Buses around Edinburgh - Passes or Individual tickets

Hi Shelley.
You can buy a day pass for around 5 pounds .
It lasts 24 hours, so you can hop on and off on different buses around the city at will.
Have a look at
https://www.lothianbuses.com/

There is also an app for your phone.
As you said, it doesn’t cover trams or airport buses to and from the airport, but you’ll see on the website you can cover a lot of other areas!
Be sure to sit upstairs at the front on the buses for good views!

SJ, I thought you could just scan your credit card.

It's all a bit complicated.

All fares can be paid by contactless.

The airport bus is £4.50. Within the city all rides are £1.80 each with a £4.40 cap- so the cap comes in after your 3rd ride, all other rides being free.

If you use the tram at any point in the day and pay contactless (when the Leith extension opens, especially, you might very well do) then the daily cap INCLUDING the airport bus and city buses is £10.
That £10 includes all Lothian services way out into the surrounding towns and suburbs and that night's night bus services until the next day's services start.

isn31c, based on your explanation it seems simple in a key way - just use your contactless credit card and go on your way.

Thank you for the information.

Yes, it's been very confusing. I think downloading the app might be the easiest. Will that work for the Airport bus though.
I'm not sure what the tram is though. Where is the tram? Thanks

The tram also runs from the Airport to St Andrews Square in the City Centre and sometime in early 2023 is to extend from there to Leith (for the Royal Yacht) and onto a suburb called Newhaven.
Very nice down there and a viable out of centre alternative to stay in.
Supposedly "Spring".
I'll believe it when I see it.
Like Inverness Airport Station due to open December 2022- now just *delayed".
The tram is a perfectly good alternative to the Airport Bus.
There was to be a much larger network but cost over runs and other issues mean that it is a one line network.
People differ in their views as to which is the best route to Waverley, and many resent the "airport premium" on bus and train fares. There is no definitive answer.
Before Waverley Steps into the station were rebuilt I said the bus, now I personally say Tram.
The tram is an arms length company from Lothian buses, but yes Lothian have made their fares system hard work.

Yes the app works on the Airport bus.
This is copy text from the website-
"Pre Purchase tickets
You can pre-purchase airport tickets using m-tickets.

Download the m-ticket app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to pre-purchase Adult or Family tickets.

Please note, m-tickets are valid for one adult per phone, unless you have activated a 2 Adult Airport Return ticket (which is valid for two adults per phone), or a Family Airport Return ticket (which is valid for up to two adults and up to three children per phone).

Once purchased, just activate your m-ticket as you board the bus and show your phone screen to the driver. You have up to 180 days from purchase to activate and use your m-tickets. Find out more about m-tickets.- https://www.lothianbuses.com/mobile-ticketing-faqs/ "

Thank you all for your information. I think as time goes on...it's starting to make sense. I don't think we will use the bus that much. Once we arrive at Airport..take the tram( I need to compare that to the bus, is it faster? or cheaper(I doubt it) It arrives at Waverly Station? Then we will take the bus to accommodations then probably walk. So a day pass wouldn't save us anything. I tried to compare another pass but at 20 pounds it was still no savings. Looks like you'd have to be planning to ride the bus a lot. I'm thinking we will once or maybe twice a day. If the Airport bus was at least included, then it would help.

Both will or should take you just over half an hour.
The bus is £4.50, the tram £6.50.
The bus drops you at North Bridge Street, which is the level access to Waverley Station (the cab road), the tram at St Andrew's Square which is a short walk away, but is closer to the long distance Coach Station- irrelevant to you, personally.
Both have come down Princes Street.
It depends slightly on where you are staying, but I think that unless the traffic is very heavy the bus is probably better than the tram. The tram has multiple stops so keeps filling and emptying with local use. The bus is just airport pax.
The bus is also designed for airport use with oodles of luggage racks.
The tram not.
Probably that factor tips the scales to the bus for visitors. My own preference for the tram is because I never have much luggage for that journey, use trams where we have them and am annoyed at how Lothian withdrew a local airport bus which was not premium fare. I shouldn't let my prejudices affect your level headed practical decision. So bus unless you are staying on St Andrews Square.

Do you have to download tickets or can you just use your contactless as you board? The latter would be easier, imo.

I'm thinking about splurging for a taxi to and from the airport. Never done that before. We'll just use the bus around town.

contactless

isn31c, thank you.

It's a relief to be able to use contactless with no machines to figure out.

Thank you isn31c for the detailed reply. I wasn't sure about the tram that's helpful info. I think the Contactless seems like the way to go for sure. Thanks so much everyone for your replies. Bit by bit things get clearer :)

I found contactless credit card tapping to be simple, especially for as little as you’ll be using the busses. Just tap as you get in and let the machines figure it out. No need to tap again as you leave. (The metro in London required tap in AND tap out with the same card- not sure how the trams work but it’s one more thing to look up).

No need to tap again as you leave.

That's a relief - I hate having to validate when you leave. In Amsterdam, I had to keep drilling it into my brain when I got on the tram or bus so I wouldn't forget.