Taumarunui
Cell phone reception appeared to be slightly better since 2020, where it was considered by participants to be good but with ‘black spots:’
"You’ve got a few black spots around town, like with Vodaphone you can't get reception down Golf Road. But it’s gotten better, it’s gotten much better."
"They just installed a new one up Hikurangi so before you couldn’t even use your phone through Taringamotu. Now it’s a lot better. They just installed a new one up Hikurangi so before you couldn’t even use your phone there. Now it’s a lot better."
Although internet access and speed were considered good in Taumarunui, some participants expressed dissatisfaction with the costs and damages caused by the installation of fibre:
"The fibre guys just costs so much money, it's a waste of money. The installation cost, and the damage of what they did in our community cost the rate payer, the Council, the government, the taxpayer, so much money. Because they were just cowboys, half trained. The costs of the repairs."
Notwithstanding this, more homes and a wider cohort of the population were considered to have access to appropriate technology and the internet. However it was still considered difficult for older people to use online services, which was concerning given the withdrawal of face-to-face customer services in Taumarunui:
"COVID probably meant that more homes got access to internet because of the requirements of the online learning and stuff. So that probably increased a huge amount of homes with internet. Whether or not it's done good or not, that's the other side. But again, way more houses I believe would have it than don't than two and a half years ago. Some might not be able to afford to pay the bills for it."
"The older have to have devices now for the likes of banking because we've gradually had banks shut down in our community and that has had a huge impact on our elderly. And they'd be told, “Oh you have to go up to Te Kuiti to do that.” So REAP jumped on really quickly and started throwing out those courses for people, so quite a few older people went and they spent their six weeks going through, also through welfare, welfare helped out with them to pay for courses. You got a free modem and paid $5 for 30 gig, I think it was. It was very good having the REAP."
"But it's extremely hard for our elderly to actually read a phone let alone working on a phone, especially when it comes to banking and that, they'd rather talk to someone across the counter. The frustration my mother has on waiting for an answer, sitting online or waiting on hold, it’s terrible."
Transport was considered a barrier to accessing basic services and participating in social and community activities. Most people got around by walking or in private cars, and there were several transport services for older people in the community:
"Most people walk, drive. We have a fake taxi!"
"It's not a fake taxi, it's got ‘taxi’ written on it! He's offering a service and I think it's wonderful."
"I live out at Matapuna and we've got older people and they have to walk. They've got no car, or we do what we usually do, we're driving down the road and there's one old man, you pick him up and drop him off. You just pick them up when they're waving and you know they want a ride. But it would be cool if we could just have a bus going down there. It's a 25 minute walk but if you're older, it's like an hour."
"Age Concern has a van. And there’s a kaumatua van that goes now and again."
In terms of transport, getting groceries or accessing services, those who did not have social connections were considered the most like to be socially isolated:
"If you're on your own, you’re older, you don’t have connections to anybody else, you’re more likely to fall through the gaps. It is generally older people. A lot of older people come here because of the peace, retire from Auckland and live down here because it's a quieter lifestyle. Like a couple, one of that couple might pass away, and then they're there. They're just there. They come for the affordability."
Increases in costs of fuel were considered to be having an impact on accessibility.
"You know, we don’t have everything just 2km down the road. And I guess some people like that, it might be why they chose to live in a rural area. But for others, there is no choice. And one thing that is having a big impact is the cost of fuel."
"Our petrol here is like, .30c more expensive! They have to drive through here to drop off fuel in Taihape, and Taihape’s fuel is cheaper!"
"You can even talk about politics or religion here, but not the price of fuel!"
"Petrol and diesel. It's costing people so much more money to go to sports. Nine times out of ten our sports are not in our community. So if you're going to a competition its, OK, this is how much it's costing now? We're almost away every single weekend and the cost is 1.5 times more than it was last year. It has an impact for some, but also there's carpooling or not going in their own vehicles because they can’t afford to take their own car. Or they send their kids with somebody else and they don't come because of not having enough for fuel."
