Lothian Buses Reviews 

What a horrible company and totally useless app.

You might think that the app would tell you the time a bus will be in a stop, because each bus it is supposed to share their location. Be sure that the bus will be 3 stops ahead at the time that is shown on the app.

Previous app worked much much better. After having used the latest version for months, I can still say that it is totally useless, worse than useless. Unreliable.

Some drivers are very unhelpful and don’t know where the rout of the bus goes when it is diverted.

They are lucky that there is no other bus company because many would never use them again.

Law unto themselves,ZERO customer service. Passengers regularly say thank you driver but drivers rarely acknowledge their passengers.Staff don't have any customer service nous and honestly their personal hygiene is disgusting. There's no competition here in Edinburgh, hence Lothian buses are a law unto themselves and continue to get away with atrocious and unprofessional behavior!

I've took the bus 14 number from pennywell cottages to greendykes terminal bus was delayed by 4 minutes that's completely ok I sat in the bus at 2pm I don't know how the driver is driving it's so slow even though this is not even rush hour there is not much traffic but I think driver is unable to drive this from 4 minutes he delayed the bus for almost 21 minutes. It's so frustrating.

How would you feel if you wave for a bus, the bus pulls in, and then the driver speed up without you in the bus?
Isn't that rude?

Very rude driver with terrible customer service skills.

Bus 100, time 15.23, date 17.11.25

Cuz i lost my bus card and i found it again but i applied for new card so my card has been blocked so today i was going to school and i was late the bus driver didn't show kindness but an other lady helped me heartless driver don't have heart for kids and edution just I'm from another country

As reliable as an emergency locksmith on Xmas day, you can set your watch.... on the tracker being wrong

Bus service 12 at 13:12 failed to stop for me. Standing at the Exchange bus stop, saw the bus, stuck my arm out and the driver just sped past me. This is the 2nd time this week! It is absolutely shocking that your bus drivers don't have the competence to stop at a bus stop. Also, after the alleged "timetable adjustments" the X18 from armadale to Edinburgh is still severely delayed. Half hourly service regularly turns near hourly as buses continue to be up to 30 minutes late.

Extremely Disappointed with Public Transport Services & Waverley Travel Hub

My experience with the public transport services, particularly the customer service at the Waverley Travel Hub, has been consistently disappointing. There is a serious lack of flexibility and absolutely no sense of kindness or professionalism from staff.

It's almost impossible to ask a simple question without having to wait in a queue. Even on occasions when more staff are present, the policy is rigid — no exceptions, no quick questions. I once politely asked if I could quickly clarify something and the staff member simply shook his head and said, “No, no, I have finished,” without even making eye contact. Incredibly rude and dismissive.

The cancellation policy for the bus pass direct debit is beyond absurd. Even after submitting a cancellation request online — which deactivates the pass immediately — they insist you physically return the card before issuing a refund for the remaining weeks. What is the logic behind this? I’m unable to use the pass, yet I must take time off work, pay for a separate ticket, and queue again, just to return a card? And if you go the next month, they’ll suggest you just keep the card in case you want to reactivate.

When I tried to express that this wasn't making any sense to me, and asked if there was a way to pass on feedback to Lothian Buses, the staff member was incredibly rude and dismissive. She repeated, “Everyone needs to wait in the queue,” and said I should have come as said on the email — even though their opening hours are exactly the same as my working hours (9 to 5). No empathy, no apology, no willingness to listen — just robotic and disrespectful treatment.

This level of customer service is unacceptable. It’s clear that convenience, respect, and basic customer care are not priorities here. Very disappointing and frankly, disgusting service. Waverley Hub and Lothian Buses seriously need to rethink their approach and policies if they care at all about their customers.

Bus 21 to clovenston @11:27pm didn’t stop for me to board -at ‘Junction place bus stop’ even though I was at the stop from not far from foot of the walk, was it because I’m black? It’s freaking cold in the night of October 2nd, saw the bus coming raise my hands but he just passed by which is totally wrong! I live and work full here time pay my taxes and got the monthly pass so why would the driver do that to me??? Im sad and not happy at all.

My hubby “lost” his wallet this morning, noticing 5 mins after leaving the bus! Long story short an hour later he was reunited with it thanks to a chap called Simon who answered the phone when I called. He quickly contacted the possible drivers and rang me straight back, telling me which bus to meet and where!
Unbelievably fantastic customer service! Thanks so much guys.
Needless to say our next stop is to buy the hubby a man bag!!

At this time I am sitting in the 3 service heading for Edinburgh. This bus should have been at my stop no later that 07:35. Today I had to wait until 07:50,which means that by the time I do arrive in Edinburgh I will be late for my work. I have complained to LRT about their so called restructuring before but they don't care. If I could give them a zero rating I would.

Bus driver fof 12.33 -X18 service on Tuesday 23 September from Waverly Steps which is the first main stop for the half hourly bus to Broxburn deliberately sped past the designated bus stop without stopping to pick up the 9 passengers waiting. I was one of these passengers waiting with my disabled aunt. There was also a passenger waiting who had a white stick. Me and another commuter tried running after the bus but the traffic light changed before we could reach it.
The driver of the next bus the 13.07was dismissive of mine and othe passengers complaints and concerns. This level of service is unacceptable and I hope something is done to address the unacceptable service and support service provided by your company and drivers. Reading other reviews I suspect not. Unfortunately your company seem to get away with such shocking levels of service as commuters in the main have no or little choice of transport providers from Edinburgh to West Lothian

A bus 610 just out run Colinton mains Road but it stop next stop just fire that bus driver immediately
Change of drivers at Maurryburn park

Aside from the regular complaints you'll see here (Lateness, terrible bus scheduling, rudeness from drivers, buses intentionally driving past people waiting at bus stops, etc) what finally motivated me to write a review was boarding a bus with a driver very nearly sleeping at the wheel, and so was incredibly lethargic in driving and boarding & disembarking passengers. It resulted in severe delays but this is primarily incredibly dangerous to allow a driver who is too tired to focus to drive a bus through a densely populated city.

I have submitted complaints before, regarding incidents like ones I detailed above, and each time the customer support team dismiss them. This bus service is quite honestly a joke. It needs revamped from the ground up.

I would give it zero stars if I could. Absolutely shambolic service. Never on time, often delayed or cancelled entirely. Always someone else’s fault. You’re encouraged to take public transport but what’s the point when this is what you get. Zero reliability or consistency. Overpriced. Usually met with mute or grumpy bus drivers. A total embarrassment to East Lothian. Absolutely useless!

Why have a timetable for the 31 bus route. Every second bus is cancelled. And every other bus arrives late/early. I will revert to using my car adding to congestion/environmental decline etc etc. this review is prompted by years of disappointment in the service.

Travelling back to the airport during a summer heatwave. I was on the bus for an hour. The temperature outside was 25° but inside the AC was turned off and felt like 40°.

I've always had a positive experience with the 100 service but this was honestly unbearable. A very sad experience from a usually very positive bus route.

I made a complaint last week because the bus time at my stop were wrong and as such the bus did not come according to the information provided at the bus stop.

Yesterday at 10:28 an advisor from Lothian bus called me.

To start with she did not offer her name clearly. So I am not even sure who I have to make a complaint against. However, she was working from Lothian buses.

She did not show any empathy and called me to tell me off about leaving a complaint.

She did not accept any responsibility.

During the call I wondered if she was speaking to me like this because someone caused her some stress at work and she needed an outlet.

Moreover, no solution was given to me. The purpose of this call was to be impolite and tell me I was wrong.

I work in a call centre and I have never called a customer to tell them off. I call customers to give them solutions.

I believe this call is a zero tolerance and the staff needs an urgent training on soft skills and root cause analysis.

The reason I was dissatisfied is because the times at my bus were wrong. Until I insisted the advisor kept saying that I was wrong. Then told me my picture was bad quality.

As a quality checker I would have flagged this call to my supervisors.

Please do not forget that my taxes pay for Lothian buses and I also pay for the services monthly.

Do not call your customers to tell them off.

Lothian country is the third world service in terms of reliability.Buses turn up, or not.If you rely on them for work then you are screwed