Dr Borren said yesterday cuts to school bus services by the ministry without consultation was "appalling".
In response, yesterday the ministry said eligibility criteria for ministry-funded transport assistance was long-standing.
The council varied its routes and added buses to accommodate school pupils at the beginning of last year after a commercial provider ceased operating more than 20 dedicated school bus services.
As councillors discussed bus patronage in the region, it was noted the council had provided for about 87,000 pupils’ trips since.
Dr Borren said providing school bus services was outside of the council’s "core business".
"I find this extremely frustrating that we’re being forced to provide services for school kids which wasn’t our core business.
"It’s happened because the Ministry of Education has found a clause somewhere that said if there was public transport available they don’t have to provide a school bus service.
"Now they have reduced school bus services across New Zealand by stealth.
"And I think it’s an appalling story.
"They should have consulted with the public, and the taxpayer, before they started this," Dr Borren said.
He was pleased the ministry had recently committed not to cut school bus services in Queenstown for the next three years.
"My view is parents much prefer their kids on school buses rather than public transport — they don’t always get to school on public transport because there are a lot of other stops.
"I find it extremely annoying."
Ministry of Education infrastructure and digital leader Scott Evans said the ministry was required to work within its school transport assistance policy settings.
"These settings are designed to help us make effective and efficient use of limited resources and help us maintain the integrity of local schooling networks across New Zealand.
"One of the eligibility criteria for ministry-funded transport assistance is that assistance can only be provided where there is no suitable public transport options.
"These eligibility criteria are long-standing; transport assistance has been targeted to some degree since school transport assistance was implemented in response to the consolidation of rural schools in the 1920s."
The ministry periodically reviewed its school routes to ensure they were operating within policy, he said.
Meanwhile, the council said bus use in both Dunedin and Queenstown was up over the past six months, 14% and 45% respectively.
Transport manager Lorraine Cheyne said bus patronage in the 2022-23 financial year in Dunedin was now 3% higher than the same period pre-Covid.
The level of missed trips was a nationwide issue exacerbated by the current national driver shortage.
"This is especially an issue in Queenstown."
Interim transport manager Doug Rodgers said on "the worst day" cancellations hit 50%, but on average there were about 25 to 30 missed trips in the resort town per day.
A council spokeswoman said this was about 10% of trips.
Dr Borren said one of the ways the council penalised bus operators for missed trips was not to pay for them.
"That’s the penalty, we don’t pay for missed trips — we don’t want them.
"It’s been a nightmare actually.
"We acknowledge this has been dreadful, particularly in Queenstown."
