Passengers on a rail replacement bus from Wellington to Wairarapa hitch-hiked off State Highway 2 on Saturday after their ride broke down near the summit of Remutaka Hill.

Dan Boerman​ was heading to his mother’s home in Wairarapa for New Year’s when the double-decker rail replacement bus he was on stopped while climbing the Remutaka Hill and didn’t move again.

“In the 10 minutes prior it had been crawling up one kph and it just completely stopped,” he said. “It was on a very, very steep bank.”

There were about 70 passengers and some got off the bus and walked up the motorway to hitch a ride from other passing cars.

“There are young women and children putting their thumbs out hitching rides and there were cars stopping on the side of the road to pick people up,” Boerman said.

“There’s some people sitting on the middle barriers waiting for a ride.

“There’s no footpath – no way for people to walk.”

Boerman also thought it was a “dangerous” and “unsafe” situation because other vehicles including big logging trucks zoomed past when people were standing on the road, but there was no communication from Metlink.

“No one [from Metlink] came up and said ‘we’re getting another bus’ – it’s just kind of a free-for-all,” he said. “We’re essentially sitting ducks.”

A A A passenger's family member said it was very dangerous to both passengers to motorists on the road.

He was later picked up by his mum off the state highway.

The family member of another passenger onboard the bus said they were “horrified” at what happened because it was very dangerous to the passengers and other motorists.

Metlink said they and operator Transdev were investigating the cause of a bus engine overheating.

“Passengers disembarked the bus and made their way to the top of the hill, where the bus was able to collect them again after being restarted, with police assisting at the site,” it said.

A police spokesperson said they were notified a double-decker bus had broken down on the Hutt side of the Remutaka Hill on State Highway 2 at 11.15am, and officers gave some stranded passengers a lift.