17 Feb 2016

Bus strike set to hit Auckland choir festival visitors

3:29 pm on 17 February 2016

Organisers of an Australasian choir festival say thousands of dollars' worth of bus passes for visitors will be unusable on Friday if a bus strike in Auckland goes ahead.

The first full day of the Out and Loud Choral Festival is on Friday, the same day more than 1000 NZBus drivers plan to walk off the job for 24 hours because of a pay dispute.

Five Australian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender choirs are visiting the city, as well as choirs from Hamilton and Wellington for the festival which run until Sunday.

The chairman of Auckland Gay and Lesbian Singers, David Reeves, says the singers have already paid $6500 for 190 AT Hop cards for their transport in the city.

He said the strike would mean extra expense for some, and was an inconvenience, but would not ruin the festival.