If you buy a Single ticket, it is valid for one journey only on regular Lothian Buses - whether that's one stop or the whole of a route, it doesn't matter. A single ticket is always the same price wherever you're going across Edinburgh, with the exception of going to or near the airport which costs more. The next option is a Day ticket. This is a ticket that you can reuse throughout the day, which is probably what you've seen people do. There's two variations of this: one bought through in the morning or afternoon works until about midnight; and a Late ticket bought after 6pm is slightly cheaper but also works on the night buses after midnight (routes starting with an N). There's also a Network Day ticket; similar to above but includes the airport and the out-of-Edinburgh destinations which are serviced by Lothian Country and East Coast Buses. Nowadays you can use your contactless card. This will normally charge you a Single each time, but if you use the buses a lot it will cap at the price of a Day ticket as long as you use the same card. (It will also cap at a weekly rate of about 4.5 day tickets, this isn't a specific ticket you could buy though.) This is similar to how contactless on the London Underground works. Here's the current pricing information: https://www.lothianbuses.com/tickets/ (All this assumes you're using Lothian Buses. There are also First Buses McGills (thanks u/originalwombat ), a different company, but I never need to use those.) Answer from glglglglgl on reddit.com

If you buy a Single ticket, it is valid for one journey only on regular Lothian Buses - whether that's one stop or the whole of a route, it doesn't matter. A single ticket is always the same price wherever you're going across Edinburgh, with the exception of going to or near the airport which costs more. The next option is a Day ticket. This is a ticket that you can reuse throughout the day, which is probably what you've seen people do. There's two variations of this: one bought through in the morning or afternoon works until about midnight; and a Late ticket bought after 6pm is slightly cheaper but also works on the night buses after midnight (routes starting with an N). There's also a Network Day ticket; similar to above but includes the airport and the out-of-Edinburgh destinations which are serviced by Lothian Country and East Coast Buses. Nowadays you can use your contactless card. This will normally charge you a Single each time, but if you use the buses a lot it will cap at the price of a Day ticket as long as you use the same card. (It will also cap at a weekly rate of about 4.5 day tickets, this isn't a specific ticket you could buy though.) This is similar to how contactless on the London Underground works. Here's the current pricing information: https://www.lothianbuses.com/tickets/ (All this assumes you're using Lothian Buses. There are also First Buses McGills (thanks u/originalwombat ), a different company, but I never need to use those.) Answer from glglglglgl on reddit.com