Services on CityLink Whangārei’s Otangarei Route Four will temporarily bypass Matai St from today until further notice while Police investigate a series of rock throwing incidents that have damaged buses and put drivers and passengers at risk.
The 16-bus CityLink network is operated by Ritchies Transport Whangarei under contract to the Northland Regional Council.
Council Transport Manager, Chris Powell said the Council and Ritchies were already dealing with a spate of recent rock throwing on Matai St that had seen bus windows smashed in separate incidents on both Saturday and Monday.
“We take these incidents very seriously as in both cases there were passengers on board and either incident had the potential to injure either those passengers or our drivers, although fortunately that did not occur,” said Mr Powell.
He said both the bus drivers involved and their passengers had been left shaken by the incidents.
After discussions between Ritchies and Council, the decision was made to temporarily halt bus travel along Matai St on safety grounds while Police investigate. Instead, CityLink’s Route Four bus will conduct a loop route around nearby William Jones Dr.
“We take health and safety considerations very seriously,” said Mr Powell.
“We’ve got a responsibility to both our drivers and passengers to ensure that we’re operating in a safe environment hence today’s decision.”
Mr Powell says the Council and Ritchies hoped to meet with Otangarei community leaders to discuss the situation and what might be able to be done to prevent the issue going forwards.
