New home for Community Transport officially opens

Today the new Riverland office for the Red Cross was officially opened in Berri. It is great to see that Red Cross have moved into our region (30 Kay Avenue, Berri) and that they will be providing a range of services including the Community Transport Services that were formally provided by Council..

The Red Cross took over responsibility for operating the Riverland Community Transport Scheme in January 2017.

It is also great to see that the organisation will gradually be providing a greater range of services in the Riverland in the future, whilst continuing to deliver  Community Transport Services.

Council had the pleasure of co-ordinating the Community Transport Scheme from 1998 to 2016. The service was heavily funded by both State and Federal Government programs and also received some support from Renmark Paringa and Loxton Waikerie Councils.

Deputy Mayor Andrew Kassebaum, who spoke at the launch, passed on Council's gratitude for the efforts of the volunteers who supported both the local transport services and Medical Bus to Adelaide over the years.

When reviewing some of the data relating to the transport services we were amazed at some of the statistics from that period:

-          Some 20,000 vehicle trips were travelled

-          over 120,000 passenger trips provided

-          4000 Riverland clients supported

-          and most amazing, over 3.5 million kilometres driven by those fantastic volunteers.

We wish Red Cross all the every best.  Should you require their services, you can contact them on 1800  334 882.