Marquette Transportation

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Often times people who may be patients at Marquette's regional medical center, Marquette citizens experiencing a medical emergency, visitors to the city will require medical transportation either to the hospital emergency room, or out of the hospital bound for home, nursing homes, or maybe other hospitals.

Marquette is lucky to be home to the U.P.'s most comlete medical transportation service, MediRide, Inc. EMS. MediRide offers advanced life support emergency ambulance service, non-emergency ambulance transportation, as well as medical transportation by wheelchair van or sedan and the prices are very affordable especially in comparison to the other ambulance service in town. MediRide will take patients to destinations anywhere in the US. We had them transport my mother from here in Marquette to my brother's home all the way over in Washington D.C. The other place we called gave us a quote for over twice what MediRide charged!

The staff was really friendly and professional and their ambulances are prepared for any type of medical emergency. They can bill Medicare, Medicaid and most other insurance companies too.

This is one of those so-called "International" airports in the United States which doesn't have any direct flights out of the country. Oh well, I guess it's the thought that counts.

That said, Marquette has pretty good air service for a town of 25,000 people. There are daily nonstops to Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit. It's the flights to Detroit that I'm usually on - Northwest Airlines has four flights a day to its big Detroit hub. The connections for international travel are actually quite good. It's possible to leave Marquette on a 5 p.m. flight to Detroit, and make an easy connection there onto NW or KLM flights to a significant number of international destinations, such as Tokyo, Amsterdam, Paris or London. And "Sawyer International" is one of the most hassle-free airports I've ever been to!

Just don't bring your appetite here - there's no restaurant in the terminal, just a sad little snack bar.

If you are flying into Marquette for the first time, be sure to ask for a window seat - that is, if you are fortunate enough to be on a plane that is large enough to differentiate between window and aisle seats. There's some beautiful scenery on the approach to "Sawyer International Airport" - vistas that make you appreciate the extent of the Northwoods forests and the scarcity of people and buildings in the landscape. And if you are flying in the autumn, the colors are truly spectacular.

If you are flying out of Marquette, you should know that there's no parking garage at the airport. If you travel in the winter, finding your car after a few days' absence can be challenging! This is one reason you should always carry a shovel and some sand in your car in the wintertime.