Jason and Kerrie Bush, owners of Gunnedah Taxis and Cabs, have provided the service to the region for almost 13 years.

Now, their business is for sale and after 18 months they still don't have a buyer.

They say they would leave the business tomorrow if they could - but there's a few things keeping them, in particular, the assistance they provide to Gunnedah's elderly and disabled community.

Jason Bush says ongoing issues related to alcohol and drug related violence, such as verbal and physical abuse, damage to the taxi vehicles, general disrespect towards drivers and non-payment of fares has resulted in a heavy reduction of services on Friday and Saturday nights.

He fears the cuts could lead to further rollbacks, or, the service ending altogether.

"We're on the verge of, if it doesn't improve, cutting the whole taxi service on Friday and Saturday night," he admitted.

"The reason is that we can't get drivers to stay. We are getting fantastic drivers that are strong-headed but they're worn out in four or five months because of the attitude of people."

Mr Bush said the situation has spiraled out of control and unfortunately if they can't make the whole service work, everything may go, as it's just not financially viable.

"It's not cheap to run taxis with insurance, rego and everything else that goes with it - you need everything," he said.

"We've had the business for sale, but with the way the taxi industry is going with deregulation, no one is looking to buy taxis."

"If Gunnedah didn't have a taxi service, the old people are going to suffer and struggle to get to doctor's appointments or do their shopping."

Mr Bush said they had a short respite during Covid but as soon as the pubs opened up again the pair could "feel their stress levels rise".

Jason and Kerrie are also concerned that if they don't continue to provide their taxi service on Friday and Saturday nights, rates of drink driving will increase.

"That is my main focus too, I don't want Gunnedah to lose this service and see people start drink driving," Mr Bush said.

"For example, Chris, my driver, a fantastic guy, has been with us for about six months and they wore him out in that time.

"So this guy Chris is out there working hard doing the right thing, getting people home so they don't drink drive, but yet you've got people in the community making it hard for him when he's doing something he's passionate about."

From this week, Gunnedah Taxis and Cabs Services will no longer run a maxi taxi after 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday nights, and there will only be two cars operating to transport a minimum of four passengers per car in order to reduce overloading.

Jason and Kerrie have apologised to the community for the inconvenience and warned locals to expect extended delays in transport services.