TapTapCap is our name for capped contactless payments.
You don’t need to buy a smartcard – if you have a Visa or Mastercard (including Maestro) card that display the contactless symbol, or that have been added to Apple Pay and Google Pay, use can use TapTapCap.
You also don’t need to choose what ticket to purchase – just record your journey using the same contactless payment card or device for every journey you make across our network - on bus and tram - and the following morning we’ll charge you for the journeys you’ve made, automatically applying the cheapest daily or weekly cap depending on the journeys you’ve made. You’ll never pay more than you need to, even if your plans change.
Keep using the same card or device all week and once you’ve reached one of our weekly caps, which run from Monday to Sunday, you won’t pay any more for the rest of the week.
Daily caps resets at 4am each morning, and Weekly caps resets at 00:00 on Monday.
For example, payment for journeys on Lothian day services are capped at £5.00 per day, and £24.50 per week. Different caps apply to journeys on Airlink, EastCoastbuses, Lothiancountry and night services – please see our Tickets & Fares page to find out more.
How do I record a TapTapCap journey?
- On Lothian buses, just tap your contactless payment card or device when you board. On Airlink, East Coast Buses or Lothian Country, please state your destination to the driver before tapping. There’s no need to ask for a ticket and no need to tap off.
- On Edinburgh Trams, you must Tap On and Tap Off - tap your contactless card or device to the platform validator before you get on the tram and tap it again on the platform validator when you get off to complete the journey.
Your card or device is your ticket, so one per person. You must use the same contactless card or device for all your journeys - if you use both a contactless card and a phone to pay for travel in the same day, your payments will not be capped (even if they’re funded by the same bank account).