Buses and their drivers have been neglected, leading to falling safety standards despite the services carrying millions of passengers each year.
The final report from the NSW government's Bus Industry Taskforce, released on Monday, found drivers were being underpaid and safety systems had not been closely monitored or improved.
Buses move more people than any other form of public transport in the state but remain "neglected, underfunded and largely misunderstood", the report said.
The task force has made 58 recommendations over the course of three reports, flagging improvements to safety and increased training for drivers.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the government has been steadily implementing recommendations since an early version of the report was released in February, with almost half already ticked off.
But she was pressed on what improvement to working conditions staff could expect as the report said NSW's drivers were paid among the lowest rates in the nation despite most living in its most expensive city.
The minister pointed to the 550 job vacancies her government inherited when elected in 2023, adding that two-thirds of the shortage had been wiped off.
"We have hundreds of people currently in training to become bus drivers, we are making sure we do everything we possibly can to encourage people into this industry, that it is a sustainable industry and that these are quality jobs that people want to take up," she said.
"We need bus drivers ... we'll continue to work with both the unions and Transport for NSW to make sure that balance is right."
Ms Haylen said Labor had funded a medium-term bus plan, recruited more drivers and increased passenger safety over the past 12 months.
The NSW government had in principle accepted the report's recommendations and task force chair John Lee said early signs were positive.
"We titled our second report 'fixing the neglect' and it was a tragedy that from about 2010 to 2020 there was a failure from government to invest in the system," he said.
"They did not fund one new service in one new development in one part of Sydney ... I coined the phrase the 'Uber suburbs of southwest Sydney'."
The report made a number of safety recommendations, including strengthening regulation to ensure non-compliant drivers and operators could be identified, and improving processes so drivers not medically fit to drive were spotted.
