NDIS transport funding explained: levels, rates and what's covered

Transport is one of the sub-categories inside the Core Supports budget in an NDIS plan (alongside Assistance with Daily Life, Consumables, and Assistance with Social and Community Participation). It's specifically there to help fund the cost of getting to and from places — work, study, community activities, appointments — when a participant's disability affects their ability to use public transport or drive independently.

Like the rest of Core Supports, transport funding is generally flexible within the category, but it's set up as its own line so it can be tracked and paid out separately from other everyday supports.

Transport funding isn't a flat amount for everyone — it's assessed individually, based on your travel needs. At your planning meeting, your planner or Local Area Coordinator looks at things like whether you're working, studying or attending a day program, how many hours a week that involves, and how well you're able to use public transport independently given your disability. The more your circumstances require regular travel you can't manage independently, the higher the assessed level of funding is likely to be.

The mechanism, broadly, is tiered: participants who need less regular travel support sit at a lower assessed level, and those with greater travel needs — for example, full-time work or study commitments combined with limited ability to use public transport — can be assessed at a higher level. We won't quote exact dollar figures for each tier here, because the current amounts are set by the NDIS itself and can change; the NDIS Price Guide and your planner are the accurate source for what applies to your plan right now.

Transport funding is usually paid to the participant (or their plan manager, if plan-managed) as a regular, recurring amount, rather than reimbursed trip-by-trip — the idea is that you can use it flexibly across the period it covers, whether that's for taxis, ride-share, community transport, or contributing to running a car, rather than having to submit individual receipts for every journey.

Since March 2020, core supports funding has also been able to be used flexibly to cover the cost of a provider transporting you to and from NDIS-funded community-based activities, separate from your personal recurring transport payment — worth knowing if a support worker is the one driving you somewhere as part of a session, which we cover in more detail in our article on transport allowance vs support worker transport.

In general, transport funding is meant for the additional cost of travel that's genuinely connected to your disability and your NDIS goals — getting to work, study, therapy, or community and social activities you couldn't otherwise reach. It isn't intended to cover general living costs everyone faces regardless of disability, and it sits separately from a provider's own travel costs when delivering a different support (that's billed differently — see the related article above).

If your travel needs change — a new job, a change in how you get around, a new activity you're building into your routine — that's worth raising at your next plan review rather than assuming your current level still fits.

We support participants with transport to appointments, community activities and day-to-day errands as part of a broader support plan. If you're not sure how your current transport funding works or whether it covers what you need, get in touch and we'll talk it through with you.