Greater discounts for students and those on low incomes are needed to get more people on buses, interest groups say.
Despite moves for the Dunedin City Council to take over the running of Dunedin's passenger transport system, groups appealed to the regional council at annual plan hearings yesterday to consider fare changes.
Bus Go Dunedin proposed extending a fare discount to all holders of community services cards as the cost of bus fares was an economic bar to many potential users.
Spokesman Peter Dowden said the system worked in some other regions so could well do here.
Brockville Community Development Project co-ordinator Marie Laufiso said that the cost of a bus fare into town was ''prohibitive'' for some Brockville residents and increased the isolation for those who were not in employment or education.
Otago Polytechnic Students' Association spokesman Mark Baxter said having to pay for a two-fare trip to travel a similar distance to that of a one-fare trip was still discouraging some students.
A transfer ticket system would be a good option, he said.
While not ungrateful for the student discount the council had been trialling, a bigger discount had been successful in other centres at pulling students on to buses.
