Edinburgh: TapTapCap or Lothaian APP or both
 

What is the easiest way to pay for bus or tram tickets while in Edinburgh? I know we will walk alot but I hate hunting around for ticket machines if we don't have to. Thankyou

How many times do you think you'd use public transportation... over how many days? We a contactless credit card (with no foreign currency fees) for the 3-4 times we took a bus in Edinburgh. I don't know if some sort of pass would have been cheaper, but I doubt the savings would have amounted to much in our case. Using a credit card was certainly simple. I think the trams are operated by a different company, and tickets must be purchased in advance... but check that. We didn't take any trams.

I have learned that they will from May 19 include also the trams in the taptapcap. https://edinburghtrams.com/tap-tap

So you just tap your credit card like we do in NY? A the turnstile? Thanks

On buses, there were card readers next to the driver.

Buses just tap once near the driver when boarding as Jean says. But for the tram you need to tap on AND tap off - making sure to use the same credit card both on and off. Only one passenger can use the same cc.

We used the tram to go roundtrip from St Andrews Square to the Royal Yacht Britannia and there was a ticket machine right at the tram stop.We did use a bus one day as well but cannot recall how we paid so can't be more helpful with that.