Whangārei bus windows smashed, route changed for safety

A CityLink bus window smashed by rocks thrown reportedly by children in the Whangārei suburb of Ōtangarei. Photo / CityLink Facebook

Bus drivers and passengers in Whangārei have been left shaken after their buses were targeted by people throwing rocks.

Northland Regional Council transport manager Chris Powell said bus windows had been smashed in separate rock-throwing incidents on Matai St, Ōtangarei.

Rocks were first thrown at buses on Saturday and Monday but Powell reported further incidents had happened, including today.

He said the drivers and passengers involved had been shaken by the incidents.

“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, although fortunately that did not occur.”

Powell said police are investigating.

After discussions between the council and Ritchies Transport, which operates the CityLink bus network, a decision was made to temporarily stop travelling along Matai St.

The Ōtangarei Route Four bus will instead loop around nearby William Jones Drive.

The change would impact several regular passengers daily but all the parties involved felt they had no choice but to avoid Matai St, Powell said.

“We’ve got a responsibility to both our drivers and passengers to ensure that we’re operating in a safe environment.”

Powell said the council and Ritchies hoped to meet with Ōtangarei community leaders to figure out how to prevent future incidents.

The council had not reported issues with rocks being thrown at buses in Ōtangarei since a previous spate 10 years ago.

Powell said in that case, the council and Ritchies worked together to stress how the behaviour put the service at risk locally.