Dogs travelling alongside their owners on Canterbury buses are now one step closer to becoming a reality.

The Canterbury Regional Council has supported a notice of motion to include a policy on ‘Pets on buses’ in its draft Regional Public Transport Plan.

Councillor Joe Davies brought the motion to the council.

“This is an exciting step forward for our four-legged friends,” he said.

“I think it’s really important that we look at allowing pets, and specifically dogs, on our buses. This is something the community should have the right to have a say on,” he added.

Currently, only service or disability assist dogs (or those in training to be), are allowed on buses in Canterbury.

“We know that there is some demand in the community to allow dogs on buses, however we need to first gauge how the wider community feels about this before making any changes, which we will do next year to inform the draft Regional Public Transport Plan and any subsequent decisions,” Councillor Davies said.