More than a hundred public bus services were cancelled in Darwin and Palmerston on Monday, the Transport Workers Union said, because bus operators could not find enough drivers as the job is poorly paid and dangerous.

The NT Police would not release statistics for how many drivers have been assaulted in the last year.

TWU NT branch secretary Ian Smith said there was an obvious shortage of workers around the country, however he said the shortage was particularly severe in Darwin due to safety conditions and poor pay, leading people to work in other industries such as mining.

There were 139 cancelled services on the day before school returned, the company that has the contract to run the buses for the government, CDC Northern Territory told the NT Independent.

It is an escalation from when the ABC reported in October that hundreds of services a month were being cancelled. Monday’s figures were far above the amount of recent daily cancellations.

“These cancellations, which are only ever done as a last resort, are a direct result of industry-wide driver shortages combined with the commencement of school services,” CDC regional Australia division chief executive officer Tony Hopkins said in a statement.

“We are working together with governments and key stakeholders to address the critical shortages affecting bus and transport operations right across the country, especially in Darwin and the Northern Territory.

“Our drivers are doing a wonderful job to assist by taking up voluntary overtime, including opting to come in on days off. However, we also have a duty of care to all employees to manage fatigue, which is reflected in scheduling decisions.”

Mr Smith said the company was short 100 drivers in Darwin but the company did not yesterday answer questions about how many drivers they were short, but in October the ABC reported the company said they were 30 drivers short.

Neither the Transport Minister Eva Lawler or the NT Police responded to a request for statistics for assaults against drivers, or passenger-on-passenger violence, or statistics for bus stop attacks.

In October, drivers, their families, passengers and members of the Transport Workers Union held a rally outside NT Parliament House to call for increased safety measures for drivers and commuters.

At the time, Mr Smith called for more transit officers, saying there were 19 but needed to be between seven to 10 more.

On Monday, Mr Smith said there was a shortage of 100 drivers in Darwin.

“Cancellation of services has been going on for months,” he said.

“It is not considered a safe job. As we have come out of the pandemic, across all industries, everyone has trouble getting employees to a significant degree.

“What further exacerbates the situation is that it is not the greatest paid job anymore, and it is not safe. Why would you want to go to work and be spat on, and kicked, and even have a knife pulled on you?

“The government has made some steps but for now it is not going to be fixed.”

Ms Lawler refused to answer any questions from the NT Independent including if there were any penalties against CDC for cancelling services, what they were going to do to stop services being cancelled, what they were going to do to make buses safer and when the Perspex or glass safety screens will be installed to protect drivers.

She did not respond to concerns from the union about driver safety, but did tell the media in October the government was going to employ additional transit officers and security guards but bizarrely refused to say how many, claiming it was “an operational issue”.

Less than a month later, the NT Government said they had employed 14 security guards on bus routes in Darwin and Palmerston for a three month trial.

Mr Hopkins said the company was running renewed advertising campaigns to entice interstate drivers to the Territory, continuing free training programs and providing guidance through the licensing process to attract new drivers to the industry.

“We are also tapping into the growing ‘grey nomad’ movement with a new national ‘work while you travel’ campaign,” he said.

“The trial program, currently under development as a longer-term strategy, aims to maximise the huge popularity of the Territory within this market.

“We’ve had a fantastic response to the expressions of interest from across Australia. Additionally, we have flown drivers in from operations interstate to service some areas. ”

Ms Lawler told the NT News on Monday the CDC was working to make sure there were “either no or very minimal disruptions to the school bus routes” this week.

“There’s been strong discussions and conversations about absolutely prioritising school bus routes to make sure that all our kids in the Territory – and there are a lot of kids that catch buses, particularly in the rural area – that they have a bus and a driver,” she said.

“This issue around a shortage of bus drivers is Australia-wide … that knock-on effect of COVID and shortage of drivers is what CDC is faced with.”

In September, the NT Government introduced powers for transit officers to issue passenger bans and officers can also arrest people for arrest people for offences such as assault and property damage on buses or at bus stops