The main mode of transport in the parish is undoubtedly the private car, ownership of which has been very much on the increase since the 1950s. As an example of its popularity, at the 1991 census Gullane residents owned over one thousand cars with 44 households having three or more. Despite the obvious increased volume of traffic, the road network remained unchanged until the creation of the Dirleton bypass in 1975. By this time it was becoming difficult to cross the road in Dirleton especially on a sunny weekend when many people visited Yellowcraig. A few years later the road at Fenton Barns was straightened and in 1997 a pedestrian crossing was installed at Gullane.
Throughout most of the period the parish has had a half-hourly bus service on the Edinburgh to North Berwick route. In the 1940s and 1950s this was heavily used but as car ownership increased it became less busy. At the end of the century it runs every 30 or 60 minutes, depending on the time of day and follows the coastal route. It is supplemented by a limited stop service running once a day in each direction on weekdays, so serving commuters, and a school-term-time service via Ballencrieff and Drem, by-passing the coastal villages.
Since 1999, on Wednesday and Friday a free, sponsored bus has conveyed passengers to the Gyle shopping complex, west of Edinburgh. The same year saw the introduction of Gaberlunzie, a rural East Lothian service operating on Wednesdays and Fridays between Gullane and Haddington. Intending passengers wishing to join at intermediate points telephone the day before to arrange for the bus to call at or near to a pre-arranged place. Two taxi services operate from both Dirleton and Gullane, one of the latter also having a driving school. In the late 1990s a coach hire service was established in Gullane.
The railway no longer serves the two villages directly. Passenger services, already withdrawn from Gullane, finished at Dirleton in 1952 with a reduced goods facility remaining at both stations. After the war Gullane station buildings along with a camping coach were let as self-catering holiday accommodation. Closure finally came to both stations with the Beeching cuts of 1964. With the closure of the village stations Drem became the nearest railhead, with parking for about 70 cars. With the electrification of the North Berwick to Edinburgh line, in 1991, the frequency of services increased. In 2000, trains to Edinburgh run on a roughly hourly basis Monday to Saturday, with four trains on Sunday. The journey from Drem to Waverley takes 27 minutes.