100,000 visitors but no reception

Rimutaka Forest Park users are being urged to vote for better cellphone coverage.

The park receives 100,000 visitors a year but is a mobile black spot.

In recent years there have been a number of high-profile search and rescues in the park which is used by picnickers, campers and walkers. The most popular entrance is the Catchpool, where there is no mobile coverage.

National list MP Chris Bishop said funding was available through the Government’s Mobile Black Spot Fund which supported the installation of cellphone towers to provide mobile coverage in tourism areas and highways.

With so many people using the park, it was important that people had cellphone coverage, Bishop said.

The Catchpool/Orongorongo Valley was included on a short-list for funding after lobbying from the Wainui Rural Residents’ Association.

That resulted in the area getting on the shortlist and Bishop said the next stage was a vote.

‘‘Now we need to really send a message that this area needs mobile coverage.’’

One search and rescue operation involved local runner Susan O’Brien, who spent a night lost in the park in 2015. With no mobile coverage she couldn’t call for help.

She found her way out the next day but access to mobile coverage could have avoided a costly search.

To vote go to https:/ /issues.national.org.nz/supportmobile-coverage/