An Auckland bus driver is "badly shaken" after being punched in the face on the job, leaving him with stitches and a broken tooth, a union says.
Rajnish Trehan was driving the number 18 bus in Avondale on Saturday when he was attacked by a passenger who refused to pay his fare, Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt said.
"The driver told him to go and take a seat and as the driver was pulling out into traffic, he came up behind him and hit him in the face."
The passenger also yelled racist abuse at Trehan, Froggatt said.
Trehan used the bus radio communications to alert the depot, who called the police and ambulance.
An off-duty NZ Bus supervisor took Trehan back to the depot, but he had to call his wife to take him to hospital, which was "unfortunate", Froggatt said.
At Auckland Hospital, Trehan got stitches on his chin, and he was referred to Middlemore Hospital for dental work, Froggatt said.
"He's badly shaken up, this is an unacceptable situation.
"Just a few months ago, we really didn't have a great deal of assaults, but all of a sudden, for some reason, they've started to increase."
Earlier this year, RNZ reported attacks on Auckland bus drivers had more than doubled between 2022 and 2023.
Froggatt said Auckland Council had the budget for security screens in buses, but they were not being installed quickly enough.
"To date, we've had a look at some sample ones, but this thing seems to drag on and on and on.
"I've been working on this for probably about 10 years and we still don't have security screens in the buses.
"That's unacceptable as well."
Drivers wanted assurance they would come home safe at the end of each shift, he said.
Auckland Transport said it was assisting police with the investigation, and the bus operator was supporting Trehan.
The isolated incident was "concerning", public transport operations group manager Rachel Cara said.
"Our bus drivers work tirelessly to keep Aucklanders moving and [they] deserve to feel safe in their place of work.
"We continue to work closely with police, other agencies and communities to improve safety on public transport."
Auckland Transport recently hired another 12 transport officers, installed CCTV, GPS and panic buttons on buses, and planned to install safety screens in 80 percent of buses over the next two years, Cara said.
"We are moving as quickly as possible on getting safety screens installed and will be able to share more detail on progress in the next few days."
RNZ has approached Kinetic, which owns bus company NZ Bus, for comment.
Police are investigating the assault, and want to hear from anyone who saw what happened.
