Kiwi bus provider Ritchies is dwarfing its 12 Auckland competitors in the number of accidents they have - despite a disproportionately small fleet on the road.

Ritchies double decker bus Source: Breakfast

In statistics released under LGMOIA by Auckland Transport, it was revealed Ritchies Transport Ltd has 260 buses in Auckland, 19 per cent of those in the city, but is responsible for 48 per cent of the accidents in Auckland.

Phil Morgan is a North Shore bus driver for competing company, NZ Bus, and a delegate of the bus sector for FIRST Union.

He says the reason for Ritchies' high accident rate is the length of their driver shifts, and the fact most work six-day weeks.

Morgan says in employment law you are able to drive a bus for 11 hours a day, and be on duty for 14 hours a day. You can drive for 5.5 hours a day without a meal break.

"A number of companies take this literally, it's not safe for drivers frankly," Mr Morgan told 1 NEWS.

Morgan says a 40-45 hour week for a bus driver is a normal maximum, and if drivers want to give up one of their days off they can do an extra duty - but it's strictly controlled.

When it comes to these controls, Mr Morgan says Ritchies pay little attention.

"Their guys regularly work six days a week, at least, and they could be working up to 14 hours a day," Mr Morgan said

"You can't do that day in day out, week in week out because drivers just fall over, they get ill, they lose concentration, and these guys are doing it six days a week.

"The amount of stress and fatigue on drivers doing that amount of, you're going to crack. After a couple of weeks you've absolutely had it."

In response to the statistics obtained through LGMOIA from First Union, Ritchies company boss Andrew Ritchie said the accident numbers fail to paint an accurate picture.

"Ritchies report all accidents to AT regardless of large or small, fault or not at fault. These statistics also do not take into account the kms travelled therefore is not a reflection of our company or our employees," Mr Ritchie said in a statement to 1 NEWS.



"We are unimpressed by First Unions propaganda as the union membership is under three per cent. Their approach appears to be an attempt to discredit our company by making allegations about employees and rosters that are not correct."

Also with a poor accident ratio between number of buses on the road was Go Bus, which has seven per cent of the vehicles on the road, but 15 per cent of the accidents.

In contrast, NZ Bus has 623 buses in Auckland, making up 45 per cent of the market, but only account for 9.5 per cent of the crashes.

Another bus driver for Auckland's Birkenhead Transport, Maselina Ah Kuoi agreed the long 11 hour shifts bus drivers do cause huge pressure and stress.

"The working for 10 plus hours, you've got three hours in between, that split shift can really make you tired. You're spending your whole day and night at work. That's the main thing, the pressure of the shift," she said.

Ms Ah Kuoi said the speed between two 5.5 hour shifts could also be a reason for an accident.