Two villages in Austria launch a 1-euro taxi to help people with disabilities

The service will help people go grocery shopping, get to doctors’ appointments or even have more social visits

Today, two small villages in the Austrian Alps, close to Innsbruck, announced the creation of a joint taxi service to help ferry the elderly and people with disabilities to doctors, social visits and visits to the market.

The villages are called Aldrans and Sistrans and almost all taxi service trips will be limited between the two. The cars will be electric and will operate on Monday and Wednesday morning. At the same time, the service is not aimed at profit, as the cost of a trip would be 1 euro.

Volunteer drivers

A very unique feature of the village taxi is the fact that it will operate with the help of volunteer drivers. This presents a unique challenge, both in the operating times and the length of trips that it can make. Currently, it will be limited to running on Monday and Wednesday from 8 AM to 12 PM.

Additionally, the taxis will be limited to making trips in and between the two villages of Aldrans and Sistrans. They can be used to make trips to grocery stores, public transport stops, shopping trips, private visits and trips to doctors.

For doctor visits, authorities have said that the taxis will make exceptions for visits to medical centres in neighbouring Tulfes, Lans or Igls, however, not Innsbruck. Furthermore, drivers would perform round trips if they are within the working time limit.

Residents can also make reservations by calling their respective municipality every work day and while the service is primarily aimed at the elderly who have movement difficulties, it is not limited to that demographic. At the same time, authorities recommend special ambulance services for disabled people, as the cars will not have sufficient equipment to accommodate some cases.

Lastly, they will not be able to transport bulky materials like skis, bikes and etc.