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• A  schoolgirl’s experience with harassment on the bus has prompted a call to action for other passengers.
• The girl experienced unwanted attention multiple times, with no passengers intervening during incidents.
• Her mother is asking other  users to step in when they see something inappropriate happening.

The mother of a Wellington schoolgirl who has faced multiple incidents of harassment and unwanted touching from men on the bus is calling for the public to step in when they see something.

The problem came to a head for the family after the girl fled the bus a stop early when it was starting to get dark to avoid advances from a man more than twice her age.

“If this person had a truly evil intent to carry through and had followed her it would have made her even more vulnerable,” said the mum, who the Herald is not naming to protect her daughter’s privacy.

The woman felt the incident served as a good opportunity for other passengers to learn about what they could do to protect people being harassed on public transport, an issue she said was more widespread than people were aware of.

“There’s a lot of good people who just don’t think this is happening, so if we were a little bit more aware there are some very simple ways that can help that don’t require making a big scene,” she said.

Her daughter, 16, said the most recent incident happened a couple of weeks ago as she was travelling home in her school uniform about 6pm.

“I was coming home on the bus and then a man, like, maybe 40, walked in, sat next to me and he was just kind of like staring at me. I could see out of the corner of my eye, his eyes were fixed on me,” she said.

“He started blowing kisses at me, after a while he started leaning towards me. That’s when I got up and left.”

The teen got off a stop early and another woman got off at the same stop and asked her if she was okay.

It is not the first time she has suffered some level of inappropriate behaviour on the bus.

One incident that stands out happened about two months ago, when a man sitting in the seat behind her started touching her hair.

She experienced “weird” behaviour once every two or three months and has been touched by men on the bus three times. The men were in their 30s and 40s, she estimated.

No other passengers have ever intervened during any of the incidents.

“I think people just kind of dismiss it as, like, unless the person that they’re doing it to is saying something they won’t really do anything. No one will stop it unless it’s, like, a really big spectacle,” she said.

The teen is now used to receiving unwanted attention from grown men, including when a man in his 50s told her and her friends, aged about 12 or 13 at the time, they were looking “hot”.

The girl’s mother said ever since her daughter was old enough to go out in public without an adult, she had been getting questionable comments.

“You can’t believe it and you hope it’s a one-off but it doesn’t seem to be,” she said.

She felt men were also not aware of how bad the problem was.

“My partner was floored. He’s got two boys . . . I just don’t think that it pierces the veil, whereas all of my female friends will have stories along those lines.”

She called for other passengers to be more aware of what was happening around them, and have the bravery to step in when someone was being harassed.

People could try stepping in and striking up a conversation with the recipient of the inappropriate behaviour or act as if they were friends to help break the focus of the other person, she said.

“There’s a lot of things people can do if it’s happening and not just stand by.”

Metlink group manager Samantha Gain said they are working to prioritise messaging about on-board behaviour and support drivers beyond the de-escalation training currently provided.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe using public transport; harassment and inappropriate behaviour have no place on Metlink services,” she said.

“We work closely with our bus operators, who own and maintain onboard CCTV systems, to make footage available when required, co-operating fully with police investigations into allegations of any such behaviour. 

A 27-year-old man was recently arrested for alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour on Wellington buses. He has been charged with performing indecent acts. This arrest predates the incident the teenager experienced last month.

“We remind passengers to report any incident, experienced or witnessed, to Metlink and the police to help keep our network safe,” Gain said.

Wellington’s area prevention manager Inspector Jason McCarthy said inquiries were continuing to identify the man involved in the incident on the bus the other day.

McCarthy advised public transport users to take action if something was happening.

“If you are a young person and this happens to you, please alert the driver or another adult as it’s happening,” he said.

If members of the public were worried about something happening in real time, if a crime was taking place or they felt someone’s safety was at risk, they should call 111 immediately, he said.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.