Southeast Shuttle service arrives

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/11/2023 (548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is a conundrum for many seeking to take a trip to Mexico, or just to their doctor appointment. How do I get to the airport or hospital?

Seniors who cannot or would rather not drive, responsible adults going for a night on the town, families without vehicles, and anyone looking to avoid the parking fees and hassle of driving to the airport now have an option: Southeast Shuttle.

It operates two vehicles with a regular schedule seven days a week, and can drive groups of up to nine on custom trips for a flat fee. Regular stops are at Clearspring Centre and communities across the Southeast between Highway 59 and PR 210.

Seine River Services for Seniors board member Heather Dean is a new passenger herself after a fellow board member told her about the new service. She said with the discounted $15 medical escort rate and limited Handi Transit service, it is especially important for seniors in smaller communities to have this option.

“It provides another option, and it provides a very reasonably priced option. It allows people to get to what they need, and then take another shuttle back in an appropriate time same day. And there’s nothing else,” said Dean.

She did point out that Paradise Village sometimes organizes their own trips for entertainment, and that Villa Youville in Ste Anne hires Seine River Services to go to some medical appointments in Winnipeg.

But Southeast Shuttle has many more trips starting as early as 4:25 a.m. and arriving as late as 1:15 a.m.

“We really provide services to the more frail seniors, whereas … the more active seniors who travel, what an option for them. It’s an option for everybody at every age,” said Dean.

Owner and driver Emily MacDonald hopes to expand the service even further after starting up in late summer with runs to the airport, and then expanding to Polo Park and hospitals after the website and online booking were available mid-October. People can still call for information and booking as well.

MacDonald got a license to bring people to the airport after the rigmarole of constantly bringing her husband there for trips.

Then MacDonald starting hearing from people about how much it costs to get to hospital appointments without their own vehicle. It was part of the reason she added a companion rate.

“It allows them to bring someone with them and be with them during the day or whenever they’re at their appointment,” said MacDonald.

“I note that we are stopping at Cancer Care Manitoba, and I’ve been through that with family. Even if the person going for the treatment could really do it on their own, it’s not just that. It’s about having someone there with you,” she said, adding she hopes that when enough seats are sold the companions will be able to come for free.

There is a rate for people looking to get dropped off right at their door. Otherwise MacDonald has regular pickups at places that are open earlier and later so people can stay warm in the winter, like gas stations. Locations are online with schedules for zone one (Grunthal, Kleefeld, La Broquerie) and two (Clearspring Centre, Blumenort, Ste Anne, Landmark, Lorette).

There is also a trailer for people bringing large items with them.

So far, passengers have been as varied as a man getting to a wedding, an young woman and two shuttles worth of friends celebrating her 18th birthday in Winnipeg, and a new Canadian family who did not yet have a vehicle.

“They were from Pakistan. They went to visit family. They had a two-year-old boy,” said MacDonald.

She said the boy seemed to like the trip to the airport.

“But I think on the way back he was tired,” she laughed.

“We picked them up and dropped them right at their door,” she said, saying in town drop-offs are something she can do for anyone.

MacDonald has an eye on getting another driver and eventually expanding to Niverville. For now, she is busy with a new contract to drive people to and from Providence University College in Otterburne. It is for students who come and take short but intensely dense courses before flying back out from the airport.

The website is seshuttle.ca, and people can pay online with rebooking available up to two hours before their trip. The phone number for those without internet is 431-887-6884.