He said the passengers were bound for Auckland, Manukau and Rotorua.
"The bus was bouncing around all over the place, we got flagged off the road by a traffic officer and we sat there for 40 minutes before anybody told us what was happening."
The bus was then "pink-stickered" and the driver issued a notice stating the vehicle was unsafe and had to be taken off the road.
Pink stickered. Photo / Supplied
"The bus shouldn't be on the road let alone carry paying passengers," Mr Rose said. "I thought it seems just really irresponsible for a company to be compromising passenger safety in such a manner."
He said more confusion ensued after a replacement bus came to pick the passengers up.
When he arrived in Auckland at 10pm instead of the scheduled 7pm, he was told his luggage had been put on a Rotorua-bound bus instead.
ManaBus chief executive Geoff Norman said the company was still gathering information on the incident. He confirmed the Whangarei to Rotorua service on Wednesday was "impacted by a mechanical issue" but said the coach was not one of its red double-deckers.
ManaBus is one of three major long-distance bus companies servicing Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangarei and Rotorua.
"The bus was driving fine leaving Whangarei and the driver had no concerns, he noticed that the bus was a bit bouncy on rough sections of road over the Brynderwyns, but was otherwise fine on smoother sections ... so he continued the journey," Mr Norman said.
A police officer flagged down the bus in Dome Valley, he said, and issued a pink sticker for the vehicle after an inspection.
"Volvo was called to attend to the bus and it was fixed within 5 minutes, a replacement bus was sent and passengers arrived safely at their destinations albeit later than scheduled," said Mr Norman.
He said at no time was passenger safety compromised.
