General News
9 April, 2026
Travelling in style
COOINDA participants will enjoy a more comfortable journey thanks to the addition of a new bus.
The newest addition to the Cooinda fleet arrived recently, which will be used to transport day program participants to and from Cooinda’s Dow Street premises.
Cooinda chief executive officer Janice Harris said the addition had been a welcome one as the current buses were getting towards the end of life.
“Our current two coasters, which feature a hoist and 22-seater, are both 25 and 26-years-old,” she said.
“Once they get to that age they start needing to have five-year checks on their chassis and start getting quite a few kilometres on them.
“We identified we needed a new coaster, so we started to have a look around at second-hand options and this one came up.”
Ms Harris said the search for a new coaster had proven a success after finding a low-kilometre model which was for sale in Queensland.
“The new bus was a 2018 model which had only done 20,000 kilometres,” she said.
“It had been owned by an aged care facility and it had only done 2000 kilometres in the past 12 months.
“They must have purchased the bus just before the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s practically a brand-new bus.
“It was absolutely perfect.”
The seller had someone willing to drive the bus down from Queensland, which saw an unexpected e-mail bring a smile to the faces of Cooinda’s staff.
“The driver sent an e-mail on his way down saying it drives beautifully, it was a lovely drive,” Ms Harris said.
“Everybody loves it.
“Our bus driver, Ryan, said it is wonderful to drive.”
The new addition will get some quality use now as a primary vehicle bringing participants to Terang each day.
“We use it every day to go to Cobden and Camperdown in the mornings,” Ms Harris said.
“We pick people up, bring them back here to the centre and are then able to go off and do their programs.
“It’s one of the main vehicles so it’s good that it’s nice and comfortable.
“It drives a lot smoother when at times the roads can be a bit bumpy, and it’s also used during the week to go to Warrnambool such as when participants go to dancing on a Monday or on a Wednesday when they go to bowling in Colac.
“It is used every day.”
Read More: Terang