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Transport

A bit of history

Luke is fun loving guy that deserves a better chance at life. Luke is autistic and needs one on one support in every hour of his life. In 2003 we set out to provide him with transport equipment that would meet his needs and enable people, other than his family, to drive him around and support him in the sort of activities that he really enjoys.

Back then, the best we could do was buy an old Toyota Hi-Ace Van. It was OK, and met the need at the time, but after one catastrophic engine engine failure,
and a fading air conditioning system, we decided that it was time to find something more appropriate.

A guy down the road runs a limo service -

But that was not very practical.

Luke has driven in many different cars over the years - and here are some of his favourites -

And some that he really did not enjoy - at all -

One of the biggest problems with these vehicles (which were owned and operated by DHS) is that while Luke was happy to sit by himself in the rear of the vehicle, separated from the driver by a cargo barrier covered with polycarbonate - all of them were missing some of the basic essentials for safe and comfortable travel. For example - inadequate air conditioning, and barriers to communication. One of the first things DHS do when they modify these vehicles "to make them safe" is they remove all of the rear air conditioning outlets.  The result is one outlet just behind the driver - covered with a grill - and so noisy that Luke had to insist that it always be turned off - even on the hottest of days. The rear compartment passengers have no control over the air conditioning and the drive had no way of knowing what the conditioners were like in the back. Also - there was no reliable intercomm - Luke would have to almost shout to be heard by the driver. Appeals to have these vehicles modified to make them more suitable seemed to fall on deaf ears.

So we felt we had not choice but to build our own ... and demonstrate what is really needed for someone like Luke. Thats' why we created ...

Luke's Party Bus

A very long time in the making - but here it is -

Inside - it has everything he needs for safe and comfortable travel - for anything from a quick trip to the shops - or the long haul back to Melbourne - (about 5 hours) -

Special features include -

Special lighting, dual intercomm (one of which is so sensitive it can pick up the faintest whisper from a passenger who is sometimes afraid or unable to use their "normal voice"), entertaintment system (TV, DVD, iPod, Radio), double glazed windows (almost bullet proof), custom, whisper quiet, dual zone climate control (with monitoring of temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure).