New sleepbus rolls in to Moreton Bay

The region’s first sleepbus, providing temporary free accommodation for people sleeping rough, arrived at the weekend.

Sleepbus founder Simon Rowe spent four days on the road from Melbourne, making a 4000km roundtrip to bring the bus to Redcliffe, where it will service guests on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

While the custom-fitted bus won’t officially welcome guests until October 4, the community had a chance to check it out on Saturday morning.

“It was really positive to get a good crowd out and we had 20 additional people sign up to volunteer,” Simon says.

“It’s been so well supported from the beginning.”

The $100,000 bus’s move to the peninsula was made possible by the team from The Breakfast Club Redcliffe, achieved their goal of raising the money thanks to donations from the community including their own contribution as well funds from The Jelley Family Foundation, Commbank, Kedron Wavell and City of Moreton Bay.

Safe space for a night

The sleepbus can accommodate up to 16 people in individual sleep pods, which have a bed with a memory foam mattress, clean bedding, ducted heating and cooling, a toilet, iPad, and USB charging port.

Sleepbus provides free, safe temporary accommodation, offering an immediate first-stop cost-effective solution for society’s most vulnerable people in buses that have been custom renovated.

“Everyone is looked after with overnight volunteer caretakers and CCTV surveillance, we also have under bus storage for belongings, and pets are welcome to stay,” Simon says.

“It's not a perfect solution, but we hope it's enough until you can get back on your feet.”

The bus will park at the Redcliffe Showgrounds when it’s not in service, moving to the corner of Creek St and Fisher Dve at Redcliffe to welcome guests on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Get involved

Guests don’t have to book - they can board the bus at 8.30pm, with doors closing at 10pm and reopening at 7am the next day before the bus departs at 8am.

Simon says the service cannot succeed without volunteers, who fill roles ranging from overnight caretakers, housekeepers who clean the bus after each evening of service, bus drivers and drivers’ drivers who ferry the bus drivers back to their car at the showgrounds once the bus has reached Creek St.

“Volunteers is the thing we always need,” he says.

Simon says training is provided and sleepbus rosters are flexible - once volunteers have registered they’re can visit the sleepbus website to view available shifts.

“You don’t have to do it all the time,” he explains.

“People say ‘I would love to do something about helping people who are on the streets’ and sleepbus means they can.

“Most of our caretakers are women and they often bring a pet, a partner or their kids.

As well as volunteering, the community can donate to sponsor safe sleep nights here.