The Dunedin City Council, which owns the museum, recently decided that its two remaining exhibitions would close until the museum's $35 million redevelopment programme is completed late next year.
Several museum programmes will continue, including school education activities.
Museum conservator Francois Leurquin and preparator Steve Munro have been working on the distinctively-striped "Tiger Tea bus", which is being cleaned and restored for display at the redeveloped complex.
The bus, which has been in the museum's care since 1992, was number 10 in the Dunedin City Transport Department fleet, and began service in 1951, running to Normanby.
It was repainted in the now well-known Tiger Tea colours in 1976.
Retired along with the other remaining Dunedin trolley buses in March 1982, this bus covered 536,827 miles (863,939km) in its 31 years of service, making it the most travelled of the city's trolley buses, museum officials said.
Exhibitions team leader Jennifer Evans said much cleaning and restoration work remained to be done "but we are making good progress".
Much of the work involving artefacts from the museum's transport collection has been happening in the museum's redeveloped former NZR bus station garage, where many sizeable artefacts are located, including the bus and a 1929 Austin 7 car used by the Otago Motor Club as a patrol vehicle to help motorists.
