Huon Valley Transport Forum

Rethinking Transport in the Huon Valley

Circular Economy Huon (CEH) has been talking about the need for better public and community transport in the Huon Valley for a long time now. Over the years we’ve run workshops and community meetings, spoken with transport experts, and put in submissions to government inquiries. We also share a range of transport information on this website so locals can get across the issues and the options.

To keep this conversation moving, CEH is bringing people together for a Huon Valley Transport Forum at Ranelagh Hall on Monday 23 February 2026 at 6.00 pm. The forum will include local residents, transport experts, researchers, businesses, and representatives from local, state and federal government. The aim is simple: to have a practical conversation about where transport in the Huon is heading, and what we can do to make it cheaper, fairer and more sustainable.

For many people in the Huon, getting around is getting harder. Fuel costs keep going up, cars are expensive to buy and maintain, and if you don’t have access to a vehicle your options are pretty limited. Like most rural areas, we rely heavily on private cars and roads. At the same time, the cost of building and maintaining those roads across steep, forested country keeps rising, and that bill is carried by all of us.

Transport is also a big part of the climate challenge. Around one fifth of Tasmania’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transport, so it’s an area where real change can make a real difference. The good news is that there are already proven alternatives. Electric buses, low-emission ferries, community transport services and better walking and cycling connections are working in other regional places, and they could work here too if they’re planned properly.

The Huon River is a good example of both the problem and the opportunity. These days it often feels like a barrier, because our transport system is built almost entirely around roads, bridges and trucks. That hasn’t always been the case. Before roads were pushed through the valley, waterways were an important way of moving people and goods. As roads expanded and forests were cleared, transport shifted almost completely to private vehicles, and that’s the system we’re now locked into.

If we start seeing the Huon River and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel as transport corridors again, rather than obstacles, new options open up. Combined with modern, low-emission technology and better links between buses, ferries, active transport and community transport, waterways could help cut emissions, improve access for smaller and more isolated communities, and take pressure off an expensive road network.

We now understand what’s driving climate change, and we also know there are practical ways to respond. What’s needed is better planning, better coordination, and better integration between different ways of getting around. The Huon Valley Transport Forum is a chance for the community to come together, look at the evidence, and talk honestly about what could work here.

If you’d like to dig deeper, including looking at studies and analysis of the current transport system, you can find more detail in CEH’s Integrated Transport Plan, available through this website.