Melbourne bus drivers should be able to wave their IDs like doctors and nurses to pass police blockades to get to work during the city's lockdown instead of having to apply for complex permits, says SeaLink Travel Group chief executive Clint Feuerherdt.

SeaLink, which operates about 100 public buses on routes through Melbourne via Transit Systems (which it bought last year) has to provide six-week rosters and explain exactly what drivers will be doing to get "worker permits" to allow them to take the steering wheel from Thursday.