Auckland bus attack: Man to face court following alleged assault on driver

A man has been arrested and will face court after allegedly assaulting an Auckland bus driver.

Police said the alleged attack on Saturday morning happened when a person getting on the bus tried to travel without paying and was challenged by the bus driver.

During the course of the interaction, the bus driver was allegedly assaulted and the offender fled on foot.

Raj Trehan has been driving buses in Auckland for five years and has seen his share of unruly passengers. But until now he'd never been attacked.

Area Prevention Manager for Auckland City West Police Inspector Wayne Kitcher said the man boarded another bus to evade police and hid down the back.

“Our staff boarded and arrested the man without further incident.”

The 36-year-old West Harbour man has been charged with assault and will appear in the Auckland District Court on 13 September.

“We have no tolerance for violence taking place on public transport whatsoever, and we will continue to prosecute those offenders,” Kitcher said.

“No one deserves to come to work and be subjected to harm just for doing their job.”

The victim, Rajnish Trehan, told the Herald the man challenged him when he tried to board without paying before allegedly assaulting him.

Auckland bus driver Rajnish "Raj" Trehan was allegedly attacked by a passenger.

He spoke to the Herald on Saturday afternoon, following the alleged assault that morning shortly after 10am on his Number 18 bus, a route from the city to West Auckland via Avondale.

Trehan said the man was the last of three passengers to board his bus in Great North Road, Avondale.

Auckland Transport public transport operations group manager Rachel Cara said it was aware of the assault and the organisation was helping police in their inquiries.

“Our bus operator is ensuring the driver has the support they need,” she said in a statement supplied via a spokesman.

Cara said the council-controlled-organisation had taken a number of measures to improve public safety.

Those measures included recently hiring 12 more transport officers for hubs, installing CCTV, GPS, and panic buttons, working more closely with police at “hot spot” locations and a plan to retrofit safety screens to 80% of the bus fleet over the next two years, Cara said.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.