A woman knocked down by a bus on Manners St this evening suffered serious injuries.

The incident in central Wellington happened just after 5pm involving a north-bound Newlands bus.

A worker at nearby kebab shop Abrakebabra said he heard the woman screaming outside.

"I don't know how it hit her. We go outside and she was on the floor.''

The woman - believed to be Asian and in her late teens or early 20s - was been taken away by Wellington Free Ambulance.

Police central communications centre Inspector Paul Jermy said the woman suffered serious injuries, though their nature was not immediately clear.