Councillors at yesterday's long-term plan (LTP) deliberations voted to support in principle the transfer of public transport governance from the Otago Regional Council to the DCC as early as July 1 next year.
In the meantime, the DCC would approach the ORC to discuss creating a joint forum of representatives from both organisations.
The forum would oversee due diligence work before any transfer was confirmed, and make a recommendation back to both councils within the next year.
It would also potentially give the city council more say on the future of the network until any decision on a transfer was confirmed.
The decisions - prompted by Cr Jinty MacTavish's resolutions - came despite warnings from some councillors that any transfer should not be seen as a fait accompli.
Cr John Bezett supported the creation of a forum, but not a transfer, and expressed ''a serious suspicion'' the forum could be stacked with supporters of the change.
''There's councillors who want this to happen ... but equally there's councillors opposed to it.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said, if the ORC agreed to the creation of a joint forum, he would call for expressions of interest from councillors wanting to sit on it.
Cr Bezett accepted that, but remained concerned the process was being rushed.
That prompted council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose to suggest a proposed report on the forum's creation, scheduled for February 23, would instead come back to council ''as soon as possible''.
Cr MacTavish, speaking earlier, said the proposed transfer came with risks, and due diligence work was needed, but the biggest risk was what the DCC faced if it could not align public transport with its other strategic planning efforts.
Cr Aaron Hawkins said public satisfaction with the existing service was below 50% in three key measures, and the DCC needed to improve the service.
He was concerned decisions about Dunedin's public transport service were influenced by ORC politicians from Queenstown, Wanaka and other regional centres.
Other councillors remained concerned, including Cr Lee Vandervis, who said he had previously supported a transfer, but now opposed one because the ORC had improved the service.
The ''very significant'' drop in petrol prices had shifted the economic balance in favour of private motor vehicles, he believed.
Mr Cull said demand for public transport would be fuelled by the city's ageing population.
Cr Hilary Calvert said she was also ''hugely uncomfortable'' about any assumption the council would proceed with a transfer without enough information.
Deputy mayor Chris Staynes said councillors needed to decide first whether that arrangement was the best approach for Dunedin's public transport or not.
Cr Kate Wilson said the decision was ''not necessarily an easy choice'', but the DCC needed to ''start looking at it''.
Cr Neville Peat said the council was ''keen, but cautious'', while Cr Andrew Whiley worried the DCC's interest could encourage the ORC to defer planned investment in the network.
Cr David Benson-Pope said the council would proceed cautiously, but supported the progress, saying the city had been ''poorly served'' by ''ageing and inappropriate vehicles'' despite recent ORC improvements.
Mr Cull said he agreed a transfer was needed, because of the ''absurdity'' of the city's public transport decisions being influenced by ORC politicians who lived outside the city.
Councillors voted to proceed, with Cr Vandervis recording his vote against the move.
