Edinburgh City Council has just revealed that the cost of getting on a tram will be the same as getting on a bus, with the exception of the fare to the airport and Ingliston Park and Ride.
A ticket for the tram be the same price as a bus ticket. The initial price will be £1.50 for a single adult journey and 70p for a child.
A return ticket to the airport will be £7.50 (£4 child fare) and drivers will be able to take the tram from Ingliston Park & Ride for £2.50 with a £1.50 child fare. The return fare on the Airlink bus is already different as it costs £6 return from Waverley to Edinburgh Airport.
Day tickets will be usable across both tram and bus and Ridacards will be valid throughout the entire route. The bus day ticket is £3.50 which will now include tram journeys too. If you pay £8 then you will be able to get on the tram at the airport and use trams and buses all day long.
Transport Convener Lesley Hinds said: -“The tram will offer a fast, comfortable, convenient and reliable transport option at a very good price. With Lothian Buses, we’ve ensured that the bus and tram ticketing systems are fully integrated for ease of use and to keep costs low.
“Ridacards and day tickets will be usable across bus and tram while a single ticket will be the same price across both. Like most cities there’s an airport supplement and this is part of the business model to ensure the service is cost effective in operation. ”
“With the end of tram works nearing and a passenger service in sight, this is the perfect time to develop a new approach to transport in our city. With their existing knowledge and expertise Lothian Buses is ideally positioned to thrive with the tram and I’m very pleased that we’re working in partnership with them.”
Users of the National Entitlement Card will be able to use their cards on the tram through a Council funded scheme. Earlier this year Councillor Hinds said: “We are determined that Edinburgh residents who are eligible for free travel across the country should be able to use the tram on the same basis. The tram needs to be wholly integrated into the national transport network and, for me, this means that over 60s and people with disabilities should have free use of the service.”
The tram service is now forecast to be up and running for passengers in May 2014, two months ahead of the revised target of July 2014. Plans have been set out for the handover of a section of the tram route between Gogar depot and Edinburgh Park Station for testing in early October with full route testing to take place in December.
The city centre will be clear of tram civil engineering works by October with Haymarket (Dalry Road to Manor Place) now set to reopen to traffic around 12 October and Shandwick Place crescents to open around 19 October.
Last month the Council set out plans to create a new organisation, Transport for Edinburgh, to integrate transport services in the Capital. Transport for Edinburgh will be set up initially to integrate the tram and bus services, with Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams confirmed as the operators.
The project remains in line with the revised budget (£776m) approved by the Council in September 2011, with work either ahead of schedule or in line with the revised timescale reported in December 2011.
Fares
City single
Adult – £1.50 Child – £0.70
Park & Ride single
Adult £2.50 Child – £1.50
Airport single
Adult – £4.50 Child – £2.50
Airport return (to/from airport only)
Adult £7.50 Child – £4.00
Tram & Bus day ticket – city only
Adult £3.50 Child £2.00
Tram & Bus day ticket – Park & Ride & city
Adult £5.00 Child £3.00
Tram & Bus day ticket – network wide including airport
Adult £8.00 Child £4.50
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Will the single tickets be transferable, so that you can e.g. take a bus to Princess Street, then change to the tram to go to Haymarket, and then perhaps get another bus, with a single ticket? This isn’t really clear.
At the moment one big obstacle to use the bus is that you have to get a new ticket at every interchange. So taking the bus usually involves a fairly long walk because it’s not worth buying another ticket for 2 or 3 stops on a second bus that would bring you closer to the destination.
A transferable ticket system also means that the route network can be redesigned and made much faster and more efficient; you don’t need dozens of empty buses piling up along the main routes if people can change, and there can be more express routes with passengers then changing to slower buses for the last few stops close to their destination.
In continental Europe it’s standard that a single ticket allows you to travel for a certain time (2 hours or so) in one direction on any bus, tram or underground, and this works very well. There is usually also a much larger variety of off-peak tickets, season tickets and special offers.
We believe that it will be possible to jump on and off trams and buses with a day ticket as one can right now with buses alone.
“The bus day ticket price will remain £3.50 but will now include tram journeys too and for £8, passengers can get on the tram at the airport and travel on trams and buses all day”
Thank you. But that is a day ticket for 3.50 rather than a single for 1.50, so not really an alternative if you only want to make one journey. Why not introduced transferable singles like in the rest of Europe, to make buses so much more attractive and efficient?
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