However, the parties involved are not talking up the progress likely to be made at the meeting scheduled for August 31 and the agenda appears to lack specificity.
It has been characterised as a prelude to thrashing out an agreed approach for public transport in Dunedin and Queenstown.
Responsibility for bus services rests with the Otago Regional Council and frustration about constraints associated with the broader system have been building amid calls for the Dunedin City Council and Queenstown Lakes District Council to take over.
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins has called for local authorities to have more influence in decision-making.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said existing services were some way off what they should be.
Debate about the best model for the future has taken place at the same time as a national driver shortage and illness, resulting in some services being curtailed.
Driver pay rates have also been an issue.
Otago Regional Council chairman Andrew Noone said the agenda for next week’s meeting was "informal discussion" to enable the mayors to express the scope of what aspects of public transport they were wanting to discuss formally later.
This would allow the regional council to prepare, he said.
Mr Hawkins said the Dunedin and Queenstown Lakes councils wanted a transfer of responsibility for public transport services, but the regional council had been unwilling to allow this, so far.
The two mayors wanted to explore alternative arrangements to give their councils more influence in the meantime.
"That’s what we asked for in May, a meeting to discuss possible alternatives, and we were given assurances then that it would happen," Mr Hawkins said.
"It’s scheduled for next week."
Mr Boult, who is not seeking re-election, said he wanted to see "runs on the board" in the matter before his departure.
Mr Hawkins has not always been on the same page as some of his own council concerning the tenor of discussions with the regional council about the future of bus services.
Last year, he voted against requesting a meeting with the regional council to discuss working together on public transport issues, ideas and improvements.
The meeting happened anyway, in March this year, and city councillor Carmen Houlahan said it was productive.
Fellow councillor Jules Radich said public transport was most effective when it was convenient and reliable.
He suggested matters such as power, control and price were not the right focus.
Otago regional councillor and transport committee chairwoman Alexa Forbes said she could understand the frustrations of the mayors and shared many of them.
Such issues had been discussed at several meetings, she said.
Plans announced by the Government to adjust the model for public transport delivery created new opportunities.
"The new framework gives us permission to do many of the things that could not previously have been achieved," Cr Forbes said.
"We all want a system that is regular, reliable, inexpensive and serves to reduce reliance on the private car while making transport available for all ages."
