re: Mechallel Shabbos

Question

Dear Rabbi Abadi: I read your response to my last question, and must admit, I have really learned something. Like you said, things are not always what they seem. Now for a specific question about ME ! I live on an Island mainly inhabited by Jews. There is an Eruv here that virtually everybody holds by, including those who are generally extremely strict about the Eruv issue. There is a synagogue that is about 3 miles from my home that is within this Eruv, and it is a synagogue I am very fond of. 1. Would I be permitted to arrange on Friday to prepay a limo service that will drive my family and I from our home to the synagogue on Shabbat morning, and then bring us back on Shabbat afternoon in order to have Shabbat lunch at home? 2. There is a free shuttle bus that runs from our street to a grocery store that is near the synagogue we would like to attend. It runs reliably every hour, regardless of how many or few people are on the bus, and returns every hour on the half hour throughout the day. Since this bus is driven by a gentile, is running anyway, is free, and is remaining within the Eruv while we would be on it.....are we permitted to use this method of transportation to get to and from the synagogue on Shabbat? Thank you again for all you do.