Edinburgh bus services: Lothian Buses announces cheaper fares and new routes for west Edinburgh

Bus passengers have been promised cheaper fares in parts of West Edinburgh from the end of the month.

Lothian Buses announced it was reducing ticket prices for journeys on the No 43 service between the city centre and Queensferry, Newbridge and Dalmahoy from Sunday June 30.

The Lothian Buses No.43 service will see cheaper fares to Queensferry, Newbridge and Damahoy from June 30. | Lothian Buses

An adult single ticket will be cut from £3 to £2; a child fare will be reduced for, £1.50 to £1; an adult day ticket, currently £5.50, will fall to £5 or £4.80 with TAPTAPCAP contactless; a child day ticket will drop from £2.75 to £2.50; and a family day ticket will coe down from £13.50 to £10.50.

Customers will also now be able to use a LATEticket if travelling after 6pm for £4.50 and will see NIGHTsingle tickets reduced from £5 to £3.

The fare reductions comes the Lothian Country “cityWEST” zone becomes an extension of the “city” fares zone, with Lothian DAYticket, LATEticket, Family DAYticket and countryWEST DAYticket now also being valid in cityWEST zones.

Lothian Buses managing director Sarah Boyd said: “These changes have only been made possible as a result of successful and sustained customer growth on our Lothian Country network. The implementation of this change will help improve boarding speeds and end to end journey times on our service 43, where customer numbers have grown over 50 per cent since its launch in 2017.”

The company has also announced new services for west Edinburgh starting on Sunday, June 30, following the award of new contracts for subsidised bus services by Edinburgh Council

Service 20 will be operated by Lothian and run hourly, Monday to Saturday, between Slateford, Kingsknowe, Westside Plaza and The Calders, from Monday July 1.

Service 32 will be operated by Lothian and run hourly, Monday to Saturday, between Balerno, Currie, Heriot-Watt University, Hermiston park and ride, the Gyle Centre, Cammo and Cramond, from Monday July 1

Service 70 will be operated by Lothian Country and run hourly, each day, between the Gyle Centre, Ratho Station, Ratho and Hermiston park and ride, from Sunday June 30. Ratho and Ratho Station are now part of the revised cityWEST fare zone.

And Service 71, operated by Lothian Country, will run hourly, each day, between Queensferry, Kirkliston and the Gyle Centre, from Sunday June 30. Queensferry and Kirkliston are now part of the revised cityWEST fare zone.

Ms Boyd said: “We recognise the ongoing developments and opportunities in west Edinburgh and are fully committed to maximising the role that the bus network can play in delivering an inclusive and accessible transport solution.”