Bus bargain becomes 'trip from hell'

Passenger Paul Rose was on a ManaBus pink-stickered by police, leaving 25 passengers waiting for...
Passenger Paul Rose was on a ManaBus pink-stickered by police, leaving 25 passengers waiting for a replacement. Photo NZ Herald.
Aucklander Paul Rose thought he had a bargain when he secured a $4 return ticket from ManaBus to visit friends in Whangarei, but what he got instead was a "coach trip from hell".

Returning to Auckland on Wednesday, the 57-year-old said, his bus was stopped by police and declared an "unsafe vehicle", his luggage landed in Rotorua and the 25 passengers arrived three hours late.

ManaBus has apologised for the incident and is offering passengers a free ticket on a future service.

"The first thing everyone noticed when we got on the bus was that the bus just stank ... of BO [body odour]. There was an American sitting next to me and he went the whole trip with a T-shirt over his nose," Mr Rose said.

He said the passengers were bound for Auckland, Manukau and Rotorua.

"The bus was bouncing around all over the place, we got flagged off the road by a traffic officer and we sat there for 40 minutes before anybody told us what was happening."

The bus was then "pink-stickered" and the driver issued a notice stating the vehicle was unsafe and had to be taken off the road.

"The bus shouldn't be on the road let alone carry paying passengers," Mr Rose said. "I thought it seems just really irresponsible for a company to be compromising passenger safety in such a manner."

He said more confusion ensued after a replacement bus came to pick the passengers up.

When he arrived in Auckland at 10pm instead of the scheduled 7pm, he was told his luggage had been put on a Rotorua-bound bus instead.

ManaBus chief executive Geoff Norman said the company was still gathering information on the incident. He confirmed the Whangarei to Rotorua service on Wednesday was "impacted by a mechanical issue" but said the coach was not one of its red double-deckers.

ManaBus is one of three major long-distance bus companies servicing Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangarei and Rotorua.

"The bus was driving fine leaving Whangarei and the driver had no concerns, he noticed that the bus was a bit bouncy on rough sections of road over the Brynderwyns, but was otherwise fine on smoother sections ... so he continued the journey," Mr Norman said.

A police officer flagged down the bus in Dome Valley, he said, and issued a pink sticker for the vehicle after an inspection.

"Volvo was called to attend to the bus and it was fixed within 5 minutes, a replacement bus was sent and passengers arrived safely at their destinations albeit later than scheduled," said Mr Norman.

He said at no time was passenger safety compromised.

By Lincoln Tan of the New Zealand Herald

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