Tony Bullock still remembers the moment he was in the driver's seat and someone threatened to kill him.
"I had a pretty irate passenger on the bus," the former Darwin bus driver said.
"He became extremely violent, very, very quickly. He was a very, very big person and tried tearing the driver protection cage from out of the framework.
"The threats became worse and worse, to the point that I genuinely feared for my life."
Mr Bullock said he had always been a people person, which is why — closing in on retirement — he decided to become a driver on Darwin's only public transport network.
"I thought it'd be a great opportunity to meet interesting people," the 60-year-old said.
Mass exodus of Darwin drivers
Within a week of starting his new job in 2018, that positivity had evaporated.
"As you start doing regular runs, you get to see what it's all about. You get that picture very, very quickly," 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."
After three-and-a-half years, mid-way through 2020, he had enough.
"I saw violence against passengers. I've seen people knocked unconscious. I've seen people with dislocated elbows or dislocated shoulders, broken bones," Mr Bullock said.
"I've seen fights where babies were knocked out of prams.
"It just becomes how well you can cope before it breaks you."
Hundreds of buses have been cancelled in Darwin this month, including during peak hour.
On average, 15 bus services a day have not run.
The company in charge of the network, CDC Northern Territory, said it was 30 drivers short.
"I would have seen well over 150 drivers leave over a three-and-a-half-year period," Mr Bullock said.
"In the first six months I was in the depot, I think there was 40 or 50 that finished up and couldn't handle it. It's a constant turnover."
Shortage a nation-wide problem
The driver deficit isn't exclusive to the Top End, according to Ian Smith from the Transport Workers Union.
"The same situations occur in all other states. There's a real problem of anti-social behaviour on public transport and it's impacted driver shortages around the country," he said.
"Companies are struggling to find workers. There's plenty of jobs out there, and people are going to the jobs that pay better."
Bus drivers in the territory receive a base rate of $31 an hour, however My Bullock said that was nowhere near enough.
"If you were limited to driving passengers around Darwin, and that was it, it would be okay," he said.
"But for the amount of risk that those drivers are subjected to on a daily basis, you would need to pay a lot more money … before we even come close to parity or any sort of compensation for the type of work."
Stronger powers for transit officers
The NT government in September introduced powers for transit officers to issue passenger bans.
On vehicles and at bus stops, the officers can also arrest for offences like assault and property damage.
Pensioner Dennis Hayes would normally drive the 20-minute journey into the city from his Palmerston home, three times a week.
But with the price of diesel consistently sitting above $2 a litre, he said was no longer financially possible to commute by car.
"It was costing me about $50 a week, just to drive into Darwin and back," Mr Hayes said.
"Now I get the bus. I've worked out the timetables and it's convenient."
The Northern Territory government earlier this month made buses free for all passengers to "help ease the pressure on Territorians".
Free rides will continue until the end of this year, leaving a $375,000 hole in the government's pocket.
But as more people like Mr Hayes turn to catching busses, the driver shortage means cancellations will continue long-term.
