A Melbourne bus driver has been labelled "brave and courageous" for keeping her vehicle on the road as a passenger repeatedly punched her in the head.
The 57-year-old woman was behind the wheel of the service to Eltham when the passenger became aggressive and demanded she stop watching him.
Police have praised the drive, who's yet to return to work, following the "unprovoked and cowardly" attack in mid-October.
"Out of nowhere, as she's driving the bus, he's started to hit her," Detective Senior Constable Steven Willer told reporters on Friday.
"She's been unable to defend herself and been quite brave and courageous because she's maintained driving the bus without the bus veering off the road."
Police are now searching for the man, who's also suspected of another unprovoked attack on a woman just before he boarded the bus at Doncaster shopping centre on October 12.
A man ran several metres to shove a young woman onto the ground as she crossed a road, CCTV footage released by police on Friday showed.
Minutes later he boarded the bus to Eltham.
After attacking the driver, the man refused to get off and demanded to be driven to Eltham train station.
CCTV shows him getting off the bus but police say he didn't enter the station.
Police also say he may have been drug-affected.
The Transport Workers Union says more than a dozen Victorian drivers have been physically assaulted this year and more than 100 have been attacked since 2011.
Bus drivers across the Australia held a national day of action last week to honour slain Brisbane driver Manmeet Alisher and condemn violence against public transport workers.
Mr Alisher died when an incendiary device was thrown at him when he stopped to pick up passengers in Moorooka.
A 48-year-old has been charged with his murder.
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