The council's Reserves and Beaches Bylaw 2017 was made official earlier this year but the council will hold off on enforcement until the public has time to adapt to the new rules.
Vehicles are now banned from all beaches, but there are exceptions for emergency services, surf life-savers, fishermen and wind-powered buggies.
Council parks and recreation manager Robert West said it the council would take a ''soft'' approach to enforcement and give time for the changes to take hold.
Parks and recreation staff would be speaking to affected community boards about the changes in the next two weeks. Signs explaining the new bylaws would be erected soon, Mr West said.
''It's a fairly soft introduction to it and we've been working on the signage and getting it all lined up so when it came in it was all ready.''
The council would examine how the bylaw was working later this year and increase enforcement if needed, he said.
Otago Peninsula Community Board chairman Paul Pope said he thought the council's approach was right.
People needed to be given time to adapt to the changes, but eventually the council would need to get tougher with enforcement, Mr Pope said.
Residents in communities like Tomahawk, where there had been issues in the past, would wait with ''bated breath'' to see how the bylaw worked in the busy summer months.
''In the past Tomahawk has been one of those places which has issues with burnt-out cars and people racing up the beach so this is a good thing for the community.''
The new bylaw also included a list of beaches at which horses are permitted.
The list included Tomahawk, Smaills, Waikouaiti, Island Park, Ocean View, Westwood, Brighton, Doctors Point, Long Beach, Purakaunui Inlet, Warrington and Whareakeake Beach.
Originally the bylaw proposed to restrict horses to thin strips of sand between dunes and high-water marks, but it was later discovered the Otago Regional Council had jurisdiction for those areas and the city council had to withdraw the change.
Drones are also now banned from ecologically sensitive areas, though drones weighing under 1.5kg are permitted on other beaches and reserves.
Councillors voted to adopt the bylaw in May last year but the implementation was delayed by the 2017 general election, as it needed to be signed off by the Minister for the Environment.
