The Government has introduced changes to the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2), which is in the committee stage, to allow easier transfer of responsibility for public transport from regional councils to city and district councils.
Some city councillors have pushed for the change for years.
Cr Aaron Hawkins said it would be "great news" if the legislation passed.
The city council controlled most roads, cycleways and parking, but not buses, which made it difficult to achieve its ambitions, he said.
In Otago all public transport networks were within territorial boundaries, so it made little sense for them to be run by a regional authority, he said.
Cr David Benson-Pope said part of the advantage of either greater or complete power over public transport in Dunedin was it would make it easier for the city council to lower the cost of rides.
It also fitted with the council's role in urban design.
"Vehicle routes and bus routes are such an important part of that. It makes a lot more sense for this authority to be in control."
Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said although public transport was contained within territorial authority boundaries at present, there were wider plans for Otago and Southland for transport in general which needed to be considered.
"We need to be careful to not over-simplify this and understand how it all fits together."
Collaboration between regional councils, territorial authorities and the NZ Transport Agency was a more effective route, he said.
"There's nothing stopping good collaboration and operating good public transport systems.
"There's great collaboration between TAs and NZTA at the moment and there has been some outstanding success in New Zealand."
Regional councillor Trevor Kempton said transferring authority over public transport was "more political than practical".
Collaboration between the regional and city councils was already necessary and public consultation was needed before major decisions.
In the future there would also be more demand for regional public transport in Otago, he said.
