‘Not realistic’: tourists queue for cheaper rides

Passengers from the Royal Princess cruise ship queue in George St, Port Chalmers, for the No 14 public bus into central Dunedin after being faced with an eye-watering charge of about $56 to use the provided shuttles.

A passenger on the ship said the price was steep for a short ride, and it was not feasible to pay such high prices in each port city.

"We were in Lyttelton yesterday and we had to bus into Christchurch - again we used the public buses because the price was just so expensive to use the ferry shuttle.

"Paying that kind of money at every port everyday is not realistic for us as a family."

While the wait took a while, he was not too worried as he "understood locals need the service too".

On the public buses, six to eight seats were reserved for locals using the service.

After a bus came to pick up tourists from the bus stop in George St, 50 passengers were still left waiting for the next service.