Though it's not possible to travel very far right now, we can all still dream about our next trip to Scotland and hope that we'll be able to welcome you again very soon. You can find more information on visiting Scotland during the Covid-19 recovery phases.
Stagecoach
As more people return to work, government advice continues to be to only travel if your journey is necessary.
Stagecoach would like all their passengers to wear face coverings and have issued detailed and regular reminders to their teams about hygiene good practice and the importance of hand washing.
Stagecoach are continuing to carry out additional cleaning of key touchpoints, encouraging people to follow the physical distancing guidelines and are asking passengers to use contactless as a method of payment to pay for their journey. For more information, please visit the Stagecoach Coronavirus Information and FAQs page.
First Bus
New timetables have been introduced from Monday 3 August, with an increase in frequency on most routes for customers wo need to travel by bus. To view the timetable, please visit the First Bus website.
First Bus are reminding passengers to maintain physical distancing on public transport and are now running more buses to help manage reduced capacity. If you’re waiting for a bus and the bus drives past, it means it has reached its reduced seating capacity. If the bus does stop, but is near capacity, the driver will only allow one person to board for every person that gets off, so you may need to allow extra time for your journey and be prepared to wait. Please remember to bring a face covering or mask for your journey, it needs to fit well and cover your mouth and must be put on before you are boarding. If you have an exemption and you are unable to wear a face covering, please be prepared to inform the driver or show an Extra help card (Journey assistance card).
Further measures have also been put in place for passengers to adhere to physical distancing guidelines with new capacity signs by the entrance of each bus, seat signs and tape to clearly show where passengers should/shouldn’t sit to maintain a safe distance and reminders to be considerate to other passengers while standing is no longer allowed. If you require further help, visit the First Bus Coronavirus advice page.
Lothian Buses
From Sunday 2 August, Lothian will introduce changes to routes and timetables for Lothian Buses, East Coast Buses and Lothian Country to help keep Edinburgh and the Lothians moving as the country continues to move through the Scottish Government's routemap to recovery. To view the revised timetables, please visit the Lothian Buses website.
Lothian Buses will continue to provide a service for those that need to travel and would encourage all customers to plan their journeys in advance using their mobile app or the journey planner on their website.
Lothian Buses will be reopening their Waverley TravelHub on Saturday 11 July for Ridacard customers only, as people start to return to work and begin to make necessary journeys. To ensure everyone’s safety, Lothian Buses have issued the following advice for customers on their website.
Skylink Airport Services will resume on 12 July. The Customer Services team are currently operating a reduced service and it is likely that there will be a delay in responding to customer enquiries. If the matter is urgent, the Customer Services team can be contacted via email to mail@lothianbuses.co.uk. Lost property is now reopen, if your item was lost between 24 March 2020 – 20 July 2020, you will have until Thursday 20 August to collect your lost property and there will be no charge for lost items during this time. For more information on how to practise physical distancing while travelling, please visit Lothian Buses Coronavirus Advice page for guidance on how to travel safely.
Everyone who is considering travel arrangements should remember the guidelines to wear a face covering when travelling by bus or coach and to plan ahead carefully.
Please remember to maintain physical distancing of 1 metre at all times with one person to a seat or by using every other seat where possible.
All of Scotland's major towns and cities are served by short and long-distance bus services. Long-distance buses are known in Britain as coaches and are a popular way to travel across the country.
Coach operators
Most of the inter-city and longer distance coach services around Scotland are provided by:
Tickets for these services can be bought in advance by phone, online, in stations and often on board. For busy routes and when travelling at peak times, such as weekends or national holidays, it's a good idea to book as early as possible to guarantee a seat.
Coach discount fare options
If you plan to do a lot of travelling by coach, save money with multi-journey tickets, such as:
- Explorer Pass - offers unlimited travel on Scottish Citylink network.
- Megarider - offered by Stagecoach and provides unlimited travel within certain areas.
- National Express Brit Xplorer Pass - ideal if you're planning to travel in England and Wales too. This ticket gives you unlimited travel throughout Britain on National Express coaches.