Shuttles from Foxton Beach Centre help locals access health services

One of the shuttles outside the Foxton Beach Community Centre.

Two new shuttle buses will help reduce feelings of isolation for residents of towns like Shannon, Foxton Beach, and Himatangi.

The shuttles are run by the Foxton Beach Community Centre, which currently has three shuttles running, and two more on the way.

President of the community centre Lyal Brenton said they are a vital tool in helping prevent feelings of loneliness or being cut off from the community.

Fifty % of the population of Foxton Beach is over 65, he said.

“We’re finding a lot of people down here at the beach are isolated - some of them don’t leave their homes.”

The shuttles are freely available for a koha depending on how far people are travelling and provide people in isolated Horowhenua towns with transportation to Foxton, Levin, and Palmerston North for health and wellbeing purposes, such as medical appointments, hairdressing appointments, and more.

The centre fundraised for their fourth vehicle, a Kia Seltos, through their op shop and by running weekly garage sales, and the fifth, a Toyota Rav 4 hybrid, has been donated to them by the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust.

Brenton said once they get the fifth shuttle it will be mainly used for transporting people to Foxton and back, as the other shuttles can be gone for some time when taking people further away.

“We’re calling it a companion car.”

The shuttles combined do about 50-60 runs a week and 120,000km a year, but with the fifth shuttle on the way, Brenton said they’re expecting that number to go up to about 150,000km.

The community centre, which has about 45 volunteers, offers lots of other services for the community too.

They have clinic rooms that host various free services, such as a monthly respiratory clinic, monthly visits from SeniorNet to help people with IT issues, a fortnightly mental health counsellor, monthly community law meetings, weekly AA meetings, and a weekly district health nurse.

Brenton said they are always looking for more volunteers, and people can do anything from cleaning up the gardens to working in the op shop.

“We let people do what they want to do, and we don’t ask anyone to do anything they don’t want to.”