Providing bus lanes or clearways on intersection approaches are among potential options that were highlighted in a Dunedin City Council document last year.
Other possible moves include a series of changes at intersections, slower speed limits, shifting bus stops, adding pedestrian crossings and cycling facilities and using bus GPS technology to trigger traffic signals at intersections.
The aim of the project is to enable a more efficient bus service for people travelling to and from the south of the city, the council has stated.
The council would start planning for the Princes St bus priority and corridor safety project late this month or early next month, infrastructure and development general manager Simon Drew said.
"We haven’t yet developed options, but aim to give greater priority for buses at traffic lights and improved safety for all road and footpath users at intersections," Mr Drew said.
The council plans to look into demand for parking next to the Oval and potentially tweak what it has described as a confusing layout at the intersection of South Rd and Princes St.
A wide carriageway for Princes St and side streets and "higher than desirable" traffic speeds were also noted in council documentation.
The project has a $6.4 million budget and about half of that would come from the NZ Transport Agency.
It is part of a package designed to minimise traffic disruption during and after construction of the new Dunedin hospital.
Bus delays were often experienced in Princes St, between Kensington and Moray Pl, and in Andersons Bay Rd, between Princes St and the motorway, the council’s 10-year plan stated.
The council planned to develop a business case for the area and identify a preferred approach, Mr Drew said.
Planning work would be completed by the end of this year, he said.
Planning is also to start soon for a park-and-ride facility at Mosgiel that could have up to 180 car parks and allow commuters to take an express bus into central Dunedin.
A similar facility at Burnside is not planned to proceed before 2027.
The first stage of improvements to the harbour arterial route - essentially a bypass of the central city - was completed at the end of last year.
Planning has started for a walking and cycling connection from the harbour cycleway to the city centre and tertiary education area.
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"What will our children have now that ChatBus is gone?"
A good example of schools preparing children for adulthood - where there will be no mental health services available to them as adults either.
One wonders if the $51 million wasted on planning for a now-cancelled cycleway over the Auckland bridge could've been better spent.
"The aim of the project is to enable a more efficient bus service."
Yet they call it a "bus priority and corridor safety project". Why not the Bus Efficiency Project???
Safety has become a dog whistle word to justify forcing inconvenience on the population.
Giving busses priority in the CBD will NOT make the service more attractive in a city the size of Dunedin, with its weather and geography.
It will not facilitate contact with family and friends that live across the city, nor access to other commercial and retail areas around the city.
Save the money for when Benson-Pope's famed autonomous fleet of EVs are available.
Higher than desirable speeds might lead them to think it's already fairly efficient.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the residents up the hill in City Rise are bypassed by a bus service.
This is good and all.. but can somebody look into why there are so many maskless bus drivers?
This is all just more anti car stupidity.
Exactly how can any project be costed at $6.4 million when they have no idea what they will do? Other than some vague idea that removing cars and parking from Princess St will make bus runs faster and magically more attractive.
And somehow making vehicle traffic more difficult on Princess St will alleviate the mess this council wants to create around the hospital build.
This bunch of greens councillors and DCC planning department are simply willing to throw ratepayer money at any pipe dream which might get one more person to ride a bus or a bike. It ok though, ratepayers are a bottomless pit of money.
The greens want to make Dunedin a more attractive place to live. Start by cutting rates by 10%, not increasing them year on year.
Another year, another way for DCC to waste ratepayers money. For Dunedin, a town with hardly any traffic, yet another manifestation of DCC’s delusions of grandeur!