The driving force behind bus travel

Brian "BJ" Johnson is the new man at the wheel of Tranzit Coachlines' Wanganui depot. PHOTO/ STUART MUNRO

There wouldn't be many stretches of highway in the lower North Island that Brian Johnson hasn't travelled.

In a 40-year career with the NZ Police's commercial vehicle investigation unit (CVIU), Mr Johnson - known as "BJ" to many - has been responsible for policing an area that stretched from East Cape, across to Awakino and down to Wellington.

He arrived in Wanganui in 1987 in a general enforcement role with Ministry of Transport but was seconded to the then-Transport Licensing Unit of the Ministry of Transport to become a specialist heavy motor vehicle enforcement officer.

He retired as area manager of the CVIU last year and while golf was on the agenda, he did a bit of casual driving for Tranzit Coachlines in Wanganui. But when the Wanganui manager moved on to further his career a month ago, the family-owned bus company asked Mr Johnson if he would step into the role.

The Wanganui depot has 28 buses and a number of them cover off school runs up to Waverley across to Mangamahu and down to Turakina. In the city they are contracted to provide urban services for Horizons Regional Council. Beyond that the buses are busy working on charter jobs.

"We're working every day of the week and charter work's especially busy on the weekends," he said.

"This weekend we've got buses going to the rugby test in Wellington, another one taking the Wanganui rep team to Palmerston North to catch a charter flight to Ashburton as well as two coaches going to Turoa skifields," Mr Johnson said. He said they were fortunate to have a stable and reliable workforce and that included a number of casual drivers. "They're often semi-retired but it's something they enjoy for a few hours a day rather than being committed to 40-hour weeks."

He said Tranzit had a large fleet of more than 700 vehicles across New Zealand and was also a major shareholder in InterCity Coachlines buses that call through Wanganui every day.

"School holidays we'll experience what they call overloads with too many people booked for one bus so then we have to put on another coach. And we'll be called in when Air NZ flights are disrupted usually because of weather."

When he's not managing the buses he's hiring out cars, 4WD utes, vans and trucks under Tranzit's Cross Country Rentals brand.

"The company prides itself on being Kiwi and down to earth. Going the extra mile resonates well with our customers and we're picking up work because of it," Mr Johnson said. He said the company had a lot of work coming in the next year with the Junior World Cup football tournament and the World Cup cricket tournament being hosted in New Zealand.