Wellington has survived its bus driver shortage, only to reveal a big bus shortage just as the long-desired passenger increase arrives.
At the heart of the problem is that Wellington’s bus patronage is picking up faster-than-expected but the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which runs Metlink, can’t get enough big buses — double-deckers and bendy buses — to handle demand any time soon.
At the most-extreme end is a bus so full that teenagers are having to stand next to the driver, holding on to friends to stay standing, as it reaches 90kph along the motorway on the after school 81 route from central Wellington to Eastbourne
