Southstar Shuttles Ceases Operations in Whakarewarewa Forest30th Nov 2019 was the last day of operating for Southstar Shuttles in Whakarewarewa Forest. Southstar lost out in a closed two-party Request for Proposal process run by Rotorua District Council on behalf of Iwi landowners CNI Holdings Ltd. This marks the unfortunate end of 13 years of service, developing the trail network, the shuttle service and supporting the Rotorua riding community. 14 experienced staff were made redundant with the closure. At the end of operations the Southstar public shuttle fleet included three 45 seater buses and trailers, and two 30 seater buses and trailers with a total capacity to uplift 195 riders every 30 minutes. Southstar's legendary Landrover charters were aimed at groups of up to 7 riders and utilised five ex-Army Landrovers.
The public were notified of the upcoming closure with 6 weeks notice. In this period there was a flood of riders using up their passes. All passes are non-refundable. Southstar lives on as a Trail Design and Construction company - Southstar Trails Purchase a piece of Southstar HistoryWe have a very limited amount of remaining Southstar mechandise available in the Southstar web-shop. Get in before it's gone!
Trailmapps Rotorua Smartphone App
The Trailmapps App is available in the Apple App Store, and in the Google Play Store for $12.99. The killer feature of this app is that it uses the phone's GPS to show you where you are on the map. With this app you tap the GPS button at the bottom of the screen and an icon shows you your current location. The GPS can be used with your phone cell data service turned on or off, so once you've initially downloaded the app, there's no data charges from your carrier (i.e Spark/Vodafone/2degrees etc), the GPS doesn't need data to work as it uses satellites.
New trails are added to the app via free updates, so you constantly have the latest info. |
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