About 70 passengers on a Wellington rail replacement bus were left stranded on Remutaka Hill after a breakdown near the summit.
The double-decker bus broke down this morning while travelling between train stations towards Wairarapa.
Passenger Daniel Boerman, who took a photo of the incident, said the bus was crawling and then broke down while on a steep incline of the hill.
"Shout out Metlink, replacement bus over the Remutakas broke down because it was too steep, so they got the passengers to walk along the state highway and hitch a ride," he wrote on social media.
Some passengers left the bus to hitch rides from passing cars on State Highway 2.
Metlink said in a statement that the bus' engine was eventually restarted, with passengers walking to the top of the hill, where they re-boarded.
On its website, the transport agency advises that train and bus replacement services are running as usual this afternoon.
"Services will run as scheduled this afternoon and evening following this morning's emergency services incident."
Police said they were notified of the incident just after 11am.
Buses currently replace many services across Wellington's train network due to infrastructure maintenance over the holiday period.
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