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Startup Hopes To Provide Non-Emergency Medical Transportation In North Escambia
March 17, 2022
A startup business plans to offer non-emergency medical and other transportation services in portions of the North Escambia area.
Metro Rapid Transport plans to operate 18 hours a day, six days a week, according to their business plan and be based in the “northern Pensacola area”.
According to state, Metro Rapid Transportation, LLC has a principal address is 10251 Highway 97 in Walnut Hill, a building (pictured page bottom) that’s been used in the past for the Davisville Country Store, other retail businesses and a restaurant.
This week, owner Trina James-Tanner approached the Century Town Council seeking a 1,000 square foot office space and a place to securely park vehicles at the town-owned Century Business Center on Pond Street. She told the council she had hoped to be in the space by early April.
No dollar amounts were discussed at the council meeting. The council voted to have their attorney create a lease at an agreeable rent. The council could consider the agreement as soon as their next meeting, which is set for April 5.
Proposed rates for the service are $2.50 “in town” or $5 round trip. For “out of town” trips, it will be $45 for the first 30 miles ($90 round tip) plus 20 cents per additional mile, according to the company’s undated business plan submitted to the town.
Metro Transit estimates nearly $4.2 million is needed to establish and maintain the service for three years. The plan states they have been able to generate about $8,000 in home equity from the owner, they are applying for state funding, and they are working to establish a line of credit at Navy Federal Credit Union.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
29 Responses to “Startup Hopes To Provide Non-Emergency Medical Transportation In North Escambia”
This is another grift for cash at tax payers expense .
Please don’t take an ambulance for non emergency care.
The folks in century will NOT pay for this service and insurance is not obligated to pay either.
Once a hospital releases you…..
It’s your responsibility to find transportation, cab ,Lyft, private person, bus for part of the way, move in town and live on a bus line, or get home care.
There are better options that won’t cost tax payers.
Anybody who works in a hospital can attest to the fact that there is definitely a need and demand for this type of service. Hospitals get backed up EVERYDAY due to transportation issues of patients that have no way to get home. There are a lot of patients that are bedbound at home and can’t travel by regular automobile or wheelchair and require stretcher transport, and NO insurance does not pay for an ambulance based on that alone. Also, the ambulance situation in this and surrounding areas is not good. They are almost always backed up. I’m not sure what their business plan is, but if done correctly and if they are going to service areas such as Pensacola, yes there is great need. Again, I don’t know their business plan, or if their going to offer stretcher and wheelchair, etc, but to say there isn’t a demand or need is false!
@Tammi.
It’s not a question of if someone has a need for a ride….
This business won’t succeed because it’s not going to be profitable…
The vehicles /insurance staff etc….will cost $$ and the area doesn’t have a dense enough population to support such a business.
That is the same reason there are few restaurants, malls , movie theaters, car dealerships, hospitals etc…in rural areas
I work in the medical transportation field and I agree these types of services are needed. The cost is not going to he comparable to what non medical transportation cost. The drivers and the companies that provide this service, are sometimes asked to do alot more than just drive. In over twenty plus years of driving paratransit vehicles, I could write a book on the varying conditions of released patients. I can’t speak on this couple’s ability to provide, but there is always a need for the transportation component.
@not location:
I think Cindy Lou is correct, That particular business will fail partially because a terrible location amongst many other things.
Medicaid and Medicare will not compensate enough for a rural non medical ride share business to sustain itself. And definitely the folks that live out there won’t pay out of pocket.
I hope Navy Federal doesn’t fund this ridiculous fake business
@CindyLou, second variable is not location. Many many businesses these days have no physical location. Second variable is market saturation. Is the service in demand? Is someone else (or many someones) already providing the service?
Location is further down the line than those these days.
This transportation service is not meant to be utilized by people paying for it out of their own pocket. TV ads featuring prominent millionaire fat cats offer all kinds of free services to people on Medicaid and other government assistance. Additional social security money, free healthcare, free transportation, free meals and so on. When was anything ever to expensive for Uncle Sam? After all the taxpayers foot the bill.
Why work and save?
We need this BADLY at night in North SRC. I get people in my ER brought by ECEMS, DWMEMS, and SRCEMS, and sometimes by the SRCSO. They arrive in my ER and after they get treated, they’re discharged and have no way home. I am not allowed to let them stay in the bed all night, so I have to put them in the waiting room with a blanket. I’ve seen them sit out there for 10 hours. No one to call, no ride, and EMS isn’t a taxi. They show up and think the EMS will drive them home. During the day, the staff have options for cabs and other non-emergency transport, but at night you’re out of luck, and you’ll be testing the comfort of the waiting room until the sun comes up. If I had an option to call for a non-emergent transport or some other non-EMS option, I could get people back home. But as it is right now, I discharge people and they look at me, the nurse, like I need to conjure them a magic carpet or something. I can’t do that.
We already have this service it’s called Uber
When creating a business the first variable is “is this product or service in demand?
Second variable is location.
This will never work.
Hey, I have $8,000 too. When can I get my $4.2 million dollar loan. I promise I’ll use it for good. “Just think of the children.”
None of this makes sense. They have their business in Davisville on Hwy 97 but want to park their vehicles in Century. Their pricing for transportation is way out of range for anyone on a fixed income for “out of town” trips. Sounds like it could become a scam to go after taxpayers money.
It’s fun to spend other people’s money, isn’t it SMH. Refresh my memory, what wholesale, family friendly, community minded business did you risk your life savings and credit on?
If somebody would just give or loan me a bunch of money, and give me free rent somewhere, I’ll come up with some half-baked business plan to spend it.
You keep saying rent a car for (x) amount of dollars and it’s only but none of you said anything about the 3-5 hundred dollar deposit…..good luck to the couple that’s trying
I agree with a lot of what most of you said … but “Brilliant Move” hit the nail on the head. This business is not looking for your money, they are strictly going after government subsidized money ….
@Brilliant , you do know that government money is community money right?
This couple could not keep the commercial building on 97 bc they could not pay rent provide proof of insurance..etc
This company offers a good price for trips “in town” (whatever that means), but has priced itself out for “out of town” trips.
At their rate, it would cost $97.20 to go from Flomaton to downtown Pensacola and back (96 miles). U. S. government empoyees using their own vehicles for official travel would be reimbursed $56.16 for the same trip. A state employee would get $42.72.
Will any government provide funding for a company that charges non-local travel at twice the rate the government pays its own employees for travel?
I was excited to see this at first. But, then, I saw the cost of service, and was sad to know that none of the patients I worked with in the Home Health field could afford this service. It is a sad situation. And, some of them even had to pay their own family members to take them to medical appointments. For those who can afford it and do not drive, it would maybe be a good thing. I wish the founders the best. I may even need the service one day. Would like to know their routes and if they will come to your house if you cannot get to their pickup locations.
This type of transportation business has been tried several times in the area and it has never worked. I hate to see someone fail, but I just don’t see this working out. I wish business minded people who are looking to open a business in this area would come up with a business that is truly needed. It would be nice if we had a nice retail store where you could get a nice outfit if needed at the last minute, without having to go out of town to shop. Or maybe some type of business that would be recreation for the children in this area, like a skating rink or something. People always wants to open either a gas station, restaurant or some type of transportation service. Bring in something that people will utilize. That’s the way to succeed. Century has nothing.
Well good luck.
Price is pretty steep but it is what it is.
You can rent a Uhaul for $20….
But a round trip from their office to the escambia jail is 84 miles which would cost $94.80
$90 round trip (1st 30 miles each way = $45X2=$90)
Then .20 cents X the remainder miles (24 miles = $4.80)
Total trip to Pensacola and back $94.80 plus a tip.
Rent a Uhaul for $20 for the day plus .59 cents per mile.
.59 cents X 84 = $49.56
$49.56 + $20 = $69.56 Total.
The difference is $25.24. You could stop and get a lunch if needed. Or catch a movie if you take a sac lunch.
This will never work. The price of fuel now will make this impossible. Plus the location is a little questionable. Do they have a fleet of vehicles or is little Bobby going to pick you up in his truck and run you to where you want to go? The project already seems to have money issues…attempting lines of credit all over. I just don’t see it.
The prices seem steep but you have to remember these services are eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Currently an ambulance is often used to transport these individuals that are bed confined and they charge a much higher cost.
Set the prices to where it isn’t affordable for the low income area and see how fast that state funding comes in to help lessen the cost for the patrons.. this thing will be a cash cow with halfway decent management. They aren’t after the community money they want the government money because it’s bottomless and isn’t contingent on good service
When I saw this article, I thought it would never work. These are TAXI prices!
That price is worst than a cab!
For a business meant to target low income people, this will never work. $90 for a trip to Pensacola? You can rent a car for cheaper. Let me know when the business goes belly up. I’d like to buy the remaining fleet to haul my construction workers around in.
What happened with the ECAT vans?