A bus service in Whangārei has been temporarily re-routed for safety after continued incidents of rocks being thrown, smashing bus windows.
Northland Regional Council transport manager Chris Powell said bus windows had been smashed in separate rock-throwing incidents on Matai St in the suburb of Ōtangarei.
Rocks were first thrown on Saturday and Monday, but “several more incidents” had occurred throughout the week, including today, he said.
Powell said the drivers and passengers had been shaken by two incidents in particular.
“We take these incidents very seriously as, in both cases, there were passengers on board and either incident had the potential to injure either those passengers or our drivers. Fortunately that did not occur.”
A decision was made to temporarily stop the Route Four bus from travelling along Matai St, instead looping around William Jones Drive.
Powell said this change would impact regular passengers but all involved in discussions felt they had no choice but to avoid Matai St.
“We’ve got a responsibility to both our drivers and passengers to ensure that we’re operating in a safe environment, hence today’s decision.”
There was a spate of similar incidents a decade ago but the council had no reports of rocks being thrown at buses in the area since.
Powell said the council and bus operators Ritchies had worked together in the previous instances to educate the community on how the behaviour put public transport services at risk.
Police have been contacted for comment.
