Grandmother’s anger after buses refuse student who forgot wallet

An 11-year-old girl was left stranded after bus drivers refused her ride due to a forgotten wallet. Photo / Alex Burton

By Kim Baker Wilson of RNZ

A woman says her young grandchild was left stranded and in tears after she forgot her wallet on the way to school and no buses would take her.

Monica Genet said her granddaughter was trying to get from Auckland’s Pt Chevalier to school in Ponsonby on Tuesday.

The bus stop was 20 minutes from home.

“She very politely approached the bus driver and explained her situation, I might add that she was in full school uniform,” she said.

“And the driver just would not give her any assistance or consider anything else but put her off the bus, so she’s stranded there on the footpath.”

Genet said the same thing happened when the student waited for another bus.

“We have taught our children that they can trust adults and that good adults will help them ... the driver would not have a bar of it and told her to get off the bus,” she said.

The grandmother said she was “really angry and upset” and had lodged a complaint with Auckland Transport.

“You know, she’s an 11-year-old child, she’s trying to get up to school on time,” she said.

Genet said the walk to school from the bus stop would have been an hour or more, and she had no car because it was being used by the girl’s mother for work.

She questioned why adults who refuse to pay a fare are allowed on by drivers with no intervention, but compassion could not be shown for her granddaughter being honest.

“And yeah, it just leaves me really frustrated as someone who uses public transport all the time.”

RNZ has previously reported operators have been told to let people ride for free if intervening would cause a safety issue.

Genet said she was speaking out in the hope the same thing did not happen to other students.

She said her granddaughter was upset, traumatised and “just basically left on the footpath in tears”.

“It’s not like she was trying to get a free ride to the inner city or anything,” Genet said.

In a statement, Auckland Transport said it recognised how important it is for students to be able to use public transport safely.

“Although we expect school students to pay the relevant child or student fare when they use public transport, our clear expectation is that our public transport operators should not be leaving children behind, regardless of whether they are wearing a school uniform or not,” it said.

AT said it had contacted the bus company to make sure bus drivers were aware of that expectation.

Bus company Kinetic said it was looking into what happened and did not have anything further to add.

Megan West, from the advocacy and support trust Child Matters, said it’s challenging for a young person and their family when an incident like this occurs.

“Any action taken by any employee needs to be in the best interests of children,” she said.

“And sometimes that’s a judgment, you need to make that judgment in the time about what is in the best interests of this child or this young person.”

West said it was also a good time to see what policies and processes there were.

“And that’s where really clear procedures can become incredibly important because it gives a clear guideline to bus drivers or employees around what actions to take, and also if employees are unsure what to do it can give really good guidelines about who to contact or who to consult with if they need some further advice about what to do,” she said.

“As a community we all have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that children are protected, and children are safe, and children are feeling like they can go about their day-to-day activities feeling safe ... making decisions that are in the best interests of children and young people at that time really trumps everything else,” West said.

“I think it’s always disappointing when children and young people are feeling unsafe.”

– RNZ