The public outcry over the proposal to remove school buses from the next round of regionally funded bus contracts has seen the final decision set back six months while council staff grapple with the issue.

Staff are recommending the Bay of Plenty Regional Council take more time to investigate solutions to the issues that have been raised as part of the Blueprint engagement.

Ninety per cent of the feedback opposes the proposed school hopper changes, five per cent of the feedback was neutral and three per cent supports the change.

The regional council transport committee is recommending the council extends existing Tauranga BayHopper, Tauranga SchoolHopper, Katikati and Omokoroa and Te Puke contracts through until the end of 2018 – a further six month extension.

Much of the feedback was received through the DriveChange.co.nz website which was activated through an intensive multi-media campaign attracting more than 6000 unique visitors over the feedback period. There were 1370 survey responses. The website accounts for more than 90 per cent of all feedback. In addition to the feedback, a petition of 1700 signatures opposing the changes was received on June 6.

Among submissions received was one from the Sustainable Business Network which says the argument that school buses need to be reduced to help fund a better public bus service is flawed.

The council is not depending on scrapping school buses to obtain NZTA funding for the Bay bus network, so there is no need to cut the services so deeply, it says.

The claimed $1.5 million savings will only save ratepayers about $500,000-700,000 or thereabouts, as user charges cover some of the school service costs and NZTA puts in significant funding. From a Bay of Plenty ratepayer point of view, that is the amount in question, says the submission.