A spate of violence at bus stops in Tauranga, mainly instigated by youths, has prompted the regional council to restrict free bus fares for under 18 year olds.
Anti-social behaviour at Tauranga's bus stops has been increasing since young people have been able to ride buses for free. Photo: LDR / Sun Media / John Borren
During a meeting on Wednesday, Bay of Plenty regional councillors voted to restrict free fares from 7am to 9am and 3pm to 5pm for Western Bay of Plenty young people, starting from 4 June.
Criminal and anti-social behaviour at bus stops has been an issue for years and in 2020, security guards were put in place at the Willow Street interchange in the Tauranga CDB and Greerton and Farm Streets in Mount Maunganui.
The most recent issue occurred on Saturday, when a man was assaulted by a group of youths near the Farm Street bus stop.
It is just one many examples of anti-social behaviour at bus stops throughout the city.
Earlier this month, a young man was arrested for alleged possession of a homemade Taser at the Willow Street bus stop, and there have been assaults and aggressive and threatening behaviour often targeting bus drivers.
Bus drivers also threatened to boycott the Willow Street bus interchange after death threats and abuse.
Council met with representatives from police, the company that operates the buses, NZ Bus, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and Tauranga City Council about the issues.
Police chief supports restriction
Speaking in support of the reduction, Western Bay of Plenty area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton said since the free trial there had been an increase in problems.
"Since we've seen free buses being introduced more widely, we've seen an escalation in anti-social behaviour in particular with our youth," he said.
"Ultimately, these youths have free rein of the city.
"Their behaviour is impacting on those legitimately going about their business and the free buses are enabling all behaviour to continue.
"Most of these youths don't have the money or resources to move around the city at will.
"By preventing that movement they won't have the ability to congregate, intimidate and offend against those who are legitimately trying to go about their business," he said.
Western Bay of Plenty area commander inspector Clifford Paxton. Photo: LDR / Sun Media
Shaken up drivers, vandalism
NZ Bus chief operating officer Jay Zmijewski said in his 22 years in the bus industry, he hadn't seen the level of anti-social and criminal behaviour that Tauranga was experiencing, before.
He said the abuse towards drivers not only takes a toll on them, but also the community as bus services can be impacted by a lack of driver availability.
"Drivers are often too shaken or injured to continue, which often lasts for more than a day."
Zmijewski also spoke about the constant vandalism to buses.
"These youths have been cutting our seats, burning our seats, burning floor coverings, melting window laminate, and graffitiing basically all parts of the bus.
"We are having to fix vandalism on our buses on a daily basis.
"The crux of the issue is the security guards no longer appear to be sufficient."
Photo: LDR / Sun Live / John Borren
He said there was a two-stage approach needed that dealt with the wider social issues and a short-term solution.
"We very much need in the short term to get that confidence back to drivers, so they can stop and pick up the people who are doing the right thing, just trying to get from A to B."
Zmijewski suggested initiatives where police ride the buses or stop buses and remove any "trouble makers".
He said the reduction in free fares was "an effective short-term solution".
Council chairman Doug Leeder said that Tauranga is the worst Zmijewski had seen was a "really a sad indictment of where we've got to as a community".
Security guards also social workers
Former security guard Chimmyma Kiora Williams described the day-to-day reality of working at the Willow Street bus interchange.
"Security guarding in the CBD is not a normal security job, it's actually a type of social work," she said.
Williams said this was because they were dealing with the elderly, people living on the street, rangatahi (youth) aged 10 to 18 and the general public.
She said the security guards worked with the police who were "very good" but they couldn't always attend incidents or attend them quickly because they were "understaffed".
"In the end if police couldn't come and there were disturbances you were security. You had to try and de-escalate, manage it and help those that felt there was harm, feel safe," said Williams.
"That's a lot going on mentally, that's a lot going on physically and that's a lot of different social groups."
Williams said security guards who worked at the bus stops needed authority to be able to move people on and also needed the support of schools.
"A lot of these children that are down the bus place are turning up in uniforms.
"They're not going to school, they don't care about the law.
"We need to find a way to help support and encourage them to feel part of the community [and] take responsibility for their actions," Williams said.
The young people often mixed with homeless people who hung out at the Willow Street bus interchange.
The homeless drank, did drugs and sniffed glue and would sometimes buy alcohol for the young people, she said.
A group of around 15 youths was causing a lot of the issues and she supported reducing the free fare trial.
Williams suggested ensuring the security guards stationed at the bus stops had the "right skills" to deal with the issues as well as giving them protective vests and body cameras for safety as a "quick fix".
A trial of free fares for all school aged children travelling at any time has been in place since May 2021.
In March 2021 157,107 bus trips were taken by children with 13,720 of those off peak or in the weekend. In March 2022 there were 122,086 trips with 13,123 of those outside of peak times.
Councillor Jane Nees suggested a review after three months to see if the reduction acted as a "circuit breaker", as well as looking at how to support schools and families who may find the extra cost of buses difficult.
Nees also suggested a communications campaign to advise the changes to the community.
"This is going to come as a big shock to those who have learned to rely on this... because of a small number of youths, there are families and their children who are going to be disadvantaged."
The cost for security at the bus stops is currently $600,000 per year with the cost shared between Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Waka Kotahi who pay 51 percent of the cost.
Council approved an additional budget for increased security which is expected to cost $200,000 a year.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
