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Source: ONE News -
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The Tramways Union in Wellington says it's not ruling out a boycott over the capital's newest bus route.
Three people have been hit since the former pedestrian-only Manners Mall was re-opened to buses just over a week ago, and drivers say they are fed up.
Tramways Union spokesman Nick Kelly said jaywalking pedestrians were stressing out bus drivers.
"It's quite distressing and a lot of drivers have had near misses, so it's been quite a stressful week for them," Kelly said.
The union said today it wanted to meet the Wellington City Council to ensure it is safer for pedestrians, as well as drivers.
Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said earlier that the council was not going to rush into any permanent changes to the route, and had instead employed temporary measures to ensure public safety.
The area between the trees in the street will have police emergency tape draped between it to try to remind people of the new system, with the hope that after some time people will become more aware.
MacLean said there had a been a suggestion to build a steel fence but this was deemed inappropriate as building a permanent barricade along the street would be like creating a 'caged' environment for pedestrians.
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said she welcomed a meeting with the union. "We're always happy to meet with with anyone who has got some bright ideas."
She told ONE News that the council had spent $70,000 to educate pedestrians.
"We're seeing some improvement in people looking both ways and that's what we're trying to encourage," Wade-Brown said.
But the bus drivers' union told ONE News that the message being sent by the mayor was wrong.
"The publicity campaign should have been, cross at the intersections, and it hasn't been that. It's been look left, look right, which actually still encourages people to jaywalk," Kelly said.
The union said it wants to work with the council to come up with a solution but warns that drivers may have to take more drastic action in the meantime.
"We're not ruling out blacking the site, which would mean that we'd have to divert the buses through another route," Kelly said.
The union is now waiting on a time and date for talks with council officials.
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