Can NDIS Funding Cover Transport? Getting to Appointments, Work and Community Activities

Yes, NDIS funding can help with transport, in two main ways. Getting there can be part of your support, with a support worker going with you or our van picking you up. Some plans also include recurring transport funding, paid to you for taxis, rideshare and other travel. In the Hawkesbury, where Enable Hub is based, both matter, because getting there is often the hardest part of the week.

“We offer a door-to-door service for our participants looking to socialise. Picking everyone up from home and dropping them off is how we make sure nobody misses out on our Sunday outings.”

Lusi, Community Coordinator, Enable Hub

Why transport comes up in our first conversation

Our office is in Windsor, and the people we support live right across the Hawkesbury and Western Sydney. Penrith and Blacktown are each around 30 km away, and outside the main towns, a bus trip takes planning. A plan with community participation funding doesn’t help much if you can’t get to the activity.

So at our meet and greet, we ask how you get around now, who drives you and what you’ve stopped doing because getting there is too hard. That last answer often shapes the whole plan for your support.

How we help you get around

Our support workers help people get to the shops, appointments, classes, work or wherever they want to go. For one person, that’s the weekly shop in Windsor. For another, it’s a specialist appointment in Penrith, a 30 km trip that’s hard to manage alone, so their support worker goes with them and the appointment doesn’t get missed.

Our fortnightly Sunday outings include pick-up from home and drop-off in our wheelchair-accessible van. Groups of three or four head out from around 10am to 3pm, to places like the markets, the movies or a game of bowling. Getting there and back is part of the day, and it’s billed under your plan along with the outing.

We walk you through travel costs at the meet and greet, and your service agreement shows every cost before any support starts. That’s worth asking any provider about right now. The NDIS released a new pricing schedule in September 2026 and has said updated claiming guidance is coming, so last year’s rules may not apply.

When the goal is travelling on your own

For example, take someone who wants to catch the train from Windsor station to a weekly class in Richmond, without needing a lift from family. In the first weeks, their support worker does the whole trip with them: the timetable, tapping on with an Opal card and the walk at the other end. Then, depending on how comfortable the participant feels, the worker might meet them on the platform at Richmond instead. Later, the support worker might only check in by phone if our participant is gaining more independence. We think not needing a lift is one of the most freeing goals a plan can have. The NDIS price list includes this kind of support, under skill development and training, including public transport training.

NDIS transport funding in brief

The NDIS’s own transport funding is called recurring transport. It can pay for taxis, rideshare and other private travel to work, study, day programs and community activities. Not everyone gets it. Before deciding, the NDIS looks at the help your family, carers and community can reasonably give with transport.

If the NDIS decides you need it, recurring transport is funded at one of three set levels, depending on what you do each week. At the time of writing, the levels are $1,784 a year if you aren’t working or studying but want to do more in the community, $2,676 if you work or study up to 15 hours a week or go to day programs, and $3,456 if you work or study 15 hours or more. It’s paid regularly into your bank account, or you claim it through the participant portal or the my NDIS app. It sits in its own budget, so you can’t use money from other parts of your plan for transport.

If you can’t use public transport because of a severe and permanent disability, the NSW Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme covers half of a taxi fare, up to $60 a trip, including wheelchair accessible taxis.

What families ask us first

Can I use transport funding for taxis or rideshare?

Yes, if your plan includes recurring transport funding. Trips with one of our support workers are charged differently, as part of your support, and your service agreement spells that out.

Transport is the reason I’ve stopped going out. Where do I start?

Tell us at the first call. We’ll look at what you’d like to get back to, whether that’s a Sunday outing with a home pick-up or a support worker for weekday trips. If your plan doesn’t cover enough, keep a record of the trips you make and what each one costs, and raise it with your my NDIS contact.

Talk to Enable Hub about getting around

Enable Hub is a registered NDIS provider based in Windsor, supporting people living with disability across the Hawkesbury, the Hills District and Western Sydney, from Richmond and Riverstone to Baulkham Hills and Mount Druitt. If getting around is the hard part of your week, we’re happy to talk it through and offer you real solutions, with no pressure to decide on the spot. We’ll get back to you within one business day.

Request a callback from Enable Hub or call us on 02 9037 3716.