Auckland woman Eva Bates was on the bus with her two children, and said it was running late after traffic delays in Auckland and scheduled stops throughout the trip were shortened to make up time.
She said the bus was driven in an “erratic” and at times “frightening” manner during the section of trip from Rotorua to Gisborne.
“When we got into Gisborne, the bus collided with the veranda over Business Applications at the Childers Road-Grey Street corner," Ms Bates said.
"Several windows at the back of the bus were broken and glass was sprayed over people. Some of those in the impact zone ran screaming down the aisle. The driver did not stop and later brushed into a tree which sent more glass flying.”
Passengers unloaded own bagsWhen they eventually reached the terminus outside the i-Site, the driver walked off and the passengers had to unload their own bags.
“It was an appalling nightmare of a trip — dangerous and very frightening.”
Other passengers have backed up her account.
“At times I felt quite scared,” another person said on social media.
“I know the lady next to me was quite frightened too.”
She claimed the driver handled the window-breaking “appallingly”.
“He was lost and could not find the terminus. We tried to give him directions but he would not listen,” she said.
Just wanted to get off“We all just wanted to get off that bus.”
Ms Bates' daughter Holly McKay, who lives in Gisborne, said her mother was not happy about how it had all been handled.
“InterCity have told Mum in an email they were sorry for the bad trip. Passengers would be refunded their ticket price and the driver was no longer working for them,” Miss McKay said.
“But I know Mum still feels pretty angry about it all because so many people’s lives were put at risk. I am so happy that my Mum and little sisters made it to Gisborne uninjured, although very shaken and in shock.”
On Saturday night a passenger called staff at Business Applications about the damage to the verandah.
“We swept the broken glass off the road and footpath, and retrieved a piece of the veranda that had been ripped off,” owner Paul Benge said.
“We were disappointed not to have heard from InterCity about it by midday Tuesday, so we rang them ourselves to lodge a complaint.”
Mr Benge said the bus company had since that call offered to meet the full costs of repairing the damage to the edge of the veranda.
Miss McKay feels that InterCity should publicly apologise to everyone who was on that trip for a “horrible and dangerous” journey.
“I would not expect this from a public transport company, especially on a long weekend where messages of safe driving and road tolls are so publicised.”
