The Department of State Growth wishes to notify schools of changes to general access bus services to take effect in the North of the state from 19 January 2020. Students using these services will therefore be affected from the start of the 2020 school year.

The changes form part of a state-wide review of bus services and follow a broad community consultation carried out from April to June 2019 where the community were invited to provide feedback on the proposed changes which have been informed by analysis of patronage, catchments, routes and times.

Under the changes, some school routes will be combined or removed which may impact the timing of services and mean that students need to change buses in the Launceston CBD. There are also some changes to the numbering of bus services, as well as some changes to where services drop off and depart in the Launceston CBD.

New bus timetables and more information about the CBD stop changes will become available at www.transport.tas.gov.au throughout the month of December, 2019.

Schools are encouraged to let students know about the upcoming changes through their regular channels including their newsletters and Facebook pages and to remind students to keep an eye out on the transport website in the lead up to the start of the 2020 school year.

Specifically the changes may affect:

Students living in Beauty Point, Beaconsfield, Exeter, Legana, Rowella, Riverside that use Manions’ Coaches:

• Students should refer to the new timetables for confirmation of services that travel via Riverside and Newstead schools.

Students living in Scottsdale, Bridport, Lilydale that use Saintys North East Bus Service:

• Students should refer to the new timetables for confirmation of services that travel to Newstead schools.
• Students from these areas needing to travel to St Patrick’s College or Riverside schools will need to transfer in the Launceston CBD.

Students living in Cressy, Longford and Perth that use Tassielink services:

• Students should refer to the new timetables for confirmation of services that travel to Riverside schools
• Kings Meadows High School and Glen Dhu Primary School students that need to travel to Cressy in the afternoon can now complete that journey on the Jacks school bus

Students living in George Town and Low Head that use Lees Coaches (East Tamar bus lines):

• Students should refer to the new timetables for confirmation of services that travel to Brooks High School, East Tamar Primary, Mowbray Heights Primary School and Launceston Church Grammar School Senior Campus
• Students from Low Head going to St Patrick’s College, Launceston College, Newstead College, St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School, Scotch Oakburn College, Queechy High School, Prospect High School and Riverside High School will need to transfer in George Town to/from a student only service. George Town students travelling to these schools can travel direct on the student only service.

Students living in St Helens, St Marys and Avoca that use Calows Coaches:

• Students should refer to the new timetables for confirmation of services that travel to Newstead schools, including school boarders.

Students should always check if there is a contracted school bus services which they can access to travel to school.

Student only services

Please be aware there are also some upcoming changes to non-Metro contracted school services. Notification of these changes will be via a separate process which will be communicated directly to schools.

Metro school buses

Changes will also be occurring for students that use Metro school buses in Launceston. For more information please visit www.metrotas.com.au/timetables/schools/