The Anonymous Widower

Buses In Edinburgh

Whilst in Edinburgh, I travelled several times on Edinburgh’s buses. They may be understandable to those, who live in the city, but they don’t have the bus maps everywhere, that Londoners and most tourists like in London.  So if you’re not with a guide, it can be difficult to find the bus and the appropriate stop for where you want to go.

I was staying with a friend, just outside the city centre, and she can take buses from two companies to get home.  So, although you can buy a 24-hour ticket for each company, you can’t buy one for all of the buses that use Edinburgh.  And of course, I can’t use my English bus pass in Scotland. I have wondered how many English, who fancy a weekend away, don’t go to Scotland, as their bus passes are not valid.  Surely, every UK bus pass, should be valid all over the UK, to encourage tourism.

But the fact that there is no 24-hour pass for the whole of Edinburgh, was a total surprise to me. Many cities in England and of course London, have systems to give 24-hour travel to everybody, who wants it. Surely, this problem will be solved, when every city in the world follows London and allows a bank or credit card to be used as a ticket. There’s a lot here on contactless ticketing with bank cards.

Talking of tickets, will you need a third 24-hour ticket, for the trams in Edinburgh?

Edinburgh has the silly single door buses, that don’t announce their stops, that still persist outside London.  Was this why on my several trips on Edinburgh’s buses, I never saw a mother with a baby in a buggy or anybody carrying anything heavy?

What summed up the badly planned nature of Edinburgh’s buses, was this timetable on a stop.

How Not To Do Bus Information

Note how to text to find the next bus, you have to type in an eight-digit number and then use a full mobile number.  In London, which appears to be a much bigger city than Edinburgh, all stops are covered by codes that are just five digits and you text the same short number of 87287 at every stop.

I also think that as you can get the buses of two companies from the stop I was using, you actually have to use a different system to get the times for the other company. London,which has several bus companies, merges all the routes and companies together.

October 24, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Buses, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Tram, Information, Ticketing