Community transport providers to become a co-operative

23 June 2015

Three leading community transport providers in Sydney are planning on coming together to form a shared services co-operative to stay viable and grow stronger for the communities they have been serving for more than a quarter of a century.

Due to various reasons including the Commonwealth and state governments’ reforms to aged care and disability services, Bankstown Canterbury Community Transport, Community Wheels Community Transport and Great Community Transport are joining and see the co-operative business model as the most appropriate to secure their futures. The three providers currently have 10,000 clients and provide services to 63 per cent of the Greater Western Sydney area.

Indicating why the providers chose the co-operative model, Dennis Hayward, Project Sponsor for the new co-operative stated “Community owned businesses have the advantage of being about relationships rather than transactions. That is something we will share with our clients as we move forward.”

The co-operative is on track to be up and running in late 2015. It is being assisted by the BCCM with funding from Transport for NSW.