Darwin and Palmerston buses cancelled ahead of first school day
More than 130 bus routes have been cancelled in a single day, raising fears children will be impacted as school goes back across the Territory. See where the buses have been cancelled.
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More than 130 Top End bus services have been cancelled in a single day, raising doubts kids will make it to classrooms for the new school year.
Private company CDC NT, formerly known as Buslink, published on Sunday evening a list of bus services which would be cancelled the following day.
The cancellations include key routes between Darwin, Casuarina and Palmerston, from 6am to midnight.
It comes as teachers head back to schools in preparation for their students’ first day back on Tuesday.
The Transport Workers Union NT branch said the cancellations were not the result of strikes, but staffing shortages.
“People are leaving the industry in droves – one because it’s not safe, and two because it’s poorly paid,” TWU NT branch secretary Ian Smith said.
“Anti-social behaviour is out of control in the Territory, as we know.
“Intervention is the best form of attack and we need more security on the network, especially on problem routes.
“We’ve been working with the government and there’s been some changes, but it has not had a huge impact.”
The union has long been pushing for a safer working conditions for Territory bus drivers, with a protest outside Parliament House in October drawing at least 30 employees.
It resulted in the NT government launching a three-month trial of 14 additional private security officers in a bid to support existing government-employed transit officers.
The announcement came less than two months after transit officers were granted powers to ban people from travelling if they were known to engage in unlawful behaviour on buses or at interchanges.
Mr Smith said the union had also been pushing for protective screens to be installed around every driver seat.
CDC chief executive Tony Hopkins said they might fly relief drivers in from interstate.
“These cancellations, which are only ever done as a last resort, are a direct result of industry-wide driver shortages combined with the commencement of school services,” he said.
“Our drivers are doing a wonderful job to assist by taking up voluntary overtime, including opting to come in on days off.
“However, we also have a duty of care to all employees to manage fatigue, which is reflected in scheduling decisions.
“We are working to recruit new drivers by running renewed advertising campaigns to entice interstate drivers to the Territory, continuing free training programs and providing guidance through the licensing process to attract new drivers to the industry.”
Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, and Education Minister Eva Lawler said CDC was working to ensure “either no or very minimal disruptions to the school bus routes” this week.
“There’s been strong discussions and conversations about absolutely prioritising school bus routes to make sure that all our kids in the Territory – and there are a lot of kids that catch buses, particularly in the rural area – that they have a bus and a driver,” she said.
“This issue around a shortage of bus drivers is Australia-wide … that knock-on effect of Covid and shortage of drivers is what CDC is faced with.”
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