A police spokesman said officers responded to reports of an assault at the bus hub in Great King St at 4.55pm.
A Dunedin commuter on his way home from work, who asked not to be named, witnessed the assault which was between an allegedly drunk man and a bus driver.
"The driver told him ‘no, you can’t get on because you’re drunk and you’ve been spitting’ and the man didn’t like that so he decided to just start attacking the driver," the commuter said.
"I grabbed him by the back of his clothes and threw him off the bus and tried to hold him but he started punching me in the chest lightly."
The man then "descended" into racially abusing the driver and him until bus hub security showed up, the commuter said.
"This is all too common in the bus hub. I’m a regular bus user and it’s just a terrible retching hive of scum and villainy.
"There’s drug deals, there’s drunks, and people getting assaulted - it’s awful."
The passenger said while security were trying to get the man under control he told the bus driver to get back in his bus and shut the doors.
When the driver went back inside the bus the man started kicking the doors of the bus while security tried to pull him away.
The commuter said he left before police arrived on the scene.
There were no injuries as a result of the attack, the commuter said.
When police arrived, the allegedly drunk man had left and officers spoke to the bus driver.
Inquiries were ongoing to locate the man and identify him.
