Left: Pakenham’s Keven Pollock, a By Paul Dunlop
HIGH petrol prices have put a vital community transport service under the pump.
A dramatic surge in fuel costs has forced Pakenhambased Mecwa Cardinia Care to seek donations from clients to help it cope.
With the price of unleaded petrol hovering around $1.20 per litre and tipped to rise even higher, motorists everywhere are feeling the pinch.
The price of petrol is a serious concern for a service that is crucial to the health and wellbeing of hundreds of elderly citizens and people with disabilities around the Cardinia Shire.
Mecwa Cardinia Care has about 20 volunteers who drive up to 400 kilometres per week performing a range of transportbased tasks.
Drivers pay for their own fuel and are later reimbursed for their costs.
Many of the people using the free service are pensioners who cannot afford taxis to travel into Melbourne to visit specialist doctors or for other appointments.
Mecwa Cardinia Care community transport coordinator Sharon Bear said the nonprofit organisation was doing everything it could to reduce the impact of an expense that had risen sharply in recent times and shows no sign of slowing.
“It’s a bit frightening,” she said.
“Fuel prices are an unknown. We don’t know where they will end up.
“We don’t have a cap on our service currently but with the growth of the area and the increase in demand, coupled with petrol going up so much, it might be something we have to look at sooner rather than later.”
Volunteer drivers for Mecwa Cardinia Care clocked up more than 72,500 kilometres in the previous financial year.
Pakenham’s Keven Pollock drives up to five days each week taking clients into Melbourne or just down to the shops.
Mr Pollock, who is semiretired, said he enjoyed the volunteer work but was alarmed at the impact petrol prices were having.
In the 18 months Mr Pollock has been a volunteer driver, he said he had seen petrol rise by up to 30 cents a litre.
“It’s definitely a negative,” Mr Pollock said.
“It probably costs $18$20 a week over and above what it used to be.
“It could spoil the whole thing if petrol goes too high.”
Volunteer coordinator Sandra Hayes said she was concerned that rising petrol prices could put people off lending a badly needed hand.
“They do a fantastic job and we need more volunteers,” Mrs Hayes said.
“It is a vital service and the demand for it is growing and growing.
“There is a lack of other public transport options for people who use it. Many of them are quite isolated.
“Something has to happen, the price of petrol is just outrageous.”
The RACV is among the groups that has warned it is concerned about the direction of petrol prices as a result of recent increases in international oil prices.
It is feared that prices could get even higher in the next month.
