A Metlink driver had to abandon a bus after going the wrong way.

Bureaucrats faced the wrath of some Wellington bus users at a meeting to discuss the city's new, and problematic, bus network.

About 300 people were at the public meeting of the city's southern and eastern suburbs on Sunday afternoon, at which officials were jeered at and abused by frustrated bus users.

The new bus system has caused an outcry from those using it since it was implemented in July; driver shortages, a lack of route knowledge, no-show 'ghost buses, overcrowding, IT malfunctions, and poorly planned timetables have seen the overhaul labelled a disaster.

CAMERON BURNELL/STUFF Gabrielle Comer-Hudson said Greater Wellington's insistence on talking up the city's new double decker buses was a diversionary tactic akin to ''trying to get a toddler to eat a spoonful of poo by making aeroplane noises.''

Among those at the meeting in Kilbirnie was Gabrielle Comer-Hudson, who said Greater Wellington Regional Council's (GWRC) insistence on talking up the city's new double decker buses was little more than a diversionary tactic.

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"It's like trying to get a toddler to eat a spoonful of poo by making aeroplane noises," she said.

MATT STEWART/STUFF Residents of Wellington's southern and eastern suburbs were vocal with their frustrations and criticisms over Wellington's faltering new bus network.

GWRC chairman Chris Laidlaw and public transport general manager Wayne Hastie faced heckling from the crowd as they tried to state their case. Perhaps one of the biggest jeers of the afternoon came when Hastie suggested the service had improved overall during the past week.

But Laidlaw took the brunt of criticism. He was jeered at, shut down and abused as he addressed a number of issues.

At one stage, Laidlaw was accused of passing the buck 'more than he passed the ball in his days as an All Black half-back' - a barb he was heard to take in good humour.

MATT STEWART/STUFF Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Chris Laidlaw bore the brunt of the hostility over Wellington's bus woes at a public meeting in Kilbirnie.

Laidlaw admitted the system was not working for a lot of users and said there was more work to be done. He said the IT malfunctions had also been galling.

"This is probably the biggest thing this council has taken on - the scale of it is enormous."

Fixing the system was complex and was hampered further by politics and ideology, Laidlaw said.

MATT STEWART/STUFF Generation Zero members stood ''in service'' and in solidarity with bus drivers at a public meeting in Kilbirnie addressing Wellington's bus woes. From left, James Young-Drew, Teri O'Neill, Nyssa Payne-Harker, Hannah Payne-Harker and John-Luke Day.

Former IT boss and Miramar bus user Joe Stewart told the officals the new network was a disaster and slammed GWRC's excuses over malfunctions with its new computer system.

"If you're putting in a new computer system there's this great concept called testing," Stewart said to loud applause.

After the meeting, Laidlaw said route designs were flawed but some of those issues were down to the capital's steep topography which made it difficult to come up with circular routes linking suburbs.

Although hubs were not backed by the public, Laidlaw said they had to be made to work. All suggestions raised at the public meetings GWRC has held would be considered in an upcoming review, he added.

Rongotai MP Paul Eagle chaired the meeting and said GWRC needed to direct its officers to bring together all the issues and put together some serious options to fix the issues, and implement them with haste.

More meetings are scheduled over the next month to be held in Karori, Miramar, Khandallah and Mornington.

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