I wasn't talking about just shopping for Christmas. I meant shopping for groceries and whatever. And I didn't mean for the $ to cover the entire cost. Obviously it wouldn't, but a few dollars from each would help defray the cost a little, and not be giving a total handout, and it doesn't seem like such a big thing for the city to do.
You should call any Department of Transportation local/nearby Transit Authority and ask them what running a shuttle service actually costs...for even one day.
There's the vehicle itself. Plus diesel fuel. Insurance. Hire a driver. Hire a scheduling staff. Intall a scheduling software on scheduling computers. Organize all of that (more staff). Identify and qualify applicants for scheduling (more staff, many legal requirements, requires legal talent [more money] [more time]) and so much more.
THEN you have to go pick each and every qualified one up and transport them safely and on a schedule. And, say, you have twenty (at most) passengers on one vehicle, one day. At $2.00 each, that's a total of FORTY DOLLARS collected for one day.
That does not even touch the costs to establish and maintain a shopping shuttle. Even for a van, the most that can be transported is seven, maybe eight passengers.
It's not a simple thing, not like someone getting a van and piling in the neighbors, at least on short notice.
What this woman needs to do is organize her neighbors, get some one of them to rent a vehicle and then the few combined families to share in the costs and use for one, two days. There ARE solutions available to anyone with some motivation.
Or get a bicycle. Or pay the thirty bucks one time for a taxi and get over it. Or do without. She could make her own decorations, buy a potted tree, just decorate the house without a tree...there are so many options!
I am not taking issue with anything you've written. I'm just saying you are not in touch with what is involved withh a taxpayer funded shuttle service and it's not a simple thing for any city/town to "just" throw together. Maybe a church might be able to (privately) or some individual, but cities/towns are restricted by huge financial limitations and requirements (they have to observe Dept. of Trans. regulations and be licensed to even have a shuttle service before they can even begin to start organizing one).
The best idea would be for some private group to offer a truck/van with an insured driver to assist a neighborhood of people. And then this woman or others like her could start campaigning for a shopper shuttle for their neighborhood for next year through a city council but it's not something that can be "just" thrown together when using public funds, organizations (such as locales, cities/towns).