I traveled with my 80 year old mother in Amsterdam using only public transportation. Here are my tips and tricks in no particular order. I hope you find some of it helpful with your upcoming trip as I learned most of this information from my trip.
1. Many recommended the 9292 or whatever app but I used the native Apple maps app. I don't know if those other apps are better, but the Apple app sufficed. (My phone is limited in storage!)
2. There are slightly different symbols that stand for buses, trams, and trains. If you are traveling mostly within Amsterdam, you will likely use trams.
3. When planning on your trip, note the name of the last stop, otherwise you might be going in the wrong direction. Cross to the other side to get a tram/bus that goes in the opposite direction. On the tram/bus, there are screens that tell you the next stop and other upcoming stops. It shows a limited number of upcoming stops - two screens of it. Don't panic like me if your stop doesn't show yet. On the second screen of upcoming stops, there is a dashed line at the end to show that there are missing stops not shown.
4. There are screens at each stop to show you what number bus or tram is stopping there (or if it's not stopping due to problems) as well as how many minutes before their arrival. Except for one time, when something broke down, they were remarkably accurate. There are maps at each tram/bus stop, but they came so quickly I never had enough time to study them - I was trying to look for "You are here."
5. We traveled mainly within Amsterdam. The trams seem to run every few minutes or so, I never planned our schedules specific to any tram schedule. We just went to the stop and waited. For example, I had an appointment for 1:30PM at the Rijksmuseum. I knew we were roughly a half an hour ride way from there, so planning for 50 minutes was more than sufficient.
6. I believe there is no eating and drinking on the trams. I didn't see anyone do it. The one time someone got on the bus with an open cylinder of some type of fried food, it appeared that the driver asked them to leave. It happened so quickly, so I'm not sure of all the facts.
7. There was usually a seat for my mom to sit in. The few times seats were not available, someone always spontaneously got up for her. The trams move around a lot so if you're standing make sure to hold on tight.
8. I didn't purchase any frequent use cards or benefits that come with a card like the I Amsterdam card. I just tapped on and off with my credit card every time. It works for buses, trains, and trams. I can make another post about the cost after I add everything up, because I don't know if I would have saved money buying multi-day passes instead of just tapping on/off. It felt stressful thinking about whether I should get one of these cards, so tapping on/off was a huge relief. I also was never clear if you wanted to travel to other Netherlands cities outside of Amsterdam which cards would cover that.
9. There are sections of the tram that you can't get on, only off - look for the red circle with the minus sign through it - that means find another door to enter. Just go left or right of it, there should be another doorway to enter.
10. I think all the trams have a driver and someone seated in the middle, so if you have any questions, you can ask them. They have all been super helpful except one driver who might have been in a bad mood, didn't want to speak English, or maybe they are not supposed to talk to you. Some of the drivers talked to me a lot and helped me out a lot but thinking back, maybe those were times when the tram was mostly empty. The local population is also really helpful and most of them speak English.
11. The express bus to/from Keukenhoff/Schipol, I think it's 858, is in a different section than the other buses and have a different tap on/off location - it's not on the bus but located on the ground before you get on the bus or after you get off - a structure that is around 4 feet tall. We took the 361 (non-express bus) to Keukenhoff from Schipol and it is a much longer walk (maybe .4 miles vs nothing) than the 858 which takes you right there. I don't know the price difference yet (need to check my credit card statements which haven't posted yet). The time difference was negligible even though the 361 made a lot more stops.
12. When I used Apple maps to get to our hotel from the airport, I think it only showed me options where I had to take a (Sprinter) train and then a tram. Once I got to my hotel, they told me there was a bus that takes you there directly with no transfers, which is much simpler with suitcases even if it's longer. I don't know how to search for no transfers, so if anyone knows how, please comment to help others!
13. The only time we didn't use public transportation was our trip to Giethoorn, where we bought a tour and traveled in a tour bus. We didn't have much experience with trains - only once from the airport to one stop. We mainly used trams and used the bus a few times. I think if you're going to other cities outside of Amsterdam, you might be using the trains.
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