Fares on Bayhopper and Cityride buses are set to rise from next month.

The rise, of about five per cent to each fare, will see passengers paying for a greater percentage of the cost of running the service.

Schoolhopper fares are not affected by the increase.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council transport policy manager Garry Maloney says council had delayed the fare increase as long as it could, which had initially been scheduled for late last year.

He says bus fares are kept as low as possible and are still highly subsidised with passenger fares making up one-third of what it costs to run the service each year.

'We are fortunate to still have a bus service in this region which is cheaper to use than most other urban networks.”

Depending on the trip, passengers may find their fare has increased slightly more or slightly less than the five percent amount.

'We've had to allow for the fact that a strict five percent rise would not have worked for passengers paying for their fare on the bus with cash, so where appropriate the cash fare has been rounded to the nearest 10 cents.”

The five percent increase will also be applied to passengers using Smartride cards.

'We're proud of the fact that it's still cheaper to travel by bus in the Bay of Plenty than it is in many other New Zealand cities and hope that the more than 13,000 trips taken on the Baybus network each day continue.

For more information about the Baybus network, please visit www.baybus.co.nz or call 0800 422 928.