When the Edinburgh tram isn't running, is there an official alternative from the airport?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 13 Aug, 2023
- |
Get the bus.
Edinburgh’s trams are a local disaster story. Given contracting disputes, failed planning and key individuals resigning (see this BBC article for more info), Edinburgh council has spent 7 years and £1 billion building a single tram line that is both slower and more expensive than the existing airport bus service.
If you get the express “airport bus” (#100) it costs £4 and takes about 30 minutes to the city centre (Princes Street).
If you get the tram, it costs £5 and takes about 40 minutes.
There are other buses (e.g. #35) from central locations to the airport – it would depend on exactly where you have to go. These cost £1.50 but are a lot slower. It’s possible you accidentally took one of these, because I can’t think of any other way the bus would have been slower than the tram.
As for refunds, I would recommend either asking the member of tram staff who told you to get the bus whether your ticket would be valid, or simply going back to the ticket office where you bought the ticket and demanding a refund there. The tram ticket you got is not normally valid on the bus, and I doubt the bus driver himself would be authorised to change that. I suspect you were probably just lucky that you got a kindly driver that waived your fare.
Incidentally, since the trams charge £1.50 for “city zone” travel and “city zone” is defined as all stops except the airport, you could get a normal (not express) bus to the next tram stop, which would only cost you £3 in total (£1.50 for the bus to the next tram stop and then £1.50 for the tram ride), rather than £5.
Sources:
* Edinburgh Airport transport links
* Google Maps
* Personal knowledge of the city
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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