Starting its route at the visitors centre each day at 11am, the 12-seater Mercedes bus will transport curious tourists around the city’s main sites.

Warrnambool Tours will travel a three-hour loop from the Visitor Information Centre to the horses on the beach at Lady Bay, Koroit and Tower Hill. 

In the evenings the bus will head towards the Great Ocean Road, taking in sites such as Cheeseworld, Childers Cove, The London Arch and the Bay of Islands.

The bus features artwork from popular city artists Jimmi Buscombe and Caroline Healey. It is the brainchild of Warrnambool stalwarts Fiona Van Kempen and partner Allan Ward, who are hoping the hop-on bus will offer local orientation. 

“We’re hoping to show tourists areas of Warrnambool they normally wouldn’t get to see,” Ms Van Kempen said. “By offering good views from comfortable seats and a high roof.”

Ms Van Kempen, who’s business Smoke-o express serviced the community for 20 years, said while still in its infancy the bus could eventually cater for local festivals and on-demand tour groups.

“We might start off with taking tourists to the racecourse, the Gardens, The Hopkins River, Pickering Point and Thunder Point but in time we could mix that up.

“The plan is to bring tourists to this end of the Great Ocean Road. We want to have more heads in beds here in Warrnambool.”

The bus will be operating by mid-December.