Judy Turner

Dear Sandy Milne,

Where have you been the last three years?

Waka Eastern Bay Public Transport System has been growing steadily with incredibly affordable costs to passengers needing to go shopping, attend social events, attend appointments, group outings, go to and from work, and visit friends and family.

How is this possible?

Well, a group of volunteers established a trust and recruited volunteer erivers who were willing to get police vetted and have a “P licence”.

In the first year we were averaging 30 callouts a month. Now we get between 600 and 750 callouts a month.

The need for more volunteer drivers has obviously grown and, in fact, due to the exponential growth, we now employ some casual, part-time paid drivers to cover the demand.

Waka has a highly competent general manager, and we have an excellent booking system to make it easier for clients.

We collect people from their homes and drop them back there. It is a door-to-door service.

Passengers register on our website and purchase a pre-paid card for 15 trips or use eftpos.

We are also Total Mobility registered, allowing passengers to use their Total Mobility card and receive discount travelling with us.

Due to demand, we do require passengers to book 24 hours in advance, however, we also do our best to accommodate a short-notice booking.

Waka started with one van and now has four, including an electric vehicle.

Managing such rapid growth has been challenging and the trust has kept the regional council briefed on our progress.

So, Mr Milne, some solutions are not secured by moaning at politicians, but by thinking outside the box and being willing to be part of that solution.