Lothian Buses
Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothian Council 3% and West Lothian Council 1%.
Lothian operates the majority of bus services in Edinburgh, and is a significant operator in East Lothian, Midlothian and most recently West Lothian. It operates a comprehensive night bus network, three routes to Edinburgh Airport, and owns the subsidiary companies Lothian Country, East Coast Buses, Edinburgh Bus Tours, Lothian Motorcoaches and Eve Coaches.
History
The company can trace its history back to the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company of 1871, also involving at various times the tramway companies of Leith, Musselburgh and Edinburgh North. The City Council took over operation of the tramways in 1919, at which time most of the system was cable operated. Electrification of the tram network was completed in 1923, but the first motor buses had arrived in 1919.The city's trams ceased operation between 1950 and 1956, after which the operation became the Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department. In 1965, it purchased its first rear-engined double-decker bus, a Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1. This bus is currently preserved at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum. Almost 600 buses were added to the fleet over the next 17 years.
Following local government reorganisation, Edinburgh Corporation Transport was renamed Lothian Region Transport on 16 May 1975. In January 2000, it was again renamed as Lothian Buses.
Awards
Lothian Buses have won several bus awards for their services to the Lothian region including Bus Operator of the Year in the 2007 UK Bus Awards, and has subsequently been voted Public Transport Operator of the Year at the 2008 National Transport Awards, at which the company was cited for its substantial route development, 32% growth in passenger numbers since 1998 and £100 million investment in low-floor buses since 2000.Lothian Buses was voted Best UK Bus Company in 2002 and 2003. Vehicles previously carried the wording Voted Scotland's Best Bus Company 2006 in a laurel wreath type logo near the fleetname.
In November 2011, the company won the Top City Operator of the Year award at the UK Bus Awards.
In June 2023, Lothian Buses received the Excellence in Transport Accessibility award and the Excellence in Innovation and Technology award at the Scottish Transport Awards. In 2024, the company was named Bus Operator of the Year at the National Transport Awards. Lothian Buses was also awarded the Gold Employer Recognition Scheme Award from the Ministry of Defence and the silver award in the Employer of the Year category at the Scottish Veteran Awards. In 2025, its Lothian Country Service 43 received the Excellence in Transport Best Bus Service award.
Fares
Lothian Buses have operated a flat-fare system since March 2006. Adult and child singles and day tickets, pre-paid multiple singles and 'Ridacards' are also available, with senior citizens travelling on free travel passes in line with the rest of Scotland., an adult single fare is £2.20 and a child fare costs £1.10. An adult day ticket costs £5.50 and a child day ticket £2.75.Cash fares are paid into a hopper, which automatically dumps the money into a vault to which the driver has no access; change is not given.
The Lothian 'Ridacard' bus pass is a pre-paid plastic smartcard giving unlimited travel on regular daytime and night bus services, as well as Edinburgh Trams services. It is purchased initially from a Transport for Edinburgh Travelshop, where the owner's picture is incorporated on the card to prevent misuse. Once purchased, the card can be placed onto an on-board reader, which reads the contactless chip in the smartcard. Cards can be credited for a weekly, 4 weekly or annual period. A warning is displayed on the last five days of validity. The card can then be topped up at Transport for Edinburgh Travelshops or PayPoint equipped retailers.
Lothian Buses launched contactless payment on their day network in 2019. Passengers can pay their fare by tapping their contactless debit or credit card when boarding the bus. Daily and weekly capping apply. Passengers who make just one or two journeys in a day are charged the normal single fares; a daily cap is applied when three or more journeys are made. Weekly capping works on the same principle. Passengers who pay with a debit or credit card can view their journey history for the previous seven days on the Lothian website.
Regular Lothian Bus services running within Edinburgh and the west of East Lothian operate a flat fare, but from Longniddry, Macmerry and Ormiston there is a zonal system with East Coast Buses having six zones.
Network, brands and subsidiaries
Lothian-branded network
Lothian-branded services are the core of the Lothian Buses group. There are some core services in the Lothian network that have followed more or less the same route since they were operated by trams in the 1950s, like services 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 16. However, the routes and timetables of most services are frequently modified in minor ways. For example, in recent years several confusing details such as letter suffixed routes and clockwise/anticlockwise circular services have been removed from the map. In the last ten years, there have been many temporary and permanent diversions in the New Town, including the closure at various times of Princes Street for tram works, George Street for pedestrianisation and Leith Street for the reconstruction of the St James Centre.The majority of current routes pass through the city centre from opposing termini, either crossing or following Princes Street in full or in part. This means that there are some arteries in and out of the New Town that are served by as many as a dozen different routes, such as Nicolson Street and Leith Walk. Some of these services, like services 3, 26 and 37, extend into outlying towns in East Lothian and Midlothian. There are also some more orbital routes, such as service 38.
Liveries
Traditionally, Edinburgh Corporation, LRT and Lothian Buses had been generally painted in a madder and cream livery. When low floor disabled access vehicles were introduced in the late 1990s, they were given their own distinguishing "harlequin" livery, moquette covered seating and brightly coloured floors and walls. The last high step bus was removed from service by Lothian in the late 2000s, making the distinction irrelevant.Lothian began to phase out the harlequin livery in May 2010, replacing it with a version of the traditional madder and white colour scheme. This had sweeping curved lines, having been updated to suit the body shapes of more modern buses. The last harlequin bus was repainted in 2016.
In late 2016 a new livery, known as the fleet of the future livery, was unveiled on a batch of new Wright Gemini 3 Streetdeck style buses, for route 22. The angular shape and style of this livery was a complete departure from anything Lothian had designed before, and as of 2021 is the standard livery for all new vehicles. The livery underwent a minor adjustment when a fleet of new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 XLBs were put into service in 2019, with smoother curves and a lack of a smaller 'cheatline' on the bus's lower sides. While the Enviro400 XLBs carried the coat of arms of the city of Edinburgh on each side, every batch of vehicles bought thereafter have not had the same coat of arms added.
Airlink and other airport routes
Lothian operates three services to and from Edinburgh Airport: Airlink 100, and Lothian City services 17 and 18. The airport is in a separate fare zone from the rest of the Lothian network, which means that fares to and from the airport are higher than the fares charged elsewhere on the network. However, this only applies to Airlink 100. On routes 17 and 18, the airport is treated as being in the same zone as the rest of the city.Current airport routes
runs to Waverley Bridge. Since 30 July 2017, Airlink has accepted contactless card payments as well as cash and ridacard fares.Former airport routes
Lothian also used to have a separate network of bus routes that ran to the Airport from places outside the city centre named Skylink. These routes were withdrawn from service and replaced with conventional city services on 6 April 2025.Skylink 200 commenced on 23 April 2017, running from the airport to the north of Edinburgh, terminating at Ocean Terminal. It was initially operated by single decker buses, but double deckers have been used since 1 October 2017. This route was withdrawn in April 2025 and renumbered as service 17.
Skylink 300 commenced on 1 October 2017, as an upgrade and renumbering of the old service 35, which ran from the airport to the Ocean Terminal via Slateford, Longstone and South Gyle. The 35 had been a way of getting to the airport while only paying the standard Lothian fare, and usually used repainted ex-Airlink vehicles with extra luggage racks. The route was amended on 29 July 2018, shortening the route considerably and introducing a new terminal at Cameron Toll. At the same time, a modified 35 was reintroduced, but this service terminated at Heriot-Watt University rather than the airport. Skylink 300 was withdrawn from the timetable change on 11 September 2022 due to low passenger demand.
Skylink 400 commenced on 29 July 2018 operating to Fort Kinnaird via Gracemount, Fairmilehead, Oxgangs and Colinton. This route was withdrawn in April 2025 and has been renumbered as the 18, bringing back the old route and 'city' fares for the service pre-2018.
Between June 2021 and March 2022, Skylink services 200, 300, and 400 were adjusted to call at the Royal Highland Centre, which was in use as a vaccination centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. These services were reverted to their original routings when the centre closed in March 2022.