Supporting our locals

December 2025

Pack the Bus

Giving back to communities in need during the festive season is the key focus for Pack the Bus, an annual campaign that Tranzit has supported in Whanganui, Palmerston North and Wairarapa for several years.

This heart-warming initiative sees a dedicated Tranzit bus visit schools, public spaces and businesses to collect donated Xmas presents and non-perishable food items from members of the public. Once the bus is packed; these donated goods are then redistributed to families in need during the festive season via official agencies.

We are grateful to our key partners Media Works and Property Brokers and to councils in each of the regions we operate this amazing campaign, which sees the community come together in the spirit of generosity.

November 2025

School bus road safety in the spotlight

Tranzit Coachlines won the Road Safety in the Community category award at the 2025 Australasian Fleet Champions Awards held in Auckland.

This was for our ongoing commitment to promoting School Bus Safety and supporting road safety messages – something Tranzit has actively promoted for over 20 years. The awards evening was sponsored by Autosense, with MC sports broadcaster Stephen McIvor and special guest Greg Murphy.

Our team takes time to remind students and school communities about key safety messages including:

• Reminding all road users to slow down to 20km when driving past a stationary school bus in both directions
• Educating students travelling on the school bus about best bus behaviour – including when getting on and off the bus and travelling in the bus – that allows the driver to focus on driving duties and not be distracted at work;
• Reminding students and school communities of their individual responsibilities around school buses to support our drivers to perform their roles safely;
• Promoting general road safety and sustainability messages.

October 2025

Entertaining passengers with unique performance

When our Tranzit Coachlines Taranaki team had the chance to support a bus ride like no other, they jumped at the chance. Supporting the ReImagine  festival, organised by the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust, our bus transformed into a stage with the show Back of the Bus. This saw one of our buses wind through the streets of New Plymouth with a fearless cast of dancers – leaping, swinging, and sliding in a whirlwind of physical comedy, kinetic energy and outrageous scenarios. This unusual but highly entertaining performance blended athleticism, absurdity, and imagination, creating a magical mystery tour that left passengers delighted.

September 2025

Creating memorable experiences for local school kids

Four Hawke’s Bay primary schools were provided a unique opportunity this winter to an ongoing sponsorship between Tranzit Coachlines and the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Football Union (HBRFU).

For the fourth year in a row, Tranzit’s sponsorship allows for 15 school kids from four different schools the chance to join Magpies players as they run out onto the McLean Park pitch in each of their NPC home games this season. Each student is given a special t-shirt as well as a ticket for themselves and a caregiver to attend the game. In addition, a fifth group of students were chosen for a charity game.

HBRFU Community Partnership Manager Jason Long says the sponsorship between the two organisations is for the benefit of the community.  “We know many kids have never had the opportunity to come to a Magpies game – let alone run out onto McLean Park, so to be able to partner with Tranzit Coachlines to provide this wonderful experience is just fantastic,” says Jason.

This unique opportunity for local kids to meet their rugby heroes, run out onto McLean Park and get a feel for all that happens behind the scenes on a big game day is something Tranzit is happy to facilitate.

The smiles on the kids’ faces from the Magpies first two home games of the NPC (see side photo) season say it all.

July 2025

Empowering our Tamariki

Empowering children in Hawke’s Bay through dynamic experiences that promote physical activity, wellbeing, and lifelong character development are some of the outcomes of a Tranzit Coachlines sponsorship with the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust (HBCFCT).

Our support of the Education Outside the Classroom Programme called Poipoia te Kākano (PK Programme) that blends fun with purpose, equips children with skills, attitudes, and confidence they need to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.

In the last six months, 10 different schools from Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay participate in the programme, enabling the delivery of over 500 individual lessons to students leading Chloe Macaulay, Education & Community Outreach Lead for HBCFCT, to be full of praise for the partnership with Tranzit. 

 “Without the support of local businesses like Tranzit, we would not be able to offer such unique programmes to schools throughout Hawke’s Bay.  Seeing our tamariki flourish by the opportunities we can provide them gives us a real sense of purpose, and our goal is to provide this to as many schools as possible in our region”.

June 2025

TV1 Good sorts – our driver Lee

This is the heartwarming story of our Tranzit Coachlines Hawke’s Bay school bus driver Lee, whose idea to provide shelter for students from Esk Valley became reality, thanks to support from Mitre 10 MEGA and students from EIT. Following Cyclone Gabrielle, a farm driveway, located north of Napier, became the new pick-up point for students travelling to Eskdale School – however there was no shelter for them.

That soon changed when Lee reached out to Mitre 10 MEGA to donate materials to help build a shelter as well as to EIT, whose trade students helped build it as part of their studies. The shelter was then painted, then delivered to the site with an official opening held. Now it is used regularly by the students when they wait for Lee to pick them up each morning. Lee’s good deed received further attention when he was nominated as a “Good Sorts” for the TV1 news segment with one student describing him as the “best bus driver in the whole entire universe!” Nice work Lee!