Changes to Dunedin bus routes were proposed in the council's draft Otago regional public transport plan 2012, which aimed to establish guidelines for all public transport providers in the region for the next six years.
The council recommended a network-wide review of bus routes next year, in keeping with a move away from radial routes running across the city via an Octagon hub.
Instead, a European approach to public transport could see connected lines with co-ordinated timetables and suburban transfer points at which passengers could change to other routes.
Public transport in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch already followed the European approach, which was designed to better cater for customer needs and increase patronage.
It could result in fewer buses travelling into and through Dunedin's city centre.
The draft public transport plan will be considered by the ORC policy and submissions committee at a meeting in Dunedin tomorrow.
A report to the committee recommended the plan be publicly notified so Otago residents could make submissions on its content before a final plan was implemented.
Changes to Wakatipu Basin public transport were also included in the plan, which anticipated all services in the area would operate without public subsidy after an existing trial ended on February 29 next year.
Integrated ticketing and real-time information systems would remain under council management, as well as overall planning for the network, a report to the ORC committee stated.
ORC transport manager Jane Turnbull said the plan would probably be made public on August 18 and, if so, submissions would close on September 22. It was anticipated a hearing committee would consider submissions in early October, and the council would adopt a final document in December for implementation within a month.
The Public Transport Management Act 2008 required the council to prepare a new plan for Otago to replace the 2008 regional passenger transport plan, which expired at the end of last year.
All Otago territorial authorities and registered public transport operators were consulted in the plan's drafting, as were the New Zealand Transport Agency, Ministry of Education and KiwiRail.
The plan built on Otago's regional land transport strategy, the regional council's draft land transport programme, and past submissions to local authorities about public transport.
Feedback from residents through previous consultations would be considered, and some of the recent submissions to the transport committee in respect of public transport had been included in the plan's scope.
Ongoing feedback from bus users would also be studied.
The plan also addressed the council's involvement in procuring public transport services, registration, a total mobility scheme and an integrated public transport network policy.
