Bay of Plenty urban bus fares will increase for the first time in seven years from January.

The decision to hike the fares by 10% was made at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s last meeting of the triennium on Thursday.

Urban fares will increase for all services across the region except for long-distance routes.

Affected passengers will pay up to 40c more per trip.

The council’s public transport committee recommended increasing the fares by 25% to get closer to the Government’s cost recovery targets.

Councillor Kat Macmillan said a 25% increase risked losing passengers and she suggested making it 10%.

The council and ratepayers invested millions of dollars in public transport, and council data showed there could be a 9% reduction in patronage if the 25% fare increase went ahead, she said.

Councillor Kat Macmillan said the 25% fare increase was too big a jump. Photo / John Borren

“It’s too big a jump. I think people will notice the difference in their bus fare, and we will lose patronage.

“If we’re investing tens of millions, why do we want to lose 9% of our customers?”

Once people stopped using public transport, it was really difficult to get them using it again, Macmillan said.

Councillor Jane Nees said congestion was a real issue in Tauranga and she did not like the predicted patronage drop for the 25% fare increase.

Especially when many people were not really sure the council’s investment in public transport was a good one, she said.

Public transport committee chairman Andrew von Dadelszen said a fare increase was urgently needed because there hadn’t been one since 2018.

This made it very hard to get a balanced farebox recovery, he said. This is the amount of public transport operating costs covered by passenger fares.

Councillor Andrew von Dadelszen said a bus fare increase was urgently needed. Photo / Alex Cairns

The farebox recovery for the Bay of Plenty was 60c per trip, the second lowest in the country, von Dadelszen said.

The national average was $1.87 per trip.

If the council wanted continued public transport funding from the Government, it was important it showed “genuine action” to increase farebox recovery, he said.

“We have to show that we are committed to getting our finances right in public transport.”

The Government’s farebox recovery goal for the Bay of Plenty was 14.4% by April 1 next year. It was sitting at 10.85%.

Rotorua's urban adult bus fares will increase by up to 30c. Photo / Laura Smith

The council had increased fees for the On Demand bus service and the patronage dropped initially but had recovered, von Dadelszen said.

Councillor Ken Shirley said 25% was not a “great increase” when put into dollars and cents.

The 25% was needed because fares hadn’t changed since 2018, and costs had escalated “massively,” he said.

“We’re right out of kilter.”

There was a very clear message from the Government to increase farebox recovery, so the council was going backwards if it didn’t implement at least a 25% increase, Shirley said.

Council chairman Doug Leeder said emphasising the percentage was “dangerous” and the increase should be highlighted by dollar terms because that was what hit people in the pocket.

Rotorua councillor Lyall Thurston said he represented a marginalised community.

“It’s all well and good for us to sit around here and say that a dollar is not a lot of money, but it’s one hell of a lot of money when you haven’t got it.”

Macmillan’s motion for a 10% fare increase passed by seven votes to six.

The new fares will come into effect from January 22, 2026.

Fare increases

Rotorua urban adult fare: $2.50 with Bee Card, $3.10 cash (up 26c and 30c).

Tauranga urban and Te Puke adult fare: $3 with Bee Card, $3.80 cash (up 28c and 40c).

Whakatāne-Ōhope adult fare: $3 with Bee Card, $3.80 cash (up 28c and 40c).

Long-distance services are unchanged: Katikati-Tauranga, Murupara-Rotorua, Ōpōtiki-Potaka, Tauranga-Te Puke, Waihī Beach, Whakatane-Ōpōtiki and Whakatane-Tauranga.

Last meeting

Councillors Toi Kai Rākau Iti, Kevin Winters, Jane Nees and Doug Leeder are not running for re-election.

There were no speeches from the outgoing councillors at Thursday’s meeting.

After the meeting, Leeder, who has chaired the council for all of his 12-year tenure, said he worked with some great people.

Leeder had “mixed emotions” about leaving, but it was time to pass the reins on to someone else, he told Local Democracy Reporting.

He would continue to run his dairy farm in Waiotahe but had no plans beyond that.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.