Fiona Thowe lives between Westbury and Hadspen and in the last week has spent $90 on diesel to get her 18-year-old son to and from work.

“We live two-and-a-half kilometres from the last Metro stop, so for him he can walk two-and-a-half kilometres to the bus, having said that if it's bucketing down with rain it’s no good and it’s such limited service,” Ms Thowe said. 

“[Transport] is a significant barrier to work.”

Ms Thowe’s son Solomon works in a supermarket in Launceston, but relies on his mother and grandmother to ensure he can get to his shifts. 

“If he didnt have me resourced he wouldn't be working. Two of his friends have left Westbury at the age of 17 to move into Launceston to live with family to pursue work,” Ms Thowe said. 

“If you're in Westbury you've got three option to get to Launceston, there’s the Redline bus at 7.37, there’s another one that goes a bit after 8 and then one at 12. Now the dilemma with that is it doesn't come through the town unless you book it.”

Ms Thowe is concerned about the impact on rural towns if their young population is being forced into CBD for work because of poor public transport. 

"You can’t get from Westbury to Deloraine, you can’t get between the towns theres not bus that runs … so even if you're trying to access employment in Deloraine you can’t get there,“ Ms Thowe adds. 

Solomon’s grandmother Jillian Cunningham often helps out also with driving him to work. Working as a night shift worker, however, her availability is only after 1pm after she’s woken up. 

“I can wake up sometimes and there's a phone message, ‘Granny can you pick me up at 2 o’clock and take me in,” Ms Cunningham said. 

Both Ms Thowe and Ms Cunningham add that Solomon’s poor access to transport disadvantages him at work. 

"Because he’s casual he can get called in [at the last minute] and he has to say no,” Ms Thowe said, adding that after saying no too many times he won’t be called any more and will end up losing shifts. 

Ms Thowe said if there is a bus running that can get him there he will walk the 2.5 kilometres to the stop, but often there isn’t, leaving him no option but to turn down work.

A report last week showed transport was a major barrier to young people finding work.

With a youth unemployment rate of 16.1 per cent, up from the overall jobless rate of 6.4 per cent transport could be a key way to improve youth participation in employment.