Free taxi service for seniors launched

Age Friendly Communities Plan identifies need North of Smokey

Getting seniors North of Smokey with little or no access to transportation where they need to go is the goal of the Ingonish Transportation Pilot Project.

Launched in November, the program is receiving positive reviews from an ever-growing list of people who have been using it.

“I didn’t realize there were seniors in the area actually cancelling medical appointments because they didn’t have a drive,” said Larry Dauphinee, the District 6 councillor in Victoria County, about the program’s biggest impact.

“I’ve had a number of people who said they wouldn’t have made appointments without this service.”

Ingo Cab is now providing the free shuttle service that was initially paid for by what Dauphinee referred to as a small district budget.

Victoria County has since added funds and he is seeking further financial assistance from the province and several other funding initiatives.

The need for such a service has been around for some time, he said. Most recently it came up during the launch of the county’s Age Friendly Communities Plan.

“It is usually the No. 1 or No. 2 item that comes up every time we talk, especially in the winter,” he said.

“When we did our Age Friendly Plan, the No. 2 goal was to identify transportation needs and try to come up with some programs to assist.”

Previously, a bus service with the Strait Area Transit was tried without much success. With some alterations, Dauphine said they will still look into another project with that transit group.

The very successful latest plan involves the use of Ingo Cab and was created with co-operation and support from the Cabot Trail Lions Club.

“We’ve been amazed with the response from everybody,” he said. “I’ve not had one negative comment. Nobody has taken advantage of it. It’s really serving a need that was here for a long time.”

While the service was initially designed for seniors, Dauphinee said it has been expanded to allow low-income residents to also use the service.

“We do have a couple of individuals who use it to go to the food bank,” he said.

“Over the years some other seniors were paying a lot of money to hire someone locally to take them to the store. Some were using money for transportation that wasn’t going into food or prescriptions.”

In the first several months of the program, an estimated 12-15 residents have been using the cab on a regular basis. Since Christmas that number has expanded to the 20-25 range.

Some have used it just once, while others have been getting a ride every couple of days.

The total cost to date is about $2,800.