Drivers have been left rattled after two people were knifed - one fatally - on an Auckland bus but a union boss says despite the violent episodes “a bus is a safe place” to travel on.
It comes after a man died in what police called an unprovoked attack on an east Auckland bus on Monday.
“Gentle giant” Sefo Leger died on Monday after another passenger on a bus from Glen Innes to Ōrākei pulled out a knife and “initiated an attack on him”, police said.
Leger managed to get off the bus but died in hospital from his injuries. The suspected attacker stayed on the bus and allegedly attacked another man, who later needed surgery on his hand.
Bus and Coach Association chief executive Delaney Myers said drivers had been affected by the violence, however, buses remained a safe mode of public transport.
“Look, the drivers are shaken.
“This is something that’s happened in someone’s workplace, and of course, all the other drivers can reflect upon that, you know, within their workplace and how they would feel. So, they are unsettled, absolutely.
“Our message to people would actually be to say, a bus is a safe place. You know, it’s a horrific incident that’s happened, but actually it’s a real outlier. And people should feel comfortable and confident taking public transport.”
She said there is a trial ongoing that provides live CCTV of buses to a control room, allowing the driver to keep their eyes on the road.
“And next year there’ll be a rollout of community safety ambassadors, so more people who are actually there to ride the bus, to monitor the bus, to check in on people.”
Myers said there was a range of tools already in place to try to keep people safe, including CCTV, panic buttons and driver protection screens.
Josephine Bartley, Maungakiekie-Tāmaki ward councillor on Auckland Council, said locals had been shaken and wanted reassurance that public transport was safe.
This week’s fatal attack follows earlier Herald reports that assaults on bus drivers had fallen from a 2022 surge but still reached 29 through the first half of this year.
In response, Auckland Transport’s Stacey van der Putten announced in August that her team had begun trialling live CCTV cameras on 70 buses.
Part of an “action plan” to stop “bad behaviour” and actions “putting drivers at risk”, it worked by giving drivers the power to raise the alarm in real time.
By pressing a duress button, bus drivers with live CCTV fitted could alert a system operator to watch and call for help in the event of assaults or abusive behaviour.
Van der Putten said the technology was part of a wider action plan that also included installing glass screens for drivers, but it wasn’t yet perfect.
With 13,500 bus services operating daily, not every event could be captured on video or addressed by transport police teams who were riding the network.
Assaults on bus drivers in recent years have risen from 34 in 2021, to 90 in 2022 and then down to 56 last year and 29 through the first half of 2025.
In November last year, an Auckland bus driver was hospitalised with fractured ribs and eye damage after being attacked.
It came after a spate of assaults, including a driver being beaten, an alleged racially charged assault, a neck-slashing and a wrench attack.