The wheels on the bus have been going round and round for a century in Dunedin.
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first bus service to the city.
It is a milestone Bus Users Group spokesman Alex King said should be celebrated by the Dunedin community.
"Dunedin’s always had a very strong service compared to other places around the country, but recently the regional council have put a lot of effort into improving in the past 20 years the quality of our buses.
"The quality of our service that we have today is far better than in past years."
Dunedin’s first municipal bus, a 26-seat Leyland, described by the Otago Daily Times as "a handsome piece of work", started servicing two routes from April 8, 1925.
The bus was constructed by Markham’s Motors on a Leyland chassis imported by Cossens and Black.
"It serves an important role, obviously taking workers to work, and it has done it historically and still does these days, so it’s a sort of social and economical way of getting around.
"I think that with the challenges around transport that we have around the world, there’s probably going to be even a bigger scope for public transport in Dunedin in the next 100 years than there has been in the past."
The Otago Regional Council, which runs the bus service, said on social media all buses in Dunedin were likely to be electric by 2028.
"We’re also introducing a new on-demand bus service in Mosgiel later this year.
"Passengers will be able to call or use an app to book a small, wheelchair accessible electric bus that will pick them up and drop them off within Mosgiel.
"These improvements will help us build on our record-breaking year in 2024, when we had 3.4million trips taken on buses in Dunedin."
ORC transport manager Lorraine Cheyne urged people to submit on the council’s 10-year draft transport plan with their ideas on how to improve the service for the future.
"The buses and trams, and even earlier cable cars, became an iconic part of Dunedin’s earlier times in public transport services; evidenced through many historical photos dating back to the early 20th century.
"Every generation had its favourites, from cable cars in High St, to the clanging of the St Clair-Normanby trams and the beige, 1970s Tiger Tea buses.
"While there may not be a favourite bus in our current fleet, the Route 77 [Mosgiel-City] is a very popular service."
Cr Andrew Noone said Dunedin was "still on a journey" with its bus services.
"We know we have a large customer base out there and we haven’t quite ticked all the boxes, but we’re getting there."
