A one-month trial of an abuse tracking system on Darwin's public transport has shown 99 separate incidents of antisocial behaviour on the city's buses.
The digital system was installed alongside bus ticketing machines and has enabled drivers to instantly report multiple forms of antisocial behaviour, providing problematic locations directly to local transit safety officers.
Former bus driver Ross Robertson is the Northern Territory operations manager of BusLink and said fare evasion is the most prominent issue.
"From this initial trial I would say 50 per cent of incidents were related to fare evasion, followed by verbal assault and aggravation."
Results from the trial coincided with the new Respect your Driver campaign that was released in the territory this week.
The campaign encourages Territorians who use public transport to "bus better".
Is it safe to catch the bus?
When it comes to passenger safety, Mr Robertson explained there is no need for concern.
"For urban services the statistics look bad, but the passengers are safe — it's the drivers that are copping it," he said.
"Last year we had a driver assaulted with a knife, he had cuts on his fingers from protecting himself. Luckily there was no major injury.
"Since that incident we have put cages in to protect drivers, but that doesn't defend them from spitting or verbal assault, it assists in the physical harm but not the ongoing psychological harm."
Mr Robinson said although drivers are provided with psychological counselling, morale has been more difficult to combat.
"These people are not in the top earning bracket, and the morale does get to them … a lot of the time these drivers go home shaking their heads," he said.
"All we want for our drivers is a bit of respect, we want them coming to work feeling safe, and leave feeling happy.
Lack of respect countrywide
Mr Robertson refused to believe Territory drivers are alone in their plea for better treatment from passengers.
"It's going to be a long-term plan to change people's attitudes," he said.
"What we are seeing is antisocial behaviour and sometimes there are substances involved.
"This is an issue countrywide, and truth be known, this is likely a global problem … people have a lack of respect for the job we do in the community."
