At an Otago Regional Council workshop yesterday, the council outlined the terms around consultation on changes to bus fares in Dunedin and Queenstown.
In both areas, a flat $2.50 price is charged at the moment for a trip across the network.
Council transport planner Jack Cowie said the fare structure should be balanced, simple, fair and gather revenue while driving greater patronage.
Cr Andrew Noone said for a number of reasons, including Covid and the need to go to one fare, things had got out of control.
Mr Cowie said zonal fares brought anxiety to many and were viewed with some scepticism.
Flat fees brought short-term gains but were hard to justify in the long term, he said.
The first option would be to continue having one zone in Dunedin and then zones up to Palmerston/Waikouaiti, Hampden and Oamaru.
The second option would have four zones but the Dunedin zone would not include areas such as Portobello and Mosgiel, which would pay $3. Prices would rise in the Palmerston/Waikouaiti, and Hampden and Oamaru zones, going to $5, $7.50 and $10 respectively.
In Queenstown, the options would be one zone for the entire area, including Arrowtown, while the other option was for Arrowtown to be another zone with the cost going up to $3.
Zones needed to be introduced in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes as bus connections could soon spread to places such as Clyde and Cromwell.
Council regional planning and transport general manager Anita Dawe said patronage continued to increase in Queenstown, driven by a growing population and having more buses available.
Fare capping was also on the agenda. Fare capping rewards frequent use by capping the maximum amount a user pays over a given period.
Mr Cowie said fare capping had a positive impact on patronage and increased equity for locals over visitors. The council would need to increase the standard $2.50 fare to $2.70 if capping was introduced to maintain revenue neutral.
Cr Chanel Gardner said it was important the proposal was communicated well and things were kept clear and simple for everyone.
A national ticketing bus system is due to be introduced next year - though it has been delayed before - and Ms Dawe said the government wanted it to be a cashless system.
Mr Cowie said $964,099 cash was used annually in the system and if cash was unable to be used about 25% of revenue from cash sales would be lost.
Driver safety around cash was one of the reasons the government wanted a cashless system.
A paper would come back to the council in a couple of weeks for further discussion, then go out for consultation.
