‘Someone is going to be killed’
Bus driver attacked by a passenger calls for better protection
Bus driver David Bahler hoped things would change.
Seven years into his ‘‘retirement job’’ as a bus driver, he had to learn how to walk and talk again after being struck more than 100 times by a passenger in September 2021.
It was the second time that month Bahler had been attacked.
This month, fellow driver Alapati Wilson was left seriously injured when he was stabbed by a passenger in Mt Roskill.
‘‘This has got to stop – enough is enough,’’ Bahler said.
He is now calling for Auckland Transport and NZ Bus to do more to protect their drivers.
‘‘Someone is going to be killed if they don’t do more to keep their employees safe,’’ Bahler said.
The 70-year-old was driving a bus through Tāmaki Makaurau when he picked up a passenger who immediately gave him the ‘‘heebie-jeebies’’
’’He was wandering backwards and forwards, mumbling to himself,’’ Bahler said.
The next thing Bahler recalls is waking up in hospital two weeks later.
Although he has no memory of the attack, CCTV footage on the bus captured the man pulling Bahler out of his seat and hitting him more than 100 times.
Sixty blows were to Bahler’s head.
Bahler suffered a traumatic brain injury, and had to spend six weeks learning how to walk and talk again in a rehabilitation clinic.
‘‘I was told I was lucky to be alive. I couldn’t even string words together to start with.’’
With Auckland in a Covid-19 lockdown, Bahler’s daughter and three sons in Wellington couldn’t even visit him.
‘‘The emotional toll on my
family has been huge.’’
After a year off work, Bahler was finally able to return to work – but will now only work daylight shifts.
He is ‘‘astounded’’ that in the time he was off work nothing was done to prevent other attacks on drivers.
Although Auckland Transport
(AT) is in the process of trialling protective screens that will be placed around drivers, Bahler said he thinks this is taking too long.
‘‘They’re taking so long ... they’re putting people’s lives at risk.’’
Bahler is also worried that instead of receiving support, Wilson will be disciplined upon returning to work.
‘‘We’re told by NZ Bus not to engage with someone who is aggressive towards you, and in the past they’ve used that to discipline drivers who had been injured whilst trying to defend themselves.’’
NZ Bus said it was ‘‘alarmed’’ by the increase in assaults on drivers.
As well as trialling protective screens, NZ Bus said it provided drivers with deescalation training, onboard safety officers, multi-camera CCTV, radio-telephones to a central control room and panic alarms.
Disciplinary action is only ever used when the driver has acted inappropriately.
‘‘At all times drivers are offered counselling and full support following incidents of this nature’’ a spokesperson said.
AT spokesperson Natalie Polley said ‘‘safety is our top priority. We want drivers to know that we are doing everything we can to support them ... and that they are safe.
A 27-year-old man was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife in a public place in relation to Bahler’s assault.
He was sentenced to six years in jail.