Even so, the Dunedin Cable Car Trust remained adamant that the city council should not be asked to pay for the scheme to link Mornington with the Exchange.
Confirming the preliminary costings this week, trust chairman Phillip Cole said there was a chance that private partners would have to help fund the project.
The trust had been speaking to private investors and the response so far had been encouraging.
"Whatever we do, we want to make it clear that we are not asking for any financial contribution from the council," Mr Cole said.
"As soon as you do that, you immediately get opposition based on the impact that may have on rates and we think there must be better alternatives."
The trust took its plans for a 1.5km cable car line to the city council last year. Another group proposed a cable car up Stuart St at the same time.
An independent study questioned both plans but found the High St proposal, a commuter service where 20% of the passengers would be tourists, was more practical.
The trust committed to doing more detailed work, and to asking the community what it wanted.
Mr Cole said the idea had been developed further and that feasibility work was being undertaken to develop a realistic price-tag. The council was told last year that the project could cost as much as $19 million to complete.
New - and likely to be revised - figures suggested it could cost between $13 million and $15 million.
That would include the cost of buying three or four cars, laying the track, and building the Mornington terminus, Mr Cole said.
"This is a significant cost, so it is important that we only proceed when we are sure that it is going to work, that it can be proven to be workable, and when we have the costs right.
"And we have to know that we are doing something that people want."
He hoped most of that cost could benefit local businesses, including the railway workshops at Hillside Engineering. It was a "regional community project", he said.
The trust was planning a public open day for High Street School for September 11. The plans will be made public and people will have the chance to comment on them.
