Hundreds of Darwin bus services were cancelled last month, including during peak hours, as more drivers quit their jobs due to intensifying violence and ongoing anti-social behaviour of passengers, drivers have revealed.

NT bus operator CDC Northern Territory – formerly BusLink – said an average of 15 bus services a day have not run their routes this month. It also said the company is currently 30 drivers short, while one driver said he estimates 150 drivers have quit over the last three-and-a-half years.

Calls for the government to address the worsening violence against bus drivers, a long-term issue in the Territory, has largely gone ignored by the government with the exception of changes to legislation that now permits transit security to ban unruly passengers and arrest them if required.

But Territory bus drivers say that has not been enough and they continue to hold concerns over their safety and the safety of their passengers.

The Casuarina Bus Exchange, Palmerston Shopping Centre and Mindil Beach market routes are considered by bus drivers to be among the worst hotspots for violence.

Former bus driver Tony Bullock, who became a driver after retiring, told ABC that his life had been threatened by an irate passenger.

“He became extremely violent, very, very quickly. He was a very, very big person and tried tearing the driver protection cage out of the framework. The threats became worse and worse, to the point that I genuinely feared for my life,” Mr Bullock said.

“It could be drinking, it could be defecating, urinating—a combination of any of those … I would say a lot of alcohol-related incidents.

“I’ve seen fights where babies were knocked out of prams. It just becomes how well you can cope before it breaks you.”

Being spat on, getting pelted with rocks and being assaulted has become all too routine for drivers working Darwin’s only public transport system.

Despite security upgrades including the installation of security screens to a cage configuration, installation of CCTVs of business, and the government’s granting of more policing powers to transit officers, more drastic measures are needed to be put in place, the drivers have said.

Last month, Darwin bus drivers rallied outside Parliament demanding the Fyles Government directly address the increasing levels of violence and anti-social behaviour across Darwin’s bus network to protect drivers and passengers.

Last year, both violence and anti-social behaviour incidents spiked on the Darwin bus network. NT Police statistics indicate that property damage increased by 20.6 per cent throughout the Territory and assault incidents have gone up by 2.15 per cent over the last year to July this year.