The Department of Transport and Main Roads provides assistance under the School Transport Assistance Scheme (STAS) in situations where access to education is impeded by distance, income or isolation.

STAS has been designed as a scheme for those students who do not have a school close to their residence. It has undergone considerable change over the years to also include assistance to the most disadvantaged students in the state, with specific assistance targeted at isolated students and low income families.

Assistance available under STAS covers the journey between home and school and school and home. For this reason, the distance between an applicant’s principal place of residence and nearest state school is the main criterion used for establishing eligibility under STAS. As well as meeting general eligibility criteria, applicants must meet the specific criteria that apply to the type of assistance sought.

Type of assistance available:

• Bus and ferry assistance
• Rail travel assistance
• Conveyance allowance
• Drought assistant
• Assistance for isolated students
• Assistance for students living is shared care arrangements

General eligibility

All types of STAS assistance require that a student:

• have parents/guardians who reside in Queensland
• attend an approved school
• are 18 or younger
• require transport assistance to and from one home address only
• make 2 or more trips per week by the same mode of transport.

Students may be eligible for school transport assistance if they:

• have parents/guardians who are residents of Queensland
• are independent students who are residents of Queensland
• attend an approved school or an alternative program approved by the Queensland Department of Education
• are younger than 19 years of age prior to commencing secondary study
• are seeking transport assistance from one residential address and to one school facility
  • this address must be the principal place of residence of the student’s parent or guardian
  • for students with shared custody, parents must select one address to be used to assess STAS eligibility. For shared custody arrangements, the principal place of residence of only one parent/guardian can be nominated. It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to determine the principal place of residence used to assess eligibility for STAS.
• are travelling more than 1 trip per week.

Students are not eligible to apply for school transport assistance if they are:

• pre-prep and kindergarten students
• mature age students
• overseas, interstate and exchange students
• TAFE students
• distance education students
• tertiary students.

• Website: https://translink.com.au/contact-us