📞 (08) 9985 6777
•
📞 +61 467 204 620
•
✉️ info@7dayscare.com.au
•
📍 Perth, Western Australia
Contact Information
📞 (08) 9985 6777
📞 +61 467 204 620
✉️ info@7dayscare.com.au
📍 Perth, Western Australia
NDIS provider logo representing disability support services and accommodation in Perth, focusing on SIL and community participation.

What is Transport Funding?

Transport funding through the NDIS is specifically for participants who cannot use public transport without substantial difficulty because of their disability. It helps cover the additional cost of getting to essential places (medical and allied health appointments, work or study, community and social activities) so that transport is not a barrier to participation and independence. The funding is intended to address disability-related transport needs, not general family or carer travel costs.

Why this matters for 7Days Care WA visitors

Explain clearly that transport funding is different from other NDIS supports — it is a participant support to get the person with disability where they need to go. Where a support worker is required to travel with the participant (to provide supervision or care during travel), that time may be funded under the relevant support item (e.g., support worker / capacity-building or provider travel), not just the transport line item.

Levels of Transport Funding

The NDIS uses three standard transport levels to set an annual budget for participant transport. These are allocated according to the participant’s activity and transport needs:

Level 1

For participants who are not working, studying or attending day programs but want to increase community access. Typical amount: ≈ $1,784/year.

Level 2

For participants who are working/studying part-time (up to 15 hrs/week) or attending day programs and who need regular travel. Typical amount: ≈ $2,676/year.

Level 3

For participants working, studying or engaging in day programs 15+ hrs/week or who have higher transport demands. Typical amount: ≈ $3,456/year. Exceptional circumstances can justify more.

Types of Transport Assistance

Common items transport funding can pay for:

  • Taxis, rideshares (e.g., Uber) or community transport when public transport is not usable due to disability.

  • Registered transport providers or community passenger services that deliver door-to-door assistance.

  • Instances where transport directly enables participation in an activity funded in the plan (e.g., travel to work, study, therapy).

What’s usually not funded under the transport line item:

  • Travel costs for carers or family members to transport the participant for everyday commitments.

  • General public transport fares where the participant can reasonably use public transport.

  • Ordinary vehicle running costs for family cars (unless a clearly justified reasonable and necessary assistive technology or vehicle modification is funded separately).

Activity-based vs Participant Transport: 

  • Participant transport (recurring transport): a periodic allocation paid to the participant (or managed in their plan) to buy transport (taxis, rideshares, community transport).

  • Activity-based transport / Provider travel: when a provider picks up a participant as part of delivering a support (e.g., a group activity or a support worker driving the participant), that travel is managed and invoiced as part of the activity or provider travel rules (different pricing rules apply). Make this distinction explicit so participants understand billing and receipts.

Local (WA) note — state taxi subsidy schemes
Western Australia operates the Passenger Transport Subsidy Scheme (PTSS) (replacing the old Taxi User Subsidy Scheme), which can subsidise taxi fares for eligible people with disability — up to substantial percentages depending on circumstances. NDIS transport funding will consider any available state subsidies when setting budgets, so participants in WA should check PTSS eligibility as well.