Amanda Lee-Nichols pays at least $26 and must wait hours for a taxi to take her to the shops every time she wants to pick up her groceries.
Ms Lee-Nichols does not have a car and is one of about 20,000 residents in the rural Queensland city of Mount Isa who do not have access to public transport.
"I pay upwards of $13 each way just to go and pick up my groceries, drop the kids at school or go to medical appointments," the mother-of-eight said.
"Usually, I'm left waiting hours because they're too busy."
In a region where annual temperatures average 32 degrees Celsius and reach into the low 40s during summer, walking a small distance can be a difficult and sometimes dangerous exercise.
"When I do walk, it takes us hours in the hot sun and it's not good for the kids," she said.
The financial burden means the family often misses out on essentials, Ms Lee-Nichols said.
"It's bleeding me dry you know, it costs a fortune and it means sometimes I can't get the kids' medication," she said.
"I have to go without a lot. The kids miss out on a lot.
"I can't keep doing it, I just don't think it's fair."
Equity imbalance in wealthy mining city
Kaitlin Griffin is a family support coordinator for the Mount Isa Ngukuthati Children & Family Centre.
She helps local families who are struggling by transporting clients to the grocery store or school and medical appointments using the organisation's vans.
But their resources are limited and Ms Griffin is calling for state funding for local transport options.
"I think it's ridiculous, Mount Isa is considered the largest city in Queensland by area mass," she said.
"The fact that a lot of kids are missing out on going to school because they simply can't get there is really not fair.
"We are depriving people of their basic rights because we don't have the transport to be able to help these people."
Ms Griffin said there was a stark imbalance of wealth in the mining community.
"It's quite clear there's a side to Mount Isa that has a lot more money and opportunity than the other side," she said.
"One side gets money put into it and the other just gets forgotten about.
"We don't have shops on this side of town, and access to transport is a huge barrier we face."
In a statement to ABC North West, the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) said there was no funding available for a transport service in Mount Isa.
"With many competing investment pressures across Queensland there is no funding currently available to trial public transport passenger services in Mt Isa," a spokesperson said.
"TMR continues to review transport services available to Mt Isa residents and will investigate opportunities in the future to provide new or changed services that will benefit the community."
