Dear EBUG Member,
Welcome to the March edition of the EBUG Members Bulletin.
- As candidates get ready for the Scottish parliamentary elections in May, now is a good time for EBUG members to write to them with some or all of EBUG’s ‘election asks’. You can find names and contact details here for both constituency and regional list candidates – please share any responses you receive with us.
- We also encourage members to attend any or all of the following hustings events – each with their own focus; but questions about public transport in general and buses specifically, will be relevant. If you’re wondering about good questions to ask candidates about buses, here’s a couple!
- 26 March: ICE Scotland hustings (with national candidates)
- 31 March: The Scotsman and Scotland 2050 Holyrood election hustings (with national candidates)
- 1 April: ICAS hustings (with national candidates)
- 8 April: Living Rent Edinburgh hustings (with Edinburgh candidates)
- 9 April: Grassmarket Residents’ Association hustings (with Edinburgh Central candidates)
- 16 April: Broughton Spurtle hustings (with Edinburgh North Eastern & Leith candidates)
- In January we commented on the Scottish Government’s 2026/27 budget: Scottish Budget 2026; what’s in it for buses?. The budget was agreed in Parliament in February. It includes £60m for ‘bus infrastructure’, but details are lacking. The allocation for ‘Concessionary Fares and ‘Bus Services’ in 2026/27 is essentially the status quo plus inflation.
- Many bus stops across Edinburgh are being closed by roadworks and other development, sometimes for extended periods or even permanently. There’s a lack of data about these closures, so we’ve published a Bus Stop survey on our website to gather more information. Please tell us about bus stop closures near you using this short form.
- From 22 February, Lothian Buses made a number of service changes affecting west Edinburgh and Midlothian, intended to improve connectivity for new housing developments and local communities.
Bus and tram fares also increased by around 9% for most tickets and passes. This is well above the current inflation rate. Further details can be found on the Lothian website.
- We made two deputations to Edinburgh’s January 2026 Transport and Environment Committee meeting about:
- the lack of any allocation of visitor levy funding to improving bus services
- a motion seeking action to address deteriorating bus journey times.
Further details of our deputations and the subsequent debate and decisions can be found here.
- For “people who live in or regularly travel within or through Midlothian for work, study or leisure” here’s a survey (until March 22nd), which will feed into Midlothian Council’s bus plans.
- We agreed the date for EBUG’s Annual General Meeting; Thursday 24 September 6pm (online only, like last year). Plenty of notice and reminders will be sent!
- With some ‘retirements’ pending, we are looking for members to join the EBUG Committee. If you’d like to know what’s involved, members are welcome to attend our next Committee meeting informally (4 June at 6pm in central Edinburgh) – please contact our chair Harald Tobermann by email for details.