“There have been some incidents there, and I know that the regional council had upped its security presence, both on buses and around the bus hub,” Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking told Morning Report.
Brooking said it was “unbelievable ... and totally unexpected”, especially since the attack happened at a bus stop right across the road from the police station.
The bus hub caters to students and youth from all over the city.
A 16-year-old boy from Trinity Catholic College was attacked on Great King St shortly after 3pm on Thursday. He was rushed to hospital but died later from his injuries.
Another teenager has been arrested and will appear in court today.
“We are devastated that a young life so full of energy and promise has ended in such a senseless and horrific way, and our hearts go out to his whānau,” Trinity Catholic College principal Kate Nicholson said.
The Dunedin stabbing is just the latest in a run of violent incidents at bus and train stations in the past few months.
In the West Auckland suburb of New Lynn, two 13-year-olds were set upon by a group of up to 20 other teens at a bus station.
Similar attacks had been reported at the Henderson and Albany transport hubs, also in Auckland.