A Metro bus at St Patrick's College.
UP TO 18 St Patrick's College students are unable to catch buses home each day because there are not enough Metro services, according to the school's principal.
In some instances the school has had to pay for a taxi to take a small number of students home to Youngtown and St Leonards if they could not find an alternative.
Metro chief executive officer Heather Haselgrove said budget constraints restricted Metro from running more services. They were also under no obligation to offer services to schools.
Principal Simon Cobiac said the lack of Youngtown and St Leonards services had been an issue for the school for three years, but it was worst at the beginning of the year.
``There are too many kids for the buses and it's not ideal but we do organise for mainly the older students to take alternative buses into town and transfer to another service, rather than the young students,'' Mr Cobiac said.
``Taxis are not a permanent measure, just a stop gap on the immediate situation.
``It's certainly something we wouldn't employ long term.''
He said talks between the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office and the bus company did not find a solution.
The school does not own its own bus and only hired them as necessary.
Ms Haselgrove said Metro was not obliged to provide services to the whole community.
``Nevertheless Metro operates school bus services as a matter of convenience to schools, parents and students,'' she said.
She said students had the capacity to catch regular services into Launceston and then onto other places.
She said St Patrick's already had 10 dedicated bus services to and from the school.
That equated to up to 25 per cent of Metro's peak vehicle requirements in Launceston.
Due to ongoing pay negotiations, Metro services will be disrupted tomorrow from 11.30am to 3pm due to industrial action.
A full list of services affected can be found at www.metrotas.com.au.
