A volunteer-driven transport organization that serves southeast New Brunswick hopes to purchase a fleet of wheelchair-accessible hybrid minivans.
“Our service is designed to improve the quality of life for people with little or no access to transportation,” said Kelly Taylor, executive director of Urban/Rural Rides NB, during a recent presentation at Sackville town council.
Urban/Rural Rides NB is a charitable organization that offers transportation services for “a fraction of the cost of a taxi.”
It started off in 2014 in Salisbury and Petitcodiac, when it was known simply as Rural Rides.
It has grown in size to include the Tantramar region since 2017, and throughout Westmoreland and Albert counties since 2018.
In Sackville, the group completed 210 rides last year, Taylor told town councillors.
This year, its services expanded to officially include communities in the Fredericton area.
Its clients include seniors, people with moderate disabilities, low-income people and newcomers. But the group doesn’t have the ability to transport people in wheelchairs.
Now, they hope to buy more than a dozen vans retrofitted with wheelchair ramps, with financial assistance from Ottawa.
The goal is to have one vehicle each of the 13 “entities” in southeast New Brunswick that will be created as part of local governance reforms that are currently underway.
Taylor spoke to CHMA on Monday from her home in Grande-Digue about the high cost of fuel, the need for volunteer drivers, and the group’s efforts to make life better for people in wheelchairs.
For more information, visit their website at urbanruralrides.ca. You can also call 962-3073 or check out facebook.com/urban.rural.rides.