An elderly West Auckland woman had to walk for more than an hour to get home, lugging shopping bags, after a bus driver ordered her off after a route diversion mishap.
Auckland Transport (AT) has apologised for the situation, saying the driver was at fault and the operator was addressing the incident with them.
“We have clear expectations of our contracted bus operators to follow the required routes and provide a reliable service to local communities, and it’s disappointing that these expectations were not met,” AT said.
Laingholm resident Sue Sun, 79, has faced a number of issues with the 171 bus route in recent days.
Her daughter, Sky Stansfield, told the Herald the route takes her mother from New Lynn to the Laingholm Primary School stop, which is five minutes from her home.
AT said there is currently a diverted route in place because of works in the area related to previous slips and said Victory Rd had a full closure.
Stansfield said her mother believed the issues began because the bus driver did not stick to or know the detoured route.
On Monday, Stansfield said the bus, with her mother on board, stopped at Laingholm Beach and her mother was told it was not going any further.
She was then allegedly told to get off the bus.
Stansfield said her mother said she did not want to get off because the walk home would have been “too much”.
She said the bus driver allowed her to stay on and they drove back to New Lynn.
Stansfield said her mother then called her, but she was an hour away at work, so she waited in New Lynn for the next bus home.
On Tuesday, Stansfield said the same thing happened again when the bus arrived at the beach. Her mother said the incident involved the same bus driver.
Stansfield said Sun asked to stay on the bus again but this time the driver refused, so she started the hour-long trek home.
“She just did her shopping, so she was carrying two shopping bags [and had] to walk all the way from there,” she said.
Her mother tried to walk for about 20 minutes and called Stansfield because it was becoming “too much”.
“She was almost crying because she felt she couldn’t make it,” she said.
Stansfield asked her mother to wait for her, but as she would have to wait about an hour, Sun decided to continue walking.
Her mother was forced to walk on the road for part of the journey because there was no footpath on the semi-rural route.
“She was absolutely exhausted when she got home ... the whole journey took her a very long time to get home,” Stansfield said.
“I just don’t feel they [AT] care about the passengers. Come on, you can clearly see [her] age, you ask her to walk, it’s just a big ask,” she said.
AT said there have been two incidents in the past two weeks where drivers have not followed the correct diversion.
AT said a communications and engagement team is working with the residents when there are any issues.
This is the same team that has been communicating with the residents about the planned slip repair works.
To prevent this from happening again, AT said the bus operator is speaking to every driver assigned to this route to make sure they are clear on where to go before they depart the depot.
“The operator’s service tracking team is also keeping an eye on the drivers that are on this route to make sure they are following the diversion as required,” AT said.
Stansfield said the incident left her mother too tired and worried about whether it would happen again, so she didn’t leave the house yesterday.
She said her mother has lost the confidence and independence to go out and do her own thing, because she relies on the bus.
The bus route confusion also impacted other people, including children.
In a community Facebook post about the bus incidents, one parent said their daughters were also impacted.
“My girls got kicked off at the beach too, with no idea where they were (we’re new to the area),” the parent wrote.
“I’ve seen so many elderly people struggling up Victory Rd because the bus has gone the wrong way. Often with shopping bags,” another wrote.