A photo of a bus driver barefoot behind the wheel in Auckland has sparked a debate about the effects of mass immigration in New Zealand.
The image was posted to a local Facebook page on the weekend with the caption “are shoes optional as a bus driver?” and resulted in more than 800 comments.
Many of the commenters speculated that the driver, whose face is not visible in the photo, was from the Indian subcontinent, and led to discussions about the negative impact third world immigration was having on New Zealand, but all except for six have since been deleted by the page administrators.
“Disgusting,” says the most popular remaining comment.
“No, shoes are compulsory for health and safety, it’s been a rule ever since my husband has been a bus driver,” says another.
“Imagine how many drivers sit in that seat a day – even if 2-3 were in bare feet, the spread of infections would be rife,” says a third.
In late 2024 a similar photo was posted on Reddit showing a driver operating a bus barefoot in Auckland, with his turban visible in the rear-view mirror.
The debate comes a week after an Indian driver was found guilty of indecently assaulting a female student on an Auckland bus after refusing to open the doors and turning off the lights, and amid ongoing controversy over mass immigration from India.
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones last month described the phenomenon as a “butter chicken tsunami” while warning about the effects of high migration from Indian, and critics have warned Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Free Trade Agreement with India gives away too much on immigration.
There has also been public anger over illegal dumping, and police bowing at a Sikh temple and tracking down a woman and accusing her of racism for a Facebook post which said “welcome to New India”.
Header image: The barefoot bus driver (Facebook).
