A man allegedly threatened to harm a bus driver and kill his family in Cork last weekend.
The bus had stopped at a traffic light in Ballincollig and two men reportedly forced their way onto it.
After one of them then threatened the driver, the bus pulled up at the next stop.
No one was injured but National Bus and Rail Union spokesperson Dermort O'Leary said the allegations underline the need for a dedicated transport police.
“We in the NBRU have been campaigning for quite a while now for police resources or a dedicated public transport division,” he said.
“I’m conscious that any police resource - no matter how well equipped it is - won’t solve all the problems that we speak about from time to time.
“[But] certainly, it will serve to inform people that are inclined to offend that there’s actually going to be a consequence.”
Mr O’Leary said “something needs to happen” to make public transport workers feel safer while doing their jobs.
“I’ve been saying this many times,” he said.
“We’re in a climate crisis, we’re trying to reduce the carbon footprint, we’re asking people that have never used public transport before to leave their cars and come on to buses and trains.
“What chance have we got realistically of doing that when we’re talking about [alleged] instances like this?”
Main image: A bus. Image: Richard Wayman / Alamy Stock Photo
