Edinburgh Trains, Buses and Flights |
Edinburgh is well served by buses , although even locals are confused by the consequences of deregulation, with several companies offering competing services along similar routes. Most bus stops have a useful diagram indicating which services pass the stop and which routes they take.
Most useful are the maroon buses operated by Lothian Regional Transport (LRT); all buses referred to in the text are run by them unless otherwise stated. Timetables and passes are available from their ticket centres on Waverley Bridge or at 27 Hanover St (enquiry line tel 0131/555 6363), or from the city council-run Traveline, at 2 Cockburn St (tel 0800/232323). Of the various passes available, there"s an LRT day pass for £2.20 (£1.50 if you buy it after 9.30am, or £4.20 including the airport bus), or, of course, you can buy individual tickets from the driver, for which you"ll need exact change - the most common fare is 80p. Edinburgh is well endowed with taxi ranks, and you can also hail black cabs on the street. We"ve listed phone numbers for taxi firms. It is emphatically not a good idea to take a car into central Edinburgh: despite the presence of several expensive multistorey car parks, finding somewhere to park involves long and often fruitless searches. In addition, street parking restrictions are famously draconian. Edinburgh is, however, a reasonably cycle-friendly city - although hilly - with several cycle paths . The local cycling action group, Spokes (tel 0131/313 2114, ), publishes an excellent cycle map of the city. TRAINS Waverley Railway Station Edinburgh to: Aberdeen (hourly; 2hr 40min); Birmingham (6 daily; 5hr 30min); Dunbar (hourly; 30 min); Dundee (hourly; 1hr 45min); Falkirk (every 30min; 25min); Fort William (change at Glasgow; 3 daily; 4hr 55min); Glasgow (2-4 hourly; 50min); Inverness (4 daily; 3hr 50min); London (20 daily; 4hr 30min); Manchester (direct: 4 daily; 4hr; change at Preston: 7 daily; 4hr); Newcastle-upon-Tyne (27 daily; 1hr 30min); North Berwick (hourly; 30 min); Oban (change at Glasgow; 3 daily; 4hr 10min); Perth (6 daily; 1hr 15min); Stirling (every 30min; 45min); York (24 daily; 2hr 30min). BUSES Edinburgh (St Andrew Square) to: Aberdeen (22 daily; express 3hr, standard 3hr 50min); Birmingham (2 daily; 6hr 50min); Dundee (22 daily; express 1hr 25min-2hr); Fort William (4 daily; 4hr); Glasgow (every 30min; 1hr 10min); Inverness (13 daily; 3-4hr); London (6 daily; 7hr 50min); Newcastle-upon-Tyne (3 daily; 3hr 15min); Oban (3 daily; 5hr); Perth (21 daily; 1hr 20min); York (1 daily; 5hr). FLIGHTS Edinburgh to: Dublin (Mon-Fri 5 daily, Sat & Sun 4 daily; 1hr); Kirkwall (Mon-Sat 1 daily; 1hr 20min); Lerwick (1 daily; 1hr 30min); London City (Mon-Fri 16 daily, 1 on Sat, 6 on Sun; 1hr 15min); London Gatwick (Mon-Fri 6 daily, Sat & Sun 4 daily; 1hr 15min); London Heathrow (Mon-Fri 20 daily, Sat & Sun 15 daily; 1hr); London Luton (Mon-Fri 6 daily, Sat & Sun 4 daily; 1hr 20min); London Stansted (Mon-Fri 8 daily, Sat & Sun 4-6 daily; 1hr 10min); Stornoway (Mon-Fri 1 daily; 1hr 10min). Edinburgh Airport Hotels M8 MOTORWAY The M8 is the busiest motorway in Scotland. It connects the country"s two largest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and serves other large communities including Livingston, Paisley and the commuter belt towns of North Lanarkshire. The motorway is sixty miles long - excluding a six-mile gap between the Glasgow suburb of Baillieston and Newhouse - and is notorious for the traffic jams associated with its Central Glasgow section. M9 MOTORWAY The M9 leads to Perth via Stirling and then on through Aviemore to Inverness. A9/M90 A90/M90 Goes North over the Forth Road Bridge to Aberdeen (2 hours) via Dundee (1 hour). The A96 then carries on to Inverness. |
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