Mr Bainbridge-Zafar has made the case at both the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council.
"I’m happy for my rates to go up to pay for it," he told regional councillors this week.
"Buses, for a lot of people in our society, are a real lifeline."
Fares, even when they were as cheap as $1 or $2, could prevent someone from attending a job interview, accepting a job offer or getting to a healthcare appointment, Mr Bainbridge-Zafar said.
If two buses were needed to make such a trip, the fares mounted up, he said.
Mr Bainbridge-Zafar, who walks to work and owns a car, said buses were a public service and he did not care if they were funded through rates or taxes.
Services were already heavily subsidised and should be subsidised in full, he said.
He expected there would be climate benefits and benefits to motorists from getting more people on buses.
Asked at the regional council meeting whether free fares should be a higher priority than better service reliability and frequency, Mr Bainbridge-Zafar believed so.
People might be more inclined to try a bus when it was raining if they did not have to worry about spare coins or a Bee Card, and they might later become regular passengers, he said.
Bus fares are due to be discussed at a city council meeting next week.
Cr Steve Walker has brought a notice of motion, calling for the Otago Regional Council to retain $1 fares amid lobbying of the Government to extend a scheme that brought in half-price fares.
The Government’s scheme, brought in as fuel costs climbed, is due to end in February.
Cr Walker’s notice asks that the city council supports continuation of government-funded universal half-price fares for public transport.
