The Bodhi Bus

The innovative idea to connect over 60 of our remotest communities in the North of Australia, whilst offering an affordable mode of transport, was the brainchild of David Bursle.

Bodhi Bus is Australia’s first and only long distance Not for Profit Company with a Charitable and public benevolent institution status.

The Bodhi Bus was founded in 2009 and gets its name from David’s son Bodhi, whom was named after the Bodhi Tree - a very large sacred fig tree where it is said that underneath it, Prince Siddartha (The First Buddha) attained his enlightenment. Naming the company after his son was a conscious decision designed to emulate the family values that are the basis of the business.

Based in the regional town of Katherine, Northern Territory Australia, Bodhi Bus nestles itself right at the crossroads of remote Western Australia, Central Australia and The Gulf of Carpentaria. Home of the world-famous Katherine Gorge and Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine is the hub of many outlying Indigenous communities of which more than 18,000 people call home. On a broader scale, the total population of the area covered by Bodhi Bus is in excess of 45,000 people!

Travelling to places such as Gapuwiyak, Tennant Creek, Wyndham, Darwin and everywhere in between, The Bodhi Bus has the capacity to transport thousands of travellers every week including charters!

The fleet consists of 15 buses and a few smaller Four Wheel Drive Vehicles, that can seat from 4 to 39 people at any one time.

Bodhi Bus’s fleet of purpose built vehicles, along with its 23 staff, travels over 18,000 kms every week! Which equates to travelling around the world every 2 ½ weeks.

Whether it be a business trip to Darwin, returning home to country, chartering a bus for a Footy trip or just making tracks across this beautiful country, Bodhi Bus caters for it all!