IN SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES: Mt Victoria cyclist Laura Green tries her hand at bus driving to see what it's like from a bus driver's perspective. Pictured with her is instructor Barry Alofi.

A group of Wellington bus drivers has switched to pedal power to experience what it feels like to jostle for space with a 12-tonne bus.

Valley Flyer and Go Wellington drivers have complained cyclists are aggressive and try to intimidate them by taking up space in shared lanes.

But yesterday they took part in a workshop aimed at making the roads safer for cyclists by pedalling a few kilometres in their shoes.

Frank Koia, who has driven buses in Lower Hutt and Eastbourne for eight years, said the experience most drivers had with cyclists was not positive.

"It just gets frustrating. It's like you're competing out there."

Cyclists pressured bus drivers into giving them more space because they were the smaller vehicle, he said.

After a 40-minute cycle ride around Lower Hutt yesterday, during which he experienced two cars cutting in front on him, he said he had a new respect for cyclists.

Go Wellington driver Sid Hunia said most bus drivers had experienced aggression from cyclists. "Sometimes cyclists try to intimidate you."

Laura Green has commuted by bicycle between Mt Victoria and Kelburn for four years, and said bus driver behaviour had improved.

"I've not been knocked off my bike per se but I have had to jump off in a hurry and jump the kerb."

She volunteered to help in yesterday's workshop and tried driving a bus in the company's yard, saying the experience had opened her eyes to what it was like to drive such a large vehicle.

Greater Wellington regional council spokeswoman Philippa Lagan said the workshop was organised to help make future bus-bicycle encounters safer and friendlier.

In the past five years, 24 incidents involving buses and cyclists had been reported, four of them serious, but Ms Lagan said anecdotally there were also many near misses.

Valley Flyer general manager Matthew Lear said the workshop would help prevent accidents by raising bus drivers' awareness of what it was like to cycle in the region.

The workshop was put on for 10 bus drivers. About 400 work for Go Wellington and the Valley Flyer services.

Driver Nick Kelly said Wellington's narrow roads were often lined with parked cars, and bus drivers ran the risk of running late if they got stuck behind cyclists.