He said the details of exactly how the trial would work were still being figured out.
Of the Tauranga City Council funding, $500,000 will go towards bringing forward bus priority measures on the city's roads in 2018-19.
The council's infrastructure manager Christine Jones said there was no point the regional council investing in buses only for them to be stuck in traffic.
The other $411,000 will go to the regional council to make up for lost revenue over the next two years.
Some elected officials were not sure how much impact the trial would have on congestion, but said the community support for it was so strong it was worth trying.
"Use it or lose it. If it's not used there is no point in keeping it going," Greg Brownless said.
Councillor Larry Baldock said he was skeptical the councils would be essentially offering a free service for kids whose parents already paid for them to take the bus.
"We should pull the plug if that's the case."
Councillor Bill Grainger said he was confident the service would be popular.
"I've stood on the ramps handing out fliers... every third or fourth vehicle is mum or dad taking the kids to school."
Welcome Bay resident Anna Larsen, who helped lobby both councils to bring back free school buses, said the funding approval was "exciting news".
"It just proves the squeaky wheel gets the most attention."
She said she paid $16 a week at the moment to put her daughter on a school bus.
She knew families with three or four school-aged children who drove them to school because it was cheaper.
"Getting kids back on free school buses is the first step towards sorting out Tauranga's traffic. But it is just one element."
Larsen said it might take awhile for some parents to change their habits, and for some who worked in town driving the kids to school might still be more convenient.
