Cyclist trying to find bus involved in collision
A Wellington cyclist who says she was knocked out after colliding with a bus in Karori is still in a fight to find out which bus company was involved.
Sophia Grey was cycling to work when she was involved in a crash on January 16.
When she woke up, a bystander who had stopped to help, told her she had collided with a red-and-white bus displaying a ‘‘Not in Service’’ sign.
But Grey’s efforts to identify which company the bus belonged to have so far led to a dead end.
‘‘When I was going round the corner [from Karori Rd], I got tapped on my right side by something,’’ Grey said.
‘‘I came to on the footpath and I was told by the guy who pulled me up that it was a bus, and that I flipped a couple of times and I was a couple of metres from my bike.
‘‘I don’t really remember being hit so much as kind of going through the air a bit, and then being on the footpath.’’
Grey estimated she was travelling about 30 kilometres per hour on her electric bike when she was struck, but luckily landed in shrubbery.
Although a ‘‘bit dazed’’, she thought she was fine and walked to work in central Wellington with her damaged bike.
But when she got to the office, colleagues told her to go to police. Police then told her to go to the hospital for a check-up.
Aside from severe bruising, doctors told Grey she had suffered a suspected concussion. A doctor told her a week later she had a suspected torn shoulder ligament. She will get a scan on that next week.
‘‘My bruises were a little bit impressive, but not lifethreatening. So in that way I’m really lucky.’’
Grey called public transport operator Metlink the day after the crash to report the incident. She was referred to NZ Bus, which operates commuter routes in Karori. But NZ Bus said none of its buses were operating near the crash site at the time of the incident, and none of its drivers recalled seeing a cyclist on that section of Chaytor St.
It also said it did not lease buses from other companies at the time, so the red-and-white bus could not have been theirs.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident was reported on January 19, but there were no traffic cameras near the site so there was nothing they could do.
Wellington’s other commuter bus companies – Tranzit Group, Mana Coach Services, and Uzabus – all said they were not involved in the incident, as did New Zealand Coach Services (NCS), whose charter buses were predominantly white.
Police and Metlink had since dropped the incident, Grey said.
‘‘It’s not like there’s much to go on. I don’t know what more I can do. It’s frustrating.’’
Grey believed the bus driver probably did not know they had hit her, and was confident they would have stopped if they did.
The bike sustained significant damage and cost Grey $600 to repair.
The company which repaired it said it looked as though the bike’s mangled metal basket had sustained most of the impact and prevented Grey from being more seriously injured.