Newstead & District Community Bus
Weekly Trips to Town
The core activity for the Community Bus is the weekly trips to Maryborough and Castlemaine. This is a convenient alternative for many who no longer drive themselves or simply want to save money on petrol.
On Wednesdays the bus goes to Maryborough, and on Thursdays to Castlemaine. Come to the RTC around 9:15 to catch the bus or, if you wish to be picked up from home, phone the RTC on 5476 2360 before 5pm on the day before.
The bus will pick up from Welshman’s Reef, Strangways, Guildford, Green Gully and Newstead between 9:30am and 10am.
Passengers are dropped off wherever they wish around town to do their shopping, attend medical appointments or other activities. Time spent in town is usually about one-and-half hours.
Passengers are picked up again from pre-arranged locations, or as agreed among the group at a specified time and place. Times and locations are flexible to suit passengers’ requirements. Everyone is then delivered safely back to their homes and assisted with unloading their shopping and groceries.
Cost is $5 per trip.
Now who can say that is not a fabulous service?
Become a volunteer driver
While Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved for the regular shopping trips, the weekends and other week days and evenings have seen the bus used for full day charters, half day charters, wedding parties, trips to Clunes Booktown, the Maldon Easter Fair and many other activities where local groups need transport or shuttle services for their functions.
Shuttle Bus
A major annual event at which the Newstead & District Community bus has become an essential element is the Newstead Live Music Festival. Over the four days of the festival, the Community Bus is used to run shuttle trips between venues throughout the town, and to and from the racecourse camping ground where the majority of the festival performers and visitors are camped. This service has become a resounding success and highly applauded by the very many regular visitors to our town at that time.
Background
The Newstead & District Community Bus service was launched in January 2013. A group of community members was passionate about increasing transport options for the local community. A volunteer committee was formed under the auspice of the Newstead RTC and an application was made to Maldon & District Community Bank, who generously supported the purchase of a new twelve seat capacity Toyota mini-bus. Other funding was obtained through Mount Alexander Shire Council and the Victorian Government’s Transport Connections Program.
The volunteer committee manages the day-to-day operations of the bus along with a small dedicated team of volunteer drivers.
Click here for details on hiring the bus