A passenger on an Auckland bus has been filmed verbally assaulting and yelling at a driver who refused to let him get on board without paying.
The man made his way onto the bus at a Grey Lynn bus stop and sat himself down, despite refusing to pay for his ride.
One woman who witnessed the ordeal told Newshub the driver was a victim of "verbal violent abuse".
The video, posted to Reddit, was shared by a young woman who was sitting two seats behind the passenger on Thursday morning.
"Don't talk to me like that you f**king w**ker," the passenger can be heard yelling at the driver, after being told he must pay to get on.
"You're not allowed to talk to me like that," the driver quietly responded.
"F**king f**kwit, get f**ked, you f**king fat c**t," the passenger yelled back.
The man, wearing a bucket hat and hooded jacket, continued yelling and swearing at the driver, to which he didn't get any response.
According to the witness, the man was eventually let on to the bus because he'd been yelling and swearing at the driver.
"The guy seemed to think that the bus driver had misidentified him as someone else who tries to get on the bus for free and he popped off at the poor bus driver, who eventually relented and let him on," she wrote on Reddit.
"He then phoned a friend and ranted to them about the situation then asked a friend to meet him at a bus stop to bash the driver," the woman added.
She explained the man pressed the stop button two times, but didn't get off. The man stayed on until the last stop at New Lynn, which was her destination.
"It was just me and two others at this point, so I was feeling pretty anxious about what he might do to the driver," she wrote.
"He waited for everyone to leave before getting off," she said. "He just got off and swore at the driver, yelling 'I'm a real gangster!'."
The witness, who spoke with Newshub, said the driver of the bus was an "older gentleman in his 60s".
"I felt so terrible for him to be facing such violent verbal abuse, the guy was threatening to beat him up," she told Newshub.
"He was only doing his job. "I'm a female in my 20s so there's not much I could do in terms of stepping in if it did escalate."
Several Reddit users shared their frustration with how the driver was being treated.
"And people wonder why we don't have enough buses or drivers," one person said.
"Sucks being a bus driver, they should have a direct line to police," another commented.
"I don't understand why the drivers don't get some sort of barrier/cage they can lock from the inside," another queried.
Others added the passenger was being "ungrateful and disrespectful" despite getting a free ride.
"So he hopped on without paying and he's still mad?" one person asked.
"I'm not exaggerating when I say it's probably 50/50 as to whether or not you get one of these types on the bus abusing either the driver or random passengers," one person said.
"I just felt sorry for him for whatever it is that he's been through that's made this type of behaviour and treatment towards others normalised and acceptable in his eyes," the witness added.
"The safety of our hardworking drivers is extremely important and we are saddened to hear they were abused while doing their job," an AT spokesperson told Newshub.
"It's unacceptable and no driver should be abused for doing their job. We want all staff, customers and everyone who works with us to feel safe."
