Seats are being removed from some Wellington buses as a solution to overcrowding, leaving some commuters less than impressed.

Does your bus have missing seats? Send photos to newstips@stuff.co.nz

Greater Wellington Regional Council, which has oversight of the region's bus network, confirmed a limited amount of seating – a few rows on the front left or right – had been removed on some buses to increase passenger capacity and make way for prams and wheelchairs.

SUPPLIED This bus running between Karori and central Wellington also turned up missing many of its seats.

"Balancing capacity and comfort isn't easy and we are constantly reviewing the situation to enable us to get to a point where we can reasonably meet passengers' needs," spokesman Stephen Heath said.

READ MORE:

* Wellington officials plan to bust 'ghost buses' and improve timetables

* Standing room only at 'fiery' meeting as Wellingtonians speak out on capital's buses

* Wellington's faltering bus network a win for Uber drivers

"Of course, standing was common before the introduction of the new [bus] network and is common on networks throughout the world."

Passengers on an early morning bus trip into central Wellington on Tuesday boarded a bus missing many of its seats.

One commuter said all the seats were missing along the lefthand side of the bus between the front and rear doors.

"I thought it looked a dangerous way to travel for commuters, the bus swings around some tight corners going into the city."

MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Greater Wellington Regional Council says it has taken the opportunity to reconfigure wheelchair areas and widen the aisles (by removing seats) on some buses to improve accessibility. (File photo)

A report to Greater Wellington in August said the most problematic bus routes since the bus network was revamped in July were the No. 2 service between Karori and Seatoun, and numbers 3 and 36 between Lyall Bay and Wellington.

Those services had been plagued by overcrowding, delays and cancellations, primarily caused by operator NZ Bus running buses that were too small, and hence filled up too quickly, it said.

Miramar bus user and former bus driver Joe Stewart said the missing seats would probably be dangerous. Bureaucrats were "grasping at straws because they've got no idea how to solve the problem," he said.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF The aim is to increase capacity on Wellington's single-deck buses, which will see fewer buses clogging up the Golden Mile route through the CBD.

"How the hell do you start the Anti-Bus Party to get rid of these numpties in the regional council?"

Kilbirnie bus user Gabrielle Comer-Hudson said the seat removal smacked of ableism as it assumed everyone was capable of standing.

"They've ripped the seats out and make us stand like we're in a cattle cart, in a bus we've already waited 20 minutes for in the cold rain," she said.

Public transport advocate Tony Randle said the situation was ridiculous and was a "third world solution" to what should be a first world one for a capital city.

Randle said the regional council needed to open its chequebook and find a solution quickly.

"They've just totally broken the system and won't admit it," Randle said.

More capacity was intended mainly for routes 3 and 36, but the docked seating had also been used on some other routes.

Heath said adding more buses was not an option to fix the issue as that would contribute to greater congestion. It would also add significantly to journey times and disrupt other traffic, he said.

"If we are to achieve the objective of carrying more people on fewer buses and, in Wellington city, reduce congestion along the Golden Mile, the only means available to us ... is to increase the carrying capacity of the single-deck buses."

Extra stanchions and grab handles had been added to buses where seats had been removed to make the "standing experience" as safe and comfortable as possible, Heath said, noting that journey times on these buses were "relatively" short.

There had been no specific public consultation on the matter, and feedback had been mixed.

While standing would occur at peak times, as had always been the case, Heath said the removal of seats was an interim measure that would end when more high capacity buses were introduced as the region's fleet built up over the next few years.

Regional councillor Barbara Donaldson, chairwoman of the council's sustainable transport committee, said reinstalling the bus seats was not the way forward.

"I don't think that's the way to deal with it. If we're getting feedback that people don't like this, we will take that into consideration."

NZ Bus has been approached for comment.

* Comments on this article have closed.