown, and Billabong, running Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

The departure times for the service within Brewarrina and the surrounding villages are flexible. Bookings for the bus can be made either in person at the LALC’s office or by giving them a call. 

Towards the end of August, the Express will expand to offer weekly services to Bourke on Thursday and fortnightly services to Weilmoringle on Friday.

Acting CEO of the Brewarrina LALC Urayne Warraweena said the public transport services will offer a great relief to the community. 

“I’ve seen people who’ve had to walk after coming home from getting chemotherapy in Dubbo.”

“We get up to 50-degrees in summer, so it’s quite dangerous, especially to have our Elders walking around in the heat.”

The Brewarrina LALC has been assisting people who needed a transportation service, however, acquiring the grant means that they will now have a dedicated bus driver, Natalie Boney, to do the job.

“It is a very important grant because it not only helps the community but it helps pay the wages,” Ms Warraweena said.

The bus services will be driven by locals who have an understanding of people’s mobility and needs to be able to accommodate their needs. 

The transport services will run for a trial period of 24 months.