Why transport is still one of the hardest parts of the NDIS

One in six Australians with disability aged 15 and over has difficulty using public transport, by the federal government's count. Booking apps help at the edges. The bigger problems sit in funding, public transport and the vehicles themselves.

The Zoomly team · · 4 min read

We've written before about how booking apps are changing NDIS transport. Apps make it easier to find a ride. They can't fix the problems underneath, and those problems are why so many people on the NDIS still plan their week around how they'll get there.

The money hasn't moved

If your disability means you can't use public transport, your plan can include recurring transport funding at one of three levels. The top level, for people who work or study at least 15 hours a week, is $3,456 a year. It has been that amount since at least 2017. The NDIA confirmed in a 2024 freedom of information reply that transport amounts are "not indexed or adjusted", and that there's no annual process for setting them. The two lower levels did rise in October 2024, to $1,784 and $2,676.

Do the sums on the bottom level and it's about $34 a week. Anyone who's caught a wheelchair accessible taxi to the other side of Penrith and back knows how far that goes.

The NDIS also takes into account what family and friends can reasonably help with, and some things sit outside it altogether. Its list of supports it won't fund includes petrol, public transport fares and community transport services.

Public transport is still catching up

The Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport came in back in 2002, with a target of full compliance for many items by the end of 2022. That deadline came and went. Transport for NSW says plainly that the 2022 target for accessible infrastructure "is yet to be completed in full".

At 19 June 2026, 256 of the 354 Sydney Trains, Intercity and Regional stations in NSW were independently accessible. That's 72%, which leaves 98 stations where someone in a wheelchair may not be able to get on a train without help. It isn't only NSW. In November 2025, Victoria's Auditor-General found that only 18% of Melbourne tram services in 2023-24 paired a low-floor tram with a level-access stop.

Nationally, it's hard to know where things stand. The federal review of the Transport Standards, published in November 2024, found there was "no way of accurately knowing levels of compliance" and described progress as "incremental and patchy". An updated set of Standards was tabled in Parliament in August 2026, with changes such as next stop announcements on board, safer boarding ramps and more accessible taxi rank spaces. Whether rideshare should be covered is still being looked at.

Fewer wheelchair taxis

In October 2019 NSW had 941 wheelchair accessible taxis. By December 2024 it had 625, a drop of a third in five years. The NSW Government has pointed to the cost of buying and modifying vehicles, ageing cars and a shortage of drivers, and has acknowledged an "ongoing shortage" that's leading to longer waits.

It has put money in. There was a $15 million emergency package in December 2024 that lifted the incentive drivers get for each wheelchair trip and offered interest-free loans for new vehicles, then another $15 million in the 2026-27 NSW Budget, and this spring a one-off $1,425 fuel grant for each wheelchair accessible taxi. Since March 2026, a driver who refuses a Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme card or docket, or starts the meter before a wheelchair is secured, can be fined $3,000.

The plan everyone's still waiting for

Back in December 2020, the NDIA said it was working on a long-term plan for funding transport. In December 2023 the NDIS Review recommended that the Productivity Commission develop an NDIS transport policy that better meets people's mobility needs. We couldn't find any sign that work has started. Close to six years after that first promise, transport funding still works much as it did.

What helps in the meantime

A few things help while the bigger fixes wait:

  • If you've started work, study or a day program, you may qualify for a higher transport level. Raise it at your next plan reassessment.
  • In NSW, apply for the Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme if you haven't already. It covers up to half the fare, to a maximum of $60 a trip.
  • Report any driver who refuses your subsidy card or starts the meter early. That's what the fines are for.
  • Ask providers about activity based transport. When a support worker drives you as part of a support, the travel can be claimed from your plan if you've agreed to it beforehand.
  • Share trips where you can. The Zoomly Van carries two wheelchairs at once, so you and a mate can go together.

Transport decides whether you make the appointment or say yes to the barbecue. It deserves the same attention as every other part of the NDIS.

Where this comes from

Need a lift, a Support Partner, or both?

Zoomly books accessible transport and Support Partners across Penrith and the suburbs around it, often on the same day. Tell us what you need and a person comes back to you.

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