{"id":692972,"date":"2026-01-13T10:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/692972\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:28:16","slug":"reports-show-significant-increase-in-edinburgh-public-transport-usage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/692972\/","title":{"rendered":"Reports show significant increase in Edinburgh public transport usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDINBURGH\u2019S\u00a0bus<\/a> and\u00a0tram<\/a> operators have announced a sharp uptick in usage in 2025, with more than 130 million customer journeys recorded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lothian Buses<\/a> recorded\u00a0nearly 120\u00a0million customer journeys, a sharp 2.6% increase from the 116 million recorded in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Edinburgh Trams<\/a> recorded 12.5 million journeys across last year, a 3.3% increase on the 2024 total of more than 12 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This increase has been put down to an increase in the number of visitors to the city for high-profile concerts and a busy\u00a0festival season, but also to an increase in adoption among locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Edinburgh's<\/a>Edinburgh\u2019s trams have expanded in size since 2023, with a commensurate expansion to usage (C) trainphotos \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

In an announcement, Lothian Buses called these figures \u201crecord-breaking\u201d,\u00a0with the highest number of recorded journeys on trams and buses since lockdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These figures\u00a0still\u00a0pale in comparison to pre-pandemic public transport usage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edinburgh recorded a pre-pandemic peak of 231 million bus and tram journeys in 2019, showing that there is still potential for even greater usage going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public transport saw heavy patronage during a busy festival season, with ticket sales holding steady from last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further strain was also placed on bus and trams during the summer months, with several high-profile concerts taking place at Murrayfield Stadium and the Royal Highland Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The introduction of contactless payments and tap-on, tap-off technology on trams has also allowed more seamless and streamlined travel on Edinburgh\u2019s sole tramline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarah Boyd,\u00a0chief\u00a0executive of Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams, said:\u00a0\u201cOur bus and tram network sits at the heart of the city, providing reliable,\u00a0inclusive\u00a0and accessible public transport for the hundreds of thousands of customers who travel with us every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strong commercial performance reflects the dedication of our people, both on the frontline and behind the scenes, who work tirelessly to deliver consistently high-quality services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we look ahead to 2026, we remain committed to managing cost pressures to ensure that we can continue to invest in the delivery of an integrated, dynamic and fit for purpose public transport network that meets the demands of our growing capital city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City of Edinburgh Council is planning to expand Edinburgh\u2019s tram network, with work on a north-south line in the planning stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A consultation on the plans, which generated controversy due to their perceived adverse impacts on greenspaces and biodiversity, closed in November last year, with most respondents being in favour of a tram expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Transport and\u00a0environment\u00a0convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said:\u00a0\u201cEdinburgh\u2019s outstanding public transport network is the backbone of our great city, keeping the Capital moving every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new figures clearly show how popular our buses and trams are with our residents and visitors, and my thanks go to our valued colleagues at Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams for their\u00a0great work\u00a0over the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve no doubt that this will continue in the year ahead as these excellent companies work ever closer together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to deliver on our ambitious\u00a0city\u00a0mobility\u00a0plan, and face into the many challenges of managing a growing, successful city, our tram and bus services will remain at the heart of our response.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDINBURGH\u2019S\u00a0bus and\u00a0tram operators have announced a sharp uptick in usage in 2025, with more than 130 million customer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,209243,1102,197786,13570,161381,4884,29072,20149,712,1263,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-692972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-bus-usage","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-edinburgh-buses","12":"tag-edinburgh-trams","13":"tag-edinburgh-transport","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-lothian-buses","16":"tag-public-transport","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-transport","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115887323503874637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}