Public Service Information over the Holiday Period

Councillor Neil Ross (Liberal Democrat Councillor for Morningside Ward) has published a useful digest of public service information relating to the holiday period

Public transport

Bus services will be significantly changed over the Christmas and New Year period.  Here is a link to the revised bus timetables: Lothian Buses

Edinburgh taxi fares will be higher than normal 24-27 December and 31 December-2 January.  Full details can be found here.

Train services will be different from normal over the festive period, in particular, because of engineering work near Haymarket.  You can check out train services here.

Christmas tree recycling

Details of Edinburgh City Council’s Christmas tree collection service are here.

You can also take Christmas trees to any of the Household Waste Recycling Centres. Opening times for Recycling Centres over the festive period are: 

 24 Dec25 Dec26 Dec27-30Dec31 Dec1 Jan2 Jan3 Jan
Craigmillar9 – 4CLOSEDCLOSED9 – 59 – 4CLOSEDCLOSEDCLOSED
Seafield9 – 4CLOSED10 – 49 – 59 – 4CLOSED10 – 410 – 4
Sighthill9 – 4CLOSED10 – 49 – 59 – 4CLOSED10 – 410 – 4

Bin collections

If your recycling or waste bins are usually emptied on a Wednesday or Thursday there will be some changes to your collection dates. You can see the changes here.

All other collections should operate as normal.

Parking

There will be free parking across the City of Edinburgh council area on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.  Meters will not be operating on these days but will operate as usual on all other days.

More information is available here.

Postal services

There will be no Royal Mail deliveries 25 & 26 December or 1 & 2 January.  More information from the Royal Mail is available here.

Leisure Centres

Christmas and New Year opening times for Edinburgh Leisure operated sites are available here.

Gritting and grit bins

Current resourcing of gritting in Edinburgh means the Council’s gritting vehicles focus on priority roads, such as bus routes and main roads, and some pavements and cycle paths.  You can find out about the Council’s priority system for gritting roads and pavements here.

Grit bins are located in many locations for local spreading.  You can see a map of the bins in your area using this link.

If you have a damaged or empty grit bin then you can report it here.

Health Services

NHS24 will be working throughout Christmas and New Year.  You can ring them by dialling 111.

Accident and emergency services will be available at the Royal Infirmary, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, the Western General minor injuries clinic and St John’s.

Here are details for any emergency dental care

Emergency services

As usual, you should phone 999 if you need emergency assistance over the festive period.   If you need to contact the police about a non-emergency or have a general enquiry then dial 101.

Here is more information on how to stay safe over Christmas. 

Advice on helping people sleeping rough

Streetwork has launched a winter hyperthermia campaign, targeted at identifying and getting help to those sleeping rough and at risk of hypothermia. If you have any concerns about anyone sleeping rough, you can contact Streetwork (or find our more) here.

This information has been provided by Councillor Neil Ross whom we thank very much for the information.

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