Free trams, laid on to help people make the most of Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh city centre, proved a huge hit with revellers.

Between midnight and 5.00am, more than 5,000 residents and visitors took advantage of the travel offer, with extra trams brought into service to keep up with demand.

Edinburgh Trams General Manager, Lea Harrison explained:

"Throughout the early hours of New Year’s Day, many trams were at capacity with thousands of people using the West End stop.

Edinburgh’s tram network is boosting service frequencies from tomorrow (Wednesday 4 January) in response to growing demand from customers.

The operators carried out a recent successful trial when extra trams were introduced during peak periods.

General Manager, Lea Harrison said: “It is clear that our customers want more services, more often throughout the day so we’ll now be running an extra two trams each hour from Monday to Saturday and an additional three trams every hour on Sundays.”

The BT Murrayfield Stadium plays host to the first leg of the 1872 Cup on Boxing Day and Edinburgh Trams will provide the perfect way of getting to the match.

Edinburgh Rugby take on the Glasgow Warriors in the highly anticipated match as they look to retain the Crabbie's 1872 Cup for the third season in a row. The action is set to start at 4.05pm.

Are you - or is someone you know, a parent, grandparent, family member or neighbour – using a OneScotland card for concessionary travel on Edinburgh Trams?

OneScotland cards will stop working after 31 December 2016.  Councils across Scotland are currently replacing the OneScotland cards which are used for concessionary travel by anyone aged 60 or over or anyone who has received a card on grounds of disability.

One of Edinburgh’s trams has been specially wrapped for Christmas – not with paper and bows but with high profile messaging aimed at promoting the city’s key events.

The tram will officially be brought into service this weekend heralding the Festive season and upcoming Hogmanay celebrations. It will be used extensively in the future, encouraging people to ‘decide to glide’ to the major flagship events Edinburgh is famous for.

Edinburgh Trams General Manager, Lea Harrison said:

Edinburgh will see a new station open this week, providing a major new dedicated interchange between tram and rail services in the city.

Opening on Sunday 11 December, Edinburgh Gateway will help integrate the ScotRail network with Edinburgh Trams, providing passengers with quick, efficient and hassle free travel to Edinburgh Airport.

We are running more trams than ever before this festive season, with trams from every 10 minutes every day except Christmas Day.

We’ve also got our special Hogmanay FREE night tram services throughout the early hours on 1st January 2017 to get you home safely.

See below for full details of Edinburgh Trams’ full Christmas timetable:

Our on-board Wi-Fi will be going through some changes soon.

Within the next few days we will be launching the LetsJoin media portal which includes a wealth of dynamically updated, highly relevant information with a focus on passengers getting the best out of the tram service and the Edinburgh area including news, food and drink guides and up to date information on flights at Edinburgh Airport.

Murrayfield is set to host two of Scotland’s 2016 Autumn Tests this November and Edinburgh Trams will provide the perfect way of getting to the big matches.

Scotland will take on Australia on Saturday, November 12 and Argentina on Saturday, November 19 in what promise to be two exciting games for the national side.

With a fast, frequent and direct service to the BT Murrayfield stadium from all our stops including Edinburgh Airport, Ingliston Park & Ride, Haymarket and St Andrew Square, Edinburgh Trams is the best way to travel to either match.

Edinburgh Trams has announced it will be providing a free service to help customers enjoy the city’s full programme of New Year celebrations, in partnership with the organisers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

The free late night trams will run from midnight on Saturday 31 December until 5am on Sunday 1 January to help make sure thousands of revellers get home safely.