Video shows man spitting on Auckland bus: Reddit users fume at disgusting behaviour

Video footage has captured a man spitting on an Auckland bus, triggering disgust and outrage from viewers on social media.

The video, posted to social media platform Reddit last Thursday, shows a man sitting in the middle of the bus behind the rear doors. He then turns his head towards the doors and spits on the electronic Hop card reader used for paying fares.

“[He] seemed too hostile to confront,” the videographer said. He also said the man “kept on spitting at the equipment throughout the ride”.

Auckland Transport said it was aware of the incident “and our teams are looking into it”.

Social media users, meanwhile, called for the man to be banned from public transport for his uncouth behaviour and claimed it reflected a wider lack of safety on the city’s buses. It follows reports of two racially abusive incidents on buses in June and July.

“I take the bus most days, I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff. It’s getting pretty unsafe,” one user said.

“So much feral behaviour on public transport. [I] hate taking buses, but no free parking in [the] CBD and [I am] too poor for Ubers,” another user said.

“This is why I rather drive,” another said. Other users speculated on whether the man may have been mentally unwell while some advocated for a violent intervention.

A still image taken from a video posted to social media platform Reddit of a man spitting on an Auckland bus.

“Beyond disgusting,” one user said of the man’s behaviour. “How would he like it if a busload of passengers spat on him?”

The Herald understands the incident happened on bus No 35 between Manukau and Botany.

Earlier this week, police arrested and charged a 45-year-old woman after an alleged racist rant on another bus in Auckland.

Video footage captured a woman yelling, pushing and spitting at Asian Kiwi passengers during a tirade last Monday evening.

A witness to the incident was shocked at the level of racism and believed it was no longer safe to catch the bus in Auckland.

Yesterday, Inspector Grant Tetzlaff said beat police visited an address in the central city this morning and arrested a woman after an investigation into a “hate-motivated crime”.

Police charged the woman with disorderly behaviour and assault. She was due to go before the Auckland District Court “at a later date”, Tetzlaff said.

It came after a 39-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly beating a Chinese-New Zealand schoolboy with a metal rod on a bus in Pakuranga in June, which police have called a hate-motivated crime. The assault knocked out three of the boy’s teeth, damaged another two, and left his face bloodied.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.