Taxicards
It isn’t easy getting around Edinburgh at the best of times, but if you have a disability it can be even worse. Did you know that Edinburgh Council operates a transport concession scheme?
If you have a disability that makes it difficult to use ordinary buses you can apply for a taxicard to help you to get around the city and make your journeys cheaper. Your taxicard lasts for three years and allows you to make 104 trips per year. This is the equivalent of one return journey a week.
To be eligible you need to have a permanent disability. If you live in Edinburgh you can apply using this form
To use the card, either book a taxi or ask at a rank for a taxicard booking. You can’t hail a taxi in the street.
If you live in East Lothian you can apply using this form.
Please note that rules can vary from one local authority to another, and that not all councils appear to be providing this concession.
Handicabs
Dial-A-Ride (also known as Handicabs) provides a door-through-door transport service for people of any age with mobility challenges in the Lothians. Dial-A-Ride will take you wherever you want or need to go. The service operates 7 days a week, 365 days of the year and is available in the evenings. Registration is free, but you must register first before you can use the service.
As part of the booking / enquiry process, you will be advised of the price of the journey. The price will not change, for example if any delays or traffic diversions in the journey.
Dial-A-Ride is charged on a mileage basis at £5.00 for the first mile and then 60p per mile thereafter. The mileage is calculated ‘as the crow flies’, ie the most direct route. You will be able to get up to £6 off of your first booking.
Dial-a-Bus
This is a similar service which provides a supported door-through-door transport service to access a local major shopping centre or supermarket. Use link for more details
National Entitlement Card (Bus Pass) – Disabled people eligibility
If you’re a resident in Scotland, aged five or over and meet one of the following criteria, you’re entitled to free bus travel with the National Entitlement Card. You don’t have to wait until you are sixty:
- You receive a qualifying DWP benefit – Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, War Pension Constant Attendance Allowance, or the higher rate of the mobility component or the higher or middle rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance.
- You receive a qualifying Social Security Scotland benefit – Pension Age Disability payment, Adult Disability Payment, or receive the higher rate of the mobility component or the higher or middle rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment.
If you need to travel with a companion, they’re entitled to travel for free if your National Entitlement Card has the Companion Travel logo on it.
For more details about how to apply, click on this link