But Cr Andrew Noone said it would be "dumb" to go against government policy.
Councillors adopted the Otago Regional Council regional public transport plan 2025-35 at yesterday’s council meeting.
A staff report said despite "strong public support" for retaining free fares for children under 12 years old, there was "strong opposition" from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) for the concession.
"When setting concessions, public transport authorities must align with the direction of the [government policy statement] and New Zealand Transport Agency’s fares and funding policy direction to be eligible for co-funding," the staff report to councillors said.
Council regional planning and transport general manager Anita Dawe said the council’s position was a balance between councillors’ expectations, community expectations and government expectations.
"And it has been a tricky balance this time."
Among changes for bus users yesterday, councillors agreed to raise fares for adults from $2 to $2.50 and to make 5- to 18-year-olds pay $1.50 — ending free fares for children under 12 years old.
Cr Noone, who is the council’s public and active transport committee co-chairman, thanked staff who "worked tirelessly" to prepare the plan.
Like most of the councillors he expressed uneasiness about charging children to take the bus, but said "we need to take note of what NZTA is saying".
"They made it pretty clear there could well be implications to existing services if we do not step up and ensure that we increase private revenue.
"Like others around the table, I’m just not prepared to take the risk by ignoring government policy — it would be at our peril.
"I’m just nervous about, as others have said, losing existing services.
"I just think that would be dumb to go down that pathway."
Cr Michael Laws said making children pay to use buses could become "extraordinarily expensive" for those families struggling with the cost of living.
Cr Laws said at $1.50 a day the cost for a family to send one child under 12 to school on the bus would cost $600 a year.
Fares for children went counter to Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s "truancy crusade", Cr Laws said.
"Here’s a financial barrier that we’re imposing upon probably exactly those kinds of families who can least afford this particular fare increase."
He along with Cr Kevin Malcolm voted against the plan.
Council chairwoman Cr Gretchen Robertson said the council was one of the best-performing transport authorities in terms of generating private revenue from public transport.
"At a local level we do understand the levers to pull and we do understand how to run buses.
"We’re not rewarded for our success; instead we are penalised and threatened with removal of current services and that’s simply not OK."
Cr Kate Wilson convinced councillors to write to Transport Minister Chris Bishop, Education Minister Erica Stanford and Mr Seymour to express concern about the unintended consequences of raising child fares to meet the government’s goals for a private revenue share, noting it could potentially affect school attendance rates.
Alongside the fare increases, a structure involving "fare zones", where people pay more for longer trips, was approved.
However, there is no timeframe for the introduction of zones within Dunedin and Queenstown at present.
A business case to assess Wānaka’s public transport options will also go ahead following strong public support.
