In a statement to be released publicly on Monday, the union’s Wollongong secretary Nick McIntosh said drivers on the busy green-bus route felt they were letting down customers and putting passengers at risk because of ‘‘impossible’’ timetable expectations.

Although there was  no publicised timetable for the free shuttle, Mr McIntosh said, drivers were told to keep to times by the government.

If these buses were not on schedule 95 per cent of the time, the drivers’ company – Premier Illawarra – could cop heavy fines, he said.

‘‘They have set a timetable and if a hint of traffic or something else holds a driver up, it means the driver can’t meet their on-time running targets,’’ he said. ‘‘And this is one of the harder routes, because it goes through busy city streets in Wollongong. This means drivers might have to drive straight past a stop full of passengers so they are going to be on time, or they might set down only and not pick waiting passengers up. 

‘‘Right now,  drivers feel they have little choice but to miss stops or drive unsafely because they fear the repercussions of missing a deadline or being late.’’

Mr McIntosh said these problems had been caused by the government’s competitive tendering process, which was introduced across the state in 2012.

‘‘Companies have tendered below cost to win contracts that are impossible to carry out safely and face fines if they don’t meet KPIs,’’ he said.

‘‘The only way they can make up this shortfall is to pressure drivers, cut buses and skimp on maintenance,’’ Mr McIntosh said.

‘‘What good is a key performance indicator if someone is seriously injured or killed in a bus crash to achieve it?’’

The union hopes to meet with government representatives to explain their issues and wants the competitive tendering process to be reviewed.

‘‘We need them to set realistic timetables and make sure companies have got enough money to make sure drivers are not put under this kind of stress,’’ Mr McIntosh said.