Media Release May 2011

Soccer Mum Gets New Meaning With Palms Shuttle

There’s a new soccer mum in town – in the form of a bus that is ferrying local schoolchildren to and from sports games and training sessions. Mindful that parents and local bus services are already stretched to capacity, the Sports Shuttle initiative will ensure that children still get to their practices and games on time.

The bus service is sponsored by The Palms, and will take students from Shirley Boys’ High School and Avonside Girls’ High School between their schools and their sporting commitments at various locations in the eastern suburbs, including Burwood Park, Papanui Domain and Nunweek Park. The service will run for Term two (May 2 to July 15) and may extend if required.

Without The Palms Sports Shuttle service, marketing manager Anne Newman says there would be extra strain on an already maxed-out public transport system. “While we are on the path to reopening the centre, we wanted to keep supporting our community. Transport assistance for schools was one of the things that came up on our public feedback forums, such as our Facebook page.

“We would like to see our eastern suburbs recover as quickly as possible, and simply providing transport for students to their sports matches helps them maintain some normality and routine in their lives – not to mention the myriad of benefits that come from playing sports and being part of a team. Demonstrating our long-standing relationship with these two schools, we were more than happy to help by offering them this shuttle service and ease the transportation pressure on local parents.”

The centre recently announced a phased reopening plan which will see the first group of stores open their doors on the target date of June 30, with plenty of celebration and fanfare planned. In the meantime, The Palms is running a number of initiatives, such as a free mobile coffee van, which is currently supplying Shirley residents with a much needed free coffee break!

ends

© Scoop Media