Harrowing seven-hour journey home for wheelchair user after three bus failures

A Canterbury woman took seven and a half hours to get home in her motorised wheelchair after three public buses let her down.

By Sally Wenley of RNZ

Tracy Peters, 60, navigated cycle trails, strong winds and uneven gravel paths as she made her way from Rangiora to Christchurch in a 30-kilometre ordeal.

"Nothing is going to get me on a bus ever again. This is the straw that broke the camel's back. And it's embarrassing that I had to call the fire service to say I'm stuck in a bus in my wheelchair."

In a statement to RNZ, bus company Kinetic said it had apologised to Peters. The Canterbury Regional Council is investigating.

Peters – who has a spinal injury – caught the bus from Christchurch to go to the Labour Day festival at the racecourse in Rangiora since it was a lovely day.

"I use a power chair – that weighs more than 150 kilos – and got on the bus after the driver put the ramp down for me. But when we arrived in Rangiora, he couldn't get the ramp to go out."

People tried to release the ramp as well as the GoBus driver to no avail.

"So, I had to stay in the bus, and we went to the main metro bus terminal in Rangiora where they hoped to get the ramp working."

More people at the terminal tried and failed to release the ramp, and there was no way anyone could manoeuvre Peters and her heavy battery-powered chair out of the bus.

"The driver was nice but stressed and rang their depot. I even spoke to the person on the other end of the phone from GoBus while the bus driver worried he would be late for his next stop."

Peters – who is a full-time wheelchair user – rang the fire service and just as a crew arrived, a different bus driver managed to wedge a spoon under the ramp to release it.

By now she was keen to get home and headed to a second bus.

But while the ramp worked at first, it was not flush with the floor when it went back in, meaning she could be tipped out.

By now a third bus was at the terminal.

"The driver of bus number three said to me 'I don't want you on my bus'. He was nice but not particularly articulate so I called the bus info number and was told they couldn't help.

"I explained there were no taxi services available on a public holiday and asked what bus service I could use to return to Christchurch and was told none. The mobility taxi service was also closed.

"I didn't call the police as I didn't feel like it was an emergency. Or an ambulance."

Peters said she chose not to wait for another bus, fearing it could also be unsuitable.

"My power chair has a maximum distance of 20km on its battery and it could be dangerous at night, so I went to McDonald's and they let me charge my battery for about an hour. Someone had earlier suggested I could potentially take the cycleway so that's what I did.

"I rang a friend who would keep in touch every half hour. I didn't want to be a dumb character in a second-grade movie who gets killed. I made friends with pukeko along the tracks that were fascinated by my slow-moving powerchair, and cows in the paddocks.

"The wind was utterly brutal. My chair weighs 186 kilos and it was being blown around and that was scary."

Peters believed she was incredibly lucky to have made it home in one piece. "But my wheelchair is quite damaged, and my muscle spasms are worse after bumbling along the cycleway.

"I am angry I was put in this situation. I am also so very disappointed in the bus service that so spectacularly let me down."

Peters was a bus driver in Christchurch for about 20 years and said during her time managers endorsed never leaving any passenger stranded.

"I have the knowledge about how a good bus service works and I don't believe drivers have enough backup at the moment."

Drivers should also have a small tool kit on board, she said.

Peters followed up her experience with a complaint to Canterbury Regional Council and said she got an apology from customer service.

But she wanted the bus services to acknowledge what had happened and apologise. She did not trust the bus service now.

"I have had previous experiences on buses in Christchurch when the ramp wouldn't work."

The region's public transport network – Metro – is managed by the regional council. Several bus companies contract to the council, including GoBus, which is owned by Australian company Kinetic.

In a statement to RNZ, Kinetic said it had apologised to Peters, saying the bus company understood how upsetting and frustrating her experience must have been.

"We have had an in-depth conversation with the passenger to obtain the details of her experience. Based on this information, we are reviewing the circumstances so that we can improve our processes to avoid similar future situations."

Council public transport general manager Stewart Gibbon said it was taking what happened seriously and that everyone should be able to use public transport with confidence and dignity.

Gibbon said it was investigating what happened and that all buses in the Metro fleet were required to have working accessibility ramps and the ability to kneel.

If a ramp is found to be faulty, the driver is expected to report it so action can be taken. If a customer cannot get on a bus due to accessibility, the driver is expected to contact their control room for support, Gibbon said.

"Based on our review so far, it appears this may not have happened, and we are working with the operator to understand why and what steps are needed to prevent it from happening again."

The New Zealand Spinal Trust is based in Christchurch and spokesman Andrew Hall said there did appear to be a problem with some buses and drivers that needed to be addressed.

"For Tracy it was obviously a distressing situation and disappointing the driver didn't help when she was stuck. Anything out of the ordinary may have stumped them."

Hall said overall the Canterbury bus service was reliable for wheelchair users, but he did hear about failing ramps or wheelchair users not being allowed on board.

"A problem with the newest buses is their ramps are buckling when someone in a motorised chair that can weigh more than one hundred kilos gets on it. That's a concern as people rely on public transport."