On Fridays until recently, I had two choices: wait for a bus that might not come or walk.

The walk was 25 to 35 minutes, through a swamp, down a steep hill, over a bridge, and up another hill. In summer my boots would get muddy and wet and stink. Sometimes I got to school late. Sometimes I didn’t make it at all.

When I got there late, I’d get asked why and I’d say my bus didn’t come. That shouldn’t be an answer I have to give.

But in Gagebrook, Herdsmans Cove, Bridgewater and Brighton, that’s the reality and I’m writing this because more people need to know. When I shared this story online recently it went viral, everyone seemed to know my name, and finally our bus started coming again.

But this isn’t just about me and buses on Fridays. In my area buses come every 30 minutes if you’re lucky. Sometimes once an hour. Sometimes not at all.

My mum once waited half an hour for an early morning bus. It never showed up.

That happens all the time where I live and people just stop caring. But it’s not normal and it’s not OK.

Think about going shopping. From my house, a bus to the shops is 15 minutes. But by the time you get there, buy your stuff, and wait for the next bus home, you’ve spent close to two hours just to get groceries. Most people don’t think twice about a quick trip to the shops. For us, it’s half a day.

I’ve talked to older people in my area who missed doctors’ appointments because the bus didn’t come. People with bad backs. People who needed to get to hospital and couldn’t. Some called an ambulance instead.

Here’s what ministers should know: an ambulance costs a lot more than a bus fare. If someone could have caught public transport to their doctor, they wouldn’t need one.

When I think about how public transport makes me feel, the word is “forgotten”. Like our community has been left off the map.

Some of those buses used to run, but then they stopped. Nobody said why or when they might come back.

Most families I know who can afford a car have one, because they have to. If you can’t afford a car, or you’re too young, too old, or have a disability, you’re stuck and you miss out. You feel like this place wasn’t built for you.

Whether you live in Bridgewater, Kingston, Launceston or Devonport, you should be able to get to the doctor, to school or to work. That’s not a luxury, that’s basic.

I’m not here to whinge. I have ideas and I’ve been sharing them with anyone who will listen, including local councillors and members of parliament.

First: more services, more often and maybe use smaller buses around our suburb and give it a go.

Second: body cameras on Metro buses. Bus drivers get attacked: punched, yelled at, robbed. Police wear body cameras, paramedics wear them, so why don’t bus drivers? I raised this, it got passed on, and now I’m told Metro is looking at it.

Third: properly listen to young people. Don’t just invite us to speak and then ignore what we say.

These problems affect me, my family and my friends right now. But I’m also thinking about the people who will live here in 10 or 20 years.

Whether their kids will be doing the same walk through the same swamp. Whether their mums will be waiting for the same bus that never comes.

That’s why I’m part of the Brighton Youth Action Group. Brighton council has made a real space for young people to raise issues and push for change, not pretending to give us a voice, actually giving us one. It’s connected us to councillors, to community leaders, to conversations that used to happen without us.

What the group has shown is that when you give young people the support and space to engage, they turn up. They have ideas. They have real experience you won’t find in a report. We’d like to see the government and more councils do the same and give young people a say when transport routes are planned and when decisions get made about our neighbourhoods.

If you’re a decision-maker reading this: I’d like to talk. I have more questions for you than you probably have for me. And that’s exactly why we should meet.

I live in Gagebrook and I catch the bus. I’m part of the Brighton Youth Action Group and I’m not going to stop trying to fix problems – because we deserve far better than what we have now.

Jack Triffitt is a Year 8 student at Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School, and an advocate for better public transport in greater Hobart.