Minibus licence undecided

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 9

Minibus licence undecided

The future of the “Shoppa” minibus service for elderly people is still undecided.' The New Zealand Taxi Proprietors’ Federation has opposed an appliction by Mrs Jean Hallman, of St Albans, to make the passenger service licence for her “Shoppa” minibus permanent. For the last five months, Mrs Hallman has been transporting elderly people between their homes and shopping malls on a regular basis. The No. 9 Transport District Licensing Authority, Mr D. L. Hogan, yesterday reserved decision on the case. The temporary licence expired on March 31, but Mrs Hallman was allowed to continue running the minibus until a decision was given. Mrs Hallman said that 52 people used the service. She was making seven to eight trips each week and eventually hoped to expand to 12 trips. The running of the minibus was viable even without financial help given by the urban transport committee of the Canterbury United Council. One of her patrons, Mrs Mavis Bonar, said that she

used the minibus to take her sister, a rest home resident, on outings they could not afford to make by taxi She was sure there were many other housebound senior citizens who would appreciate the service, particularly in winter. The manager of Gold Band Taxis, Mr I. D. Ward, said taxis could provide a similar service. “Shoppa” passengers paid $4 each for a trip. That gave Mrs Hallman an estimated over-all return of $1 a kilometre travelled, while the scheduled rate for a taxi at the same time of day was 64.5 c a kilometre. However, Mr Ward said that a circular mailed to elderly people advertising the use of taxis on a similr basis had met little response.