Shuttle Services on Major Trails

[Drifting]

If you were offered a shuttle service, which includes a safe place to leave your car, a ride to the head of a trail and pick up and return to your vehicle at the end, what would you be willing to pay? Say for the following walks:

Overland Track

Walls of Jerusalem

Tasman Coastal Walk

[eggs]

We used shuttle buses (based around Launceston) on last trip to the Walls - Lake Mackenzie drop off & WOJ car park return pick up.

Service was very good on both legs and would recommend it.
Note - we did not have a car, but had flown into Devonport from that other bit of Australia.

[Drifting]

how dear was it eggs, if I may be so rude to ask?

[eggs]

Cost varies with numbers - but they advertise their runs so that others can join in and collectively bring the price down.

We travelled with 7 - 2 others having joined in using the online notice boards. They joined us on both the drop off & pick up - though we took different routes in between.
End result was around $56 for each leg per person.
A Bonus was the fresh cold orange juice at the pick up - to the envy of others who were waiting for friends to pick them up.

I think the benefit was not worrying about a car - especially in the WOJ car park - though there were plenty there. [Its getting very busy on that track.]
And also the fact that pick up location and drop off was to our requirements - including some time to do last minute shopping or pick up a coffee.

[tastrax]

This might be a nice little retirement earner for me.... dropping forum members at the start of tracks at say $50 a head... all in the comfort of a Land Rover Discovery.... (hold the Land Rover jokes )

Of course I suspect the regulations are horrific for these types of services so I might have to do what one of the Ansett boys did when he couldnt get a licence for an airport bus service. He sold you an apple (for the fare cost) and then gave you a free lift in his bus!

[tigerlee]

A view from a shuttle operator........

There are several licensed operators who provide bushwalkers transport to major and minor tracks. They are charter services and know the routes, what walkers want and are flexible. I am one of those operators, and once tried to get some info in this forum. So I have included a list of local operators who can do outbound and return services from accommodation, private residences and airports.

Naturally to operate a public passenger service for payment an operator must be accredited with:

PPV licence
Public Passenger Accreditation and annual compliance audits
Tourism Accreditation and annual audits
Public Liability insurance 10M
A roadworthy vehicle inspected each six months by an accredited inspector
A Commercial Visitors Services Licence and contract agreement with Parks and Forestry Tasmania to enter

The above is forms some proper protection for the bushwalking public! A $56 ticket to ride

Anyone can give you a lift for a few dollars ........ if something goes wrong or your caught without the right paperwork you could be sued or fined.

Cheers

Leethal

Northern Tracks:
Tiger Wilderness Tours Bushwalkers Bus - Lee Freestone 03 63943212 http://www.tigerwilderness.com.au
Outdoor Recreation Transport - Paul Grigg - 0363918249 or 0408918249
Maxwell's Coaches - Denis Maxwell - 03 6492 1431
Southern Tracks:
Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences - Graham McLean - 03 6261 4971
Evans Coaches - http://www.evanscoaches.com.au

[tastrax]

As I suspected ... good to see there are a few operators in what I suspect is a pretty small market (especially for bushwalkers!). Its definitely a service that has had some big peaks and troughs in the past.

[tigerlee]

Hey Phil,

My business transported 233 walkers in Jan this year, my competitors would be carrying similar numbers and numbers are increasing each year. Interestingly the majority of travellers are from mainland states and overseas. The OS numbers are growing significantly, proving Tasmania is a well know bushwalking Mecca OS. Locals don't really use our services because they think we're too costly, which is a fair thing if you can get a lift with a mate.

Cheers

Leethal

[Son of a Beach]

Thanks for the information, Tigerlee.

We certainly do get a lot of people on this forum asking about how to get to this track or that track if they can't take their own car. At least now we can point them to this topic.

[nakedape]

We used Tas wilderness experience last week to access Mt Anne circuit - could not be happier with the service. Great option (especially for larger groups) if your flying in.

nakedape

[Peaksnik]

I'm impelled to revive this thread by a very recent experience. With a friend I completed a walk across the Central Plateau starting from the Higgs Track at Western Creek and finishing at the Walls of Jerusalem main carpark last Friday. Transport to and from was arranged with Tiger Wilderness Tours Bushwalkers Bus. Via a cellphone call while up on Solomon's Throne we made a request to be picked up a day earlier than planned. However, the new owner of the business (Dennis Maxwell - of Maxwell's Coaches) wasn't immediately available to confirm that our request could be met. Nevertheless we decided to walk out, and in the process lose cellphone coverage, on the basis of the receptionist's advice that "Dennis wouldn't let us down". And so it was to be. Despite having just been out to the Walls that day to drop a party off, and having pressing domestic matters to attend to, Dennis arrived at the carpark later that afternoon much to our great relief. The trip back to Launceston was the most fun I've had on a bus in years. Dennis is a wonderful old bloke with a genuine generosity of spirit, takes real enjoyment in delivering a service, and has a wicked sense of humour. He will have our business on subsequent trips south for as long as he is in the game.

[farefam]

Personally I've found that Evans Coach's run a very good and cost competitive service. I was picked up by 4WD from Hobart airport and taken to Farmhouse Creek (only person) and then returned from Farmhouse Creek (again the only person) by 4wd to Geeveston (from where I then caught the normal connecting bus service). I think the total charge was $125. Seemed pretty reasonable to me for my 6 day walk to Federation Peak. This included a detour to get some metho too.

[Nuts]

Dennis is a True legend, no lunchbox there!!!
I doubt he's needed to do what it does for a long time now, definitely from the heart imo..

[Peaksnik]

Nuts, I asked Dennis why he he still does the work and he said that he loves it: meeting people, the conversation (he is full of information), and of course driving (he can handle unsurfaced roads with aplomb). If he didn't he would stop. The walk had plenty of memorable moments but meeting him was probably the best. It sounds crazy, I know, and maybe I am going soft but he's an inspiration. Particularly for anyone approaching middle-age who starts thinking that the end is nigh! But what swings it for me is that he really does operate out of a strong belief in delivering for the client - not letting them down.

[rucksack]

Dennis Maxwell has been providing an amazing service to walkers for many years. More than 20 years ago, we (a party of 9) were coming out of a heavily snowed in Walls of Jerusalem and we skied and slopped our way down to the car park on schedule to find a cheerful Dennis waiting with his little bus and thermoses of hot coffee and his wife's freshly baked biscuits. As we had been careering around in temperatures regularly down to -15ºC, and tent-burying snowfalls for 9 nights straight, Dennis was greeted with open arms. He is an amazing chap. As the heavy snow of the previous week had closed the road and trees were down everywhere, Dennis had to chainsaw his way in to pick us up, and right on time - as usual. He is a legend.

rucksack

[durks]

Slightly off-topic, and if this is definitively answered in another thread please point me to it, but: can anyone tell me if there is still a regular *scheduled* service to and from Scotts Peak Dam and, if so, what day(s) it runs on? Or are all such services now only run as on-demand charters?

Thanks.

[rucksack]

There hasn't been a regular 'scheduled' service for a couple of years. Charters only now. There are a few threads on this site about the options.

Last October/November, I used the trial bus service to Maydena via New Norfolk (two buses on Tuesday and two on Thursday from New Norfolk to Maydena, with multiple daily buses between Hobart and New Norfolk), and then I hitched from there. No problems, but you need to have the time in case there are few cars. I was in the Huon Campground exactly three hours after leaving Hobart. I was soloing in the Western Arthur and White Monolith Ranges; if you are walking with others, a shared charter makes more sense. I was on my own and just lucked onto the trial bus service. It worked.

rucksack

[durks]

Thanks for that info.