By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE’S Social Enterprise Taxi, Beth, may have a sibling coming on board soon, as fund-raising continues to bring a wheelchair-accessible maxi-taxi to the Yarra Valley.
The group behind the Social Enterprise Taxi, Freedom by Design, is working on fund-raisers and seeking donations to bring a maxi-taxi to the valley, with the group aiming to gather more than $30,000.
Freedom by Design board member and taxi driver, Jen Ashton, said that $47,000 had already been raised towards bringing a larger taxi, which could seat more people and was more accessible for people with disabilities, to the area.
Ms Ashton, along with co-board member Chris Plevko, told the Mail there was a clear need for the maxi-taxi in the area.
“There’s never been one out here,” she said.
“We get a lot of groups, they catch maxis out from the city with the assumption that they can get one back – a lot of the feedback from the tourism businesses is that the taxi service in the past has been a major frustration.”
With an overall goal of $80,000, the group is working to secure more donations, raffling off the first Social Enterprise Taxi – the original Beth – which has just been replaced by a newer car.
Ms Ashton explained that the original Beth, a stationwagon, was a former metropolitan taxi – cars are only allowed to be on the road for six years in the city, but can work for another year and a half in regional areas.
Beth has now been replaced with a larger car, Beth II, which Mr Plevko said would help with difficult-to-access areas around Healesville and the valley.
The goal with the Social Enterprise Taxi, Ms Ashton says, is that funds from the taxi will go to the charity, which assists people with autism and disabilities.
“There are a lot of people out there who are stuck in that welfare cycle, and people who wish they had jobs or wish they had the opportunity to start a small business,” she said.
She said Freedom by Design would help to fill government funding gaps.
Along with the raffle, run through Elamo Automotive at $10 a ticket, the group aims to set up a crowdfunding page to raise extra funds.
Ms Ashton said a grant from the Taxi Services Commission required the new taxi to be on the road by February – just three months away.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/socialenterprisetaxi or pozible.com/wheelyimportant.
