Te Puke Senior Citizens donate shuttle vehicle to St John

Mayor Garry Webber, Order of St John representative Lyn Price and members of Te Puke Senior Citizens club present their donation.

St John Te Puke took possession of a brand new shuttle vehicle over the weekend, courtesy of a generous gift from the Te Puke Senior Citizens Club.

The delivery coincided with the second anniversary of the shuttle service and the new vehicle replaces two second-hand vehicles that have been in use to serve the wider Te Puke community.

Ten members of the Te Puke Senior Citizens Club joined a group of 75 to celebrate the gifting and commissioning of the vehicle.

"The shuttle was fully assembled in Germany and shuttle volunteers are eager to become familiar with all the advantages of a modern, safe and user-friendly vehicle," says shuttle team leader Wayne Moore.

St John Te Puke chairwoman Lyn Govenlock says the support of Te Puke Senior Citizens has been outstanding.

"This is the second vehicle that the club has donated and we would not have been able to establish and maintain the service without their support," she says.

The shuttle service has provided just under two thousand trips for local people within the wider Te Puke catchment area over the past two years, travelling 50,000km in the process.

The service's 24 volunteers have collectively contributed nearly 3500 hours to ensure the service has been available.

The service now provides weekday transport for people from Pukehina, Maketū, Pongakawa and Paengaroa to medical or health related appointments in Te Puke, Papamoa, Mount Maunganui and Tauranga.

"Demand from people living in Papamoa East is also rising," says Wayne.

The service operates seamlessly with Mount and Tauranga crews to ensure full geographic coverage.

The service is not on-demand with users needing to book at least 24 hours in advance to ensure the service will be available for appointments that are scheduled for between 9am and 1pm.

"Having a central booking service weekdays between 9am and 2pm has also enabled smooth scheduling and co-operation between the shuttle crews to ensure that we minimise time delays in both picking people up and returning them to their homes," says Lyn.

Covid-19 impacted the delivery of the service but it has now returned to normal operation.

"We are expecting demand to return quickly," says Wayne, who is keen to encourage anyone willing to give a day a week, fortnight or month to consider joining the team.

"We offer the opportunity for anyone interested to ride with a crew to see if it's what they are expecting before going through the recruitment process," he says.

Anyone interested in volunteering can call Lyn on 027 755 1234 or call 0800 824 325 during office hours. The 0800 number is also the one to use for bookings.