Volunteers form the backbone of rural community transport services. They deliver a range of services including driving transport-disadvantaged clients to essential health and social care appointments. While trips for social care are usually local, trips for health appointments often involve long distances, long days, and out of pocket expenses for the drivers. In these situations volunteers and their passengers are exposed to increased levels of risk. Governments at all levels consider volunteer involvement as civic participation or social capital, yet little is known about the experiences of rural volunteer community transport drivers or local policy that governs their work. This paper describes a study that conducted an analysis of policy documents related to volunteer activity in four community transport organisations in rural NSW. The study explored variations in policies, whether volunteer drivers had participated in their development or revision, and whether the government models of the service agency was related to volunteer policy. Key findings include: that operational policies lack consistency across the services; that the role of volunteer drivers varies across services located in the same region; that participation of volunteers in either developing or reviewing local policies that govern their work was evident in the policies of only one of the four services; and that governance models do not appear to be related to volunteer participation.

Government considers volunteer involvement as civic participation or social capital, yet little is known about the experience of volunteer drivers in community transport services in rural communities. This paper describes a study that examined policy framework that fosters sustainable and safe work practices for volunteer drivers in community transport programs. The study analysed policy documents of four major rural community transport organisations. Rural Community Transport services are non government organisations and operate in a highly regulated environment. They deliver a range of services including driving disadvantaged clients to health appointments. These trips often require long distances and long days for the drivers. In these situations volunteers and their passengers are exposed to increased levels of risk. Document analysis was undertaken of volunteer policies of four community transport services. These policies were assessed against the Home and Community Care National Service Standards. The key finding was that operational policies lacked consistency, and the role of the volunteers was variable across services located in the same region. Two governance models were identified in the analysis; those auspice by a local council with an advisory committee and incorporated bodies with a management committee. The governance type was not found to be a major influence on the operationalised performance of policy. This study provided the foundation for ongoing research into the impact of the policy environment on the community transport volunteers who provide this valuable community service. Evidence is required to inform government understanding of the experience of volunteer drivers and to give consideration to the occupation health and safety implications for volunteers in providing this service.