A bus drivers' union organiser says violence on Auckland's public transport system has reached a "crisis point" as driver shields are mandated on new buses in the city.
Auckland Transport (AT) says there has been a "big increase" in the last several weeks despite incidents "trending down" over the past year.
Security has been ratcheted up at public transport stations amid a series of attacks on young people on buses and at interchanges in New Lynn, Henderson and Albany. There has also been a rising number of reported assaults on drivers in the past several years.
First Union organiser Hayley Courtney told Breakfast that a "crisis point" had been reached for passengers and drivers.
"Our bus drivers are living in fear. Every day, they wake up in the mornings or before their shifts, worried that they're not going to return to see their families after they've finished their driving duties," she said.
"We want to see security being stepped up, not just temporarily, but for all the time at these hotspot places. They also talk about implementing bus screens for drivers to have them separated from passengers — that trial has been ongoing for over a year."
Common across buses in other cities overseas, the "shields" or "screens" create a physical barrier between a bus driver and passengers.
"We would really like to see that implemented," Courtney said.
She added: "We'd really like to see [Auckland Transport] stepping up and saying: 'Hey, look, we've got a really big issue here. We are now at crisis point. What can we do to reduce and minimise these risks for the people?'"
Courtney said bus drivers wanted the agency to act more "proactively" in response to data showing areas where there were hotspots for issues.
One teenage victim, who was attacked on a bus in Albany last month, told 1News: "It's so stressful because we need to bus, but we're scared to.
"I'm still in shock and I can't believe that it happened, absolutely."
A group of six young people — one of whom was found with a knife — were taken into custody over the incident after allegedly assaulting two teenage girls.
The victim said she would be taking a break from the bus for a while due to the "traumatic" incident but has to rely on the bus as her main mode of transport.
Driver shields mandated for new buses, AT says
Responding to the attacks on young people. AT's public transport director Stacey van der Putten told Breakfast that there were often many factors behind these incidents.
"It is a really complex social issue, that we're seeing — particularly with youth," she said.
"I understand that, as a mum of two teenagers, it's really concerning that we're seeing this and we're seeing this spike.
"I really want to have better community engagement, bringing community leaders and let's look at localised solutions that we can use, particularly in the likes of school holidays at hotspots."
Van der Putten said the agency had been encouraging people to report incidents through Crime Stoppers but there was a "limited workforce that we can deploy" for security.
"With that in mind, we need to be able to prioritise where we use those resources — so making sure we make the best of the information and being intelligence-led, so we can deploy people proactively to understand what's happening."
Additionally, van der Putten said funding was a big constraint in retrofitting bus driver shields faster but they would become mandated for new vehicles.
"Until we get through the challenges we have with funding, in order to be able to fast track that, we are limited and that's just the reality," she said.
Several buses had trialled retro-fitted plastic safety screens last year.
"We have another 22 buses that are going to be retrofitted out south and another 11 in the central region."
She said the retrofit screens had to be trialled to "get drivers' feedback" to mitigate issues such as windscreen glare and driver comfort.
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