Tickets

Ticket prices on Stagecoach buses increased on Sunday 31st March 2024.

Most of the buses covered by this guide are run by Stagecoach who have a number of ticket zones which enable you to buy flexible tickets by the day, week, month etc, which allow you to change buses as and when you need to take advantage of different routes.

There is a full guide to Stagecoach tickets at: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/media-library/files/east-scotland/escot_web_ticketguide_31mar2024.ashx

It's also worth knowing about the One Ticket scheme which allows you to buy tickets which cover multiple operators including the other major local operator Moffat & Williamson.

And from 3rd June 2019 there's also ABC Bus Tickets which provide an East Fife Zone including Moffat & Williamson and a larger Dundee & East Fife Zone including the freedom of Dundee on Xplore Dundee buses.

It may also be worth knowing about "Journey Assistance Cards" which you can show to the driver if you need help travelling by bus: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/national/journey-assistance-cards

We'll start with Stagecoach.

To given you an example of the comparable prices we'll quote the price of the Adult Dayrider in each zone.

The Stagecoach Leven Zone Adult Dayrider costs £4.20 from 31st March 2024..

The Stagecoach Central Fife Zone Adult Dayrider is £8.50 from 31st March 2024.

And from 2nd June 2024 Leven is once more within the North East Fife Zone where an Adult Dayrider also costs £8.50 - the North East Fife Zone has expanded to match the ABC Bus Tickets larger East Fife and Dundee Zone.

The Stagecoach East Scotland Zone Adult Dayrider costs £11.50 from 31st March 2024 - covers as far as Glasgow and Edinburgh plus Perth and Aberdeen using the X7 via Montrose and Stonehaven - it even includes onward local travel in the Aberdeen area on the 59 to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary or the 727 to Aberdeen Airport.

Full details of Stagecoach local dayrider prices is at: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/east-scotland/glenrothes-leven-and-kirkcaldy/dayrider

It's worth noting that Group Dayrider ticket prices are also changing. The new prices from 31st March 2024 are £10.50 for a "town" zone like Leven, £21.30 for a "region" zone like Central Fife, and £29.30 for the full East Scotland zone. (Group tickets allow up to 5 adults to travel together on a single ticket - on weekdays they cannot be used before 9am - but at weekends they are valid all day.)

It may be worth mentioning Stagecoach "Day Return Tickets" - this can be a cheaper way of getting to Edinburgh, for example, but the restrictions are that you cannot change buses during your journey - so it's less flexible than a Dayrider ticket and may mean a slower journey home, waiting for a direct bus...

Shared Ticketing

Arrangements where one bus company will accept the tickets from another bus company are quite rare.

In Fife there is one particular arrangement which may be unexpected. It's associated with the group of buses that pass through Newburgh - the 65, M65, 36 and M36.

Stagecoach are the main beneficiaries in that their tickets are accepted on the Moffat & Williamson M36 and M65 buses.

Moffat & Williamson ticket holders get to use their tickets on the Stagecoach 65 route between Perth and Newburgh.

This does mean that you could travel all the way between Leven and Perth on a Moffat & Williamson Fife Day ticket for £6.40! Provided you use the Moffat & Williamson M4 to travel between Leven and Glenrothes, the Moffat & Williamson M36 to travel between Glenrothes and Newburgh and the Stagecoach 65 to travel between Newburgh and Perth.

That's quite a slow meandering route - for example the M4 at 08:58 from Leven gets to Glenrothes at 09:52 - the M36 departs at 10:11 and gets to Newburgh at 10:46 - the 65 departs Newburgh at 11:14 and gets to Perth at 11:52 (almost 3 hours on buses) - buses in the opposite direction don't connect so well, the last sensible bus back is the 65 at 16:00 from Perth getting to Newburgh at 16:41 for the M36 at 16:52 getting to Glenrothes at 17:34 and a long wait for the 18:30 M4 getting to Leven at 19:24...

ABC Bus Tickets started in Dundee and from 3rd June 2019 have expanded into what they call their East Fife Zone.

The East Fife Zone Adult day ticket costs £11.20 from 10th June 2024 - though it is likely to cost you an extra £1 the first time as you will need to buy a new Smartcard on which to load the ticket.

As well as a lower price, an advantage over the Stagecoach East Scotland Dayrider ticket is that the ABC ticket adds the ability to use buses run by Moffat & Williamson.

If you need onward travel in Dundee then the Dundee & East Fife Zone Adult day ticket is £15.20 and this adds on a third bus operator, Xplore Dundee giving you the freedom to roam around Dundee.

You can get weekly and child ABC tickets - but they don't do monthly or group tickets (which might make the Stagecoach only tickets more attractive if you are travelling in a group or want to buy tickets for a month or longer at a time).

One Ticket have a similar selection of ticket zones based around Edinburgh, although Fife has a special place

The One Ticket Fife Zone adult day bus ticket costs £12 (from 23rd June 2024) and covers most bus operators in Fife and Kinross.

The One Ticket Travelarea 4 adult day bus ticket costs £15 (as of 23rd June 2024) and covers Fife plus the Edinburgh Smartzone out as far as Edinburgh Airport - it covers most bus operators and from 30th August 2020 includes Edinburgh Trams (https://edinburghtrams.com/news/were-now-accepting-one-ticket) - though on the trams you are NOT covered for the final stop at Edinburgh Airport - the ticket should give you all you need if you are looking for onward travel in Edinburgh.

The One Ticket Travelarea 5 adult day bus ticket costs £19 (from 23rd June 2024) and extends the area to include Dundee, Perth, Stirling and the Borders down to Hawick and Berwick upon Tweed - again it covers most bus operators and now includes Edinburgh Trams (except for Edinburgh Airport - where it includes bus but NOT tram).

You can get weekly and longer One Tickets that cover train journeys into Edinburgh and bus travel at both ends of your journey, but they don't do child or group tickets that cover Fife...