Bus drivers and union officials demanded greater police protection Wednesday, fed up with the physical and verbal abuse they face on the job every day.

Sacha Alvarez said her assault happened six months after she joined the MTA last August.

“I was assaulted by a man. I was just doing my job like I was taught,” Alvarez said. “He came back running in, with a stick, a wrench over a foot, came and knocked over the fare box and started pounding on me.”

Union officials say they want more protection from NYPD and MTA police officers.

“When they come on our bus we’re asking to take a ride with us, go from the first stop to the last stop,” Sean Battaglia, vice chairman of the bus division at the Transport Workers Union Local 100.

Meanwhile, MTA leaders asked for the public’s help to identify suspects in recent attacks on subway workers.

According to police, a man allegedly smashed a glass bottle on the head of a train conductor at the Broad Street station in Lower Manhattan at 1:45 a.m. Sunday.

Then on Tuesday afternoon, police and MTA officials say four teenagers were allegedly involved in an attack on a conductor in Queens. One of them shoved a conductor of a northbound N train at Queensboro Plaza while another took his train keys.

“Help us find these criminals. We really want to make sure our workers, like we want the public to be safe, we want our workers to be safe,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.

According to MTA figures, assaults on subway workers are up this year, with 32 attacks reported through May 14.

There were 15 assaults on bus drivers, which is a decrease from the same period last year.

In addition to physical assaults, transit workers face dozens of disturbing incidents, like verbal threats and being spat on.

There were 173 reported harassment incidents against subway workers this year, fewer cases compared to last year.

For bus drivers, there were 551 reported harassment cases, also a drop compared to last year.

“Our job is to take people to and from their destination safely. With that being said, we need to ensure our safety as well,” Battaglia said.

The MTA chairman said he wants new laws from Albany lawmakers to make spitting on a transit worker a misdemeanor crime, instead of a violation.

Over the years, the MTA has installed barriers on buses that separate the driver from passengers, but it still leave openings for people to attack drivers.

The MTA chairman said he’d look into buses where the driver’s cab is completely shielded.