Pupils running wild on Wairarapa school buses could soon face onboard video cameras focussed on keeping drivers and passengers safe.

Tranzit Coachlines Wairarapa manager Les Cockeram and driver trainer and appraiser Sean Kenny said incidences have increased this year of pupils fighting and bullying, vandalising seats and fittings and verbally assaulting other pupils and bus drivers on the 60 school bus runs the company now makes throughout the region.

He said there are also five commercial runs from South Wairarapa towns to Masterton with pupils aboard as well.

An incident this year involving a stink bomb on a Wairarapa school bus led to the elderly driver stopping the vehicle because he thought a fire had broken out on the bus.

The driver had "a bronchial problem" that required treatment, Mr Cockeram said, and had "got a real fright" during the incident.

He said in the past a driver had also been physically assaulted by a school passenger.

He said there are now about 70 Tranzit drivers working Wairarapa routes and that "most are older and most do the school runs".

Mr Cockeram said most of the pupils are well behaved but a small number of school passengers cause havoc during a journey and compromise the safety of all on board.

"It is becoming more common and the company is now considering the installation of a portable video camera to help keep things safe, " he said.

He said the entire Wairarapa fleet of school busses is now being upgraded.

"This is a health and safety issue and even a minor incident could put the bus off the road or cause a head-on with a truck.

He said the company also run bus routes in Wanganui, Manawatu, and Wellington and to Auckland and the problem with school runs is mirrored throughout the different regions.

Mr Kenny said there are from 12 to 40 pupils aboard any given Wairarapa bus on a school run with some standing passengers often used "to hide what some of them are doing".

He said there are from three to four more serious incidences involving pupils each school term.

Drivers faced with a situation beyond their control will pick up an operations manager after returning to the depot or after stopping the vehicle at the roadside, he said.

The school is advised of an incident, he said, and a meeting held between the pupil and their parents, the bus driver, and representatives from the company and the relevant school.

Often the involved pupil is barred from travelling to school by bus, he said, and that the school or some parents often decide on that option.

Mr Kenny said the company has also investigated complaints from parents about bus drivers verbally assaulting school passengers on a school bus run.