Harley Wild, 9, was left waiting on the roadside for a stranger to pick him up in a car because his bus driver did not want to drive the final kilometre to school.

A 9-year-old boy remains shaken after he was kicked off a Wellington bus and made to get in a car with a stranger to get to school.

Harley Wild was travelling to Redwood School in the suburb of Tawa two weeks ago when he was unexpectedly ordered off the bus and told to wait for another one, his mother says.

But when that bus drove by without picking him up, Harley walked for about 20 minutes towards the school before he was spotted by the driver who had kicked him off to begin with.

Rather than driving the remaining 600 metres, the driver took Harley back to the spot where he had dropped him off – 1.3 kilometres away – and arranged for a car driven by a bus driver trainer to take him to school.

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Public transport operator Metlink said the driver was told not to drive all the way to Redwood School because erratic car parking outside had made it too dangerous to manoeuvre a bus in the area.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Harley Wild, 9, was left waiting on the roadside for a stranger to pick him up in a car because his bus driver did not want to drive the final kilometre to school. His mother, Emma Smart, says Harley is still shaken by the incident.

Harley's mother, Emma Smart, said her son was still shaken by the event and had not taken the bus since.

"He was really sad. He said, 'Mum, I never want to catch the bus again. A car was there to pick me up and I thought it was you'."

Harley was on Metlink's 402 bus, which services five schools in the Tawa area, when he was allegedly told by the driver that the bus was too big to travel up Redwood Ave to his school.

He was dropped off more than a kilometre away from the school, on Takapu Rd, before the bus carried on to the other schools.

After being taken back to where he started, Harley was ushered into the waiting car but did not want to get in with the stranger, Smart said.

The first she knew of the incident was when she received a text from her daughter, Lara, who was on the bus on her way to Tawa College.

GOOGLE MAPS Takapu Rd in the Wellington suburb of Tawa, where Harley was told to wait for another bus, which drove right past him.

Smart called bus operator Mana Coach Services, then the school, which called her back a short time later to say Harley had arrived at school in a car.

"I was in shock. I've been catching the bus all my life and I didn't think a bus driver would actually leave a kid on the side of the road by himself," she said.

"Two grown men have made Harley get into the car with a stranger. I'm really angry about that."

A Metlink spokesman said it had recently decided to operate a mini coach to Redwood School because of parking congestion, which had led to health and safety issues.

That was the bus Harley had been told to wait for.

The mini coach was a short-term option following complaints from drivers that erratic parking outside the school had forced them to reverse back out, which was too dangerous.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Harvey's mother, Emma Smart, said her son had not taken the bus since the incident.

"Mana [Coach Services] sought to reassure the boy by sending the [bus] driver (who was familiar to him) to wait with him for the car, but in hindsight a call to his mother to let her know how they were trying to help him would probably have been a good idea."

But Smart said she had not been told about the new coach service, and neither Harley nor Lara had seen the driver who dropped him off before.

Redwood School principal Sue Goodinsaid she had not heard about the new coach service either.

The spokesman said the driver's actions were well-intentioned but "could have come with a bit more forethought".

Metlink would encourage the school to raise the parking issue with parents, and may also consider moving the bus stop to make it safer.