Canterbury prop Chris King tackles Otago lock Josh Dickson in Dunedin last Saturday, the day after the red and blacks bused south from Christchurch.

Chris King had to delve deep into his memory bank to recall his last bus trip from Christchurch to Dunedin.

The 37-year-old Canterbury prop figured it was about 20 years ago, but that changed last week due to New Zealand Rugby's (NZR) new travel policy for the Mitre 10 Cup, a result of the organisation's wider budget review.

NZR has increased the threshold for bus travel to six hours or less - up from four hours or less - saving a "significant amount" of money on air travel, head of provincial rugby Steve Lancaster confirmed.

Including Canterbury embarking on a road trip to Dunedin for last weekend's fixture against Otago, five teams are impacted this year.

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"A lot of these policies have been in place for a long time, and competition structures have evolved and different factors change. We just went through an exercise last year in looking at all of our cost lines and seeing if they are still valid, are their potential savings?" Lancaster said.

"This is one where we thought, on balance, would be a reasonable change to the policy which could drive some savings for us, without having too much of a detrimental impact on teams."

Taranaki bused 295km from New Plymouth to Rotorua to play Bay of Plenty in round one, Bay of Plenty travelled 287km from Rotorua to Napier to play Hawke's Bay in round four, and Waikato got to enjoy their Shield victory against Taranaki on the road, after busing the 241km between New Plymouth and Hamilton, the same week.

Given Thursday night's match between Manawatū and Bay of Plenty is the Turbos' third game in eight days, they will bus the 332km between Palmerston North and Rotorua one-way, and jump on a plane for the other leg.

KAI SCHWOERER/GETTY IMAGES Waikato, one of five teams impacted by the new travel policy, bused to New Plymouth from Hamilton when they won the Ranfurly Shield earlier this season.

NZR consulted the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, and impacted teams, during what Lancaster called a "pretty straight forward' process.

"It's not hugely onerous, the step up from four hours to six hours by bus.

"We spoke to all teams that were affected by it. In a couple of cases we listened and said, 'no, you're right actually, the risks around delays are too great, so let's just leave that as a flight,'.

"The unions were really pragmatic and realised that it's expensive to fly teams around the country, and if we can reasonably have teams travel more frequently by bus then it makes the competition more economically viable, as well."

DIANNE MANSON/GETTY IMAGES Canterbury fullback George Bridge, who ran in one of his team's seven tries against Otago last week, was chipper ahead of their bus trip to Dunedin.

The Canterbury Rugby Football Union (CRFU) and NZR compromised over their round one fixture against Tasman in Blenheim, a match Lancaster confirmed the red and blacks were slated to travel to by bus.

However, CRFU officials cited the condition of Sate Highway 1 and the risk of road closures in arguing they should fly.

"If there was road closures, they would have to go through the Lewis Pass and, of course, then you've got the risk of snow. We all agreed that actually it made more sense for them to fly.

"In fact, it was Canterbury who said 'how about we bus to Dunedin instead?',"Lancaster said.

While the number of teams impacted could change next year, under the policy no team would be impacted more than once in a season.

"We will be mindful of that when constructing the draw . . . we try and limit the impact and spread it across teams," Lancaster said.

Canterbury were chipper ahead of their road trip to Dunedin last Friday and, as the self proclaimed "old hand" in the team, King was quick to claim the back seat.

The reigning champion red and blacks won 47-25, their fifth bonus point win of the season.