Advice for commuting students

Parking

You can apply for a car parking permit which allows parking at one of our accommodation sites. Students who commute from outside of York are prioritised for parking permits. 

Blue badge holders are guaranteed a free permit. Students with a disability or medical condition and students commuting from outside York will be prioritised for a parking permit.

University parking permits cost £60 a year. Discounts are available for car sharing and low emission vehicles.

You can find further details regarding University parking, including a link to the application form, on the page below.

Car parking for students

There are also multiple council-owned car parks across the city, though parking in the city is quite expensive. You can find a directory of council-owned car parks on the York City Council website. You can find prices for each of the car parks in the individual car park pages linked at the bottom of the page.

York also has a number of park and ride car parks outside of the city, with regular bus routes connecting the car parks and the city. You can park for free in a park and ride car park and would then need to purchase a bus ticket to use the park and ride bus service. You can find a map of the park and ride sites on the York City Council website.

Insurance

If your car insurance is up for renewal, you should always 'shop around' using a comparison website to see if you can get a better deal with a new provider. Examples of comparison websites include:

• MoneySuperMarket
• Compare the Market
• Confused.com - Car insurance for students
• GoCompare

Some price comparison websites also offer freebies if you purchase insurance that they’ve recommended. It’s worth trying more than one comparison website before purchasing, just in case one website has access to deals that another doesn’t.

TOTUM and UniDays may also offer car insurance discounts.

You can find more guidance about getting cheaper car insurance on the MoneySavingExpert website.

If you plan to commute by train, you can make an appointment with Emma for more information or help finding the best travel routes and tickets for you.

We recommend buying tickets in advance to get the cheapest deals on train fares. Make sure to research which type of train ticket is best for you, for example advance singles, open returns, or season tickets.

Depending on where you’re travelling from and to, it can sometimes be cheaper to buy “split tickets”. This means that you buy tickets to travel to multiple stations on your journey, rather than buying one ticket for your whole journey. It can be possible to travel on a split ticket without changing trains. TrainLine automatically checks to see if you can benefit from split ticketing on a journey, so you may find it helpful to use their website to plan your journeys.

Railcards

All full time students are eligible for a 16 to 25 railcard which can save you a third off travel.

You can buy your railcard online or pick up a form at the Student Information Desk on campus.

If you are over 25 you must have the mature student section of the railcard form completed by a member of staff at the Information Services Desk on campus.

Additional discounts

UniDays and TOTUM sometimes offer discounted rail fares, so it is worth checking their website when booking tickets to see if you can get a deal. 

Transpennine Express give 50% off train tickets with a 16 to 25 Railcard when you book in advance.

CrossCountry give an extra 10% off when using TOTUM card (on top of the 16 to 25 railcard discount).

LNER give 40% off train tickets with UniDays (cannot be used with the 16 to 25 Railcard discount).

Grand Central give an extra 25% off (on top of 16 to 25 Railcard discount).

Rail operators will sometimes run further additional discounts, and you can find information about these on the National Rail website. You might find it helpful to check this page every so often to see if there are any limited deals or promotions you might be able to benefit from.

York has lots of different bus services for different parts of the city and surrounding towns and villages.

You can use Google Maps to plan your bus travel into York and across the city. Google Maps also shows how long it estimates it would take to walk to and from the bus stops you’d be using. 

First Bus York and Arriva offer student discounts to York St John students.

The First Bus app and Arriva Bus UK app let you know when your next bus is arriving, see available capacity, and buy cheaper tickets in advance.

There are over 300 bicycle racks located across our campus on Lord Mayor's Walk and York St John University Sports Park.

York is a cycle-friendly city. iTravel York offers a comprehensive cycling web page which includes a cycle route map of the city of York. You can pick up a York Cycle Map from the Information Services desk on campus.

If you don't have a bike, consider using the TIER e-scooters and e-bikes. We have several parking locations on campus. There is a charge for using TIER e-scooters and e-bikes.

Taking a taxi is much more expensive than taking the bus, train or cycling. Taxis in York can also be much more expensive than other parts of the country, so if you’re planning on commuting in, you may wish to consider other travel options first.

If you travel to campus by taxi, or need to get a taxi once on campus, we have a dedicated taxi pick up spot opposite the Porters Lodge.

Getaway Cars and Streamline both have a handy booking app and offer a 10% discount for York St John students.

Streamline offer a student safety policy. If you are in a situation where you do not have any money after a night out, you can give them your student card and pay the next day at their office.