But it’s not all about getting to work or going to the shops. Buses are also important for tourists; and when it comes to election time, visiting politicians often arrive by battle bus .
This selection of old photos taken from the Evening News archive give a glimpse of life on the buses three decades ago.
There’s a vintage bus from the museum, a model bus built for charity, some old shots of the bus station and one or two crashes as well.
Scroll through and get a feel for some of the ways buses featured in the Capital’s life in the 1990s.
9. Model bus
These workers from Edinburgh bus company LRT (Lothian Region Transport) finish painting the model bus they planned to enter in the Evening News Charity Walk in October 1991. | TSPL Photo: Alan Ledgerwood
10. Eastern Scottish buy-out
Eastern Scottish managing director Andrew Gall, right, with Scottish Office minister Lord James Douglas-Hamilton after it was announced in August 1990 that the company's management and staff had won the £10 million battle to take over the business in the Government's privatisation of Scotland's bus industry. | TSPL Photo: Jack Crombie
11. Russell Road bridge crash
An SMT double decker with Hearts fans on board crashed into the low railway bridge in Russell Road in March 1996. | TSPL Photo: Bill Henry
12. Tony Blair battle bus
Labour leader Tony Blair and his wife Cherie on their Battle Bus in Edinburgh during the 1997 general election, which he won by a landslide, ending 18 years of Tory rule. | TSPL Photo: Julie Bull