Aboriginal Investment Group and Bagala Aboriginal Corporation have launched the new service and aim to provide five jobs for local drivers in the two communities.

The bus operation will be owned by Bagala and will take nine passengers between Barunga and Beswick six days a week, and will travel to Katherine three days a week.

Barunga and Beswick are both on Central Arnhem Road, 82km and 112km from Katherine respectively.

AIG chief executive officer Steve Smith called the launch "the end of an era" as people in the communities have access to cheap public transport.

He said transport is a "significant issue" for people in remote communities in the Katherine region, who previously needed to pay hundreds of dollars for transport to everyday appointments in the town.

"The cost of a taxi being $250 each way has prevented a lot of people from going to town," he said.

"This service will provide reasonable access to public transport that has not been afforded to them (in the past)."

Mr Smith said tickets cost $20 for a trip from Beswick and Barunga to Katherine, while a trip between the two communities will cost just $8.

"Something the community members have asked for a long time is a bus service between the communities."

Bagala Aboriginal Corporation chair Esther Bulumbara was full of praise for the initiative and said the communities cannot wait for the bus to start running.

"It's good, we are proud... we are so excited for this," she said.

Mr Smith said the NT Government will pay for three years of maintenance for the bus, but the goal is for it to be a self sustainable project by employing local Indigenous workers.

He said because the project will be owned by Bagala Aboriginal Corporation, the profits from selling tickets will be reinvested in the sustainability of the bus service.

"This project will create five jobs for drivers which will help tackle the biggest barrier to Aboriginal employment in communities, availability of jobs," Mr Smith said.

The bus service in Barunga and Beswick is a pilot program, and it is hoped similar programs can be rolled out in other remote Aboriginal communities around the NT soon.

"There's already others that are looking at the bus service, Borroloola particularly," Mr Smith said.

"Now that we've developed a suite of polices and procedures around the commercial viability, the training of the bus drivers, the limitations of the camera systems... we can share that knowledge."

He said free laundry services, which have already started in Barunga, are also cropping up in similar fashion around the Top End.

"(We had) one laundry for two years, a second one is up and running in Darwin and there is five more planned for this year."

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