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Advice for local and commuting students
Whether you decide to live in university accommodation, at home or further afield, we want you to know that you’ll be supported here.
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Transport | Study supplies and storage | Food and drink | Showers | Accommodation | Local students
Local and commuting students are integral to the York St John community, and we are here to support you to make the most of your university experience.
A local student is a student who was already resident in the area where their campus is located prior to starting at York St John.
You will most likely still be at the same address, whether this is your parents or carers address or your own private or rented accommodation.
A commuting student is a student who is not living in the same area where their campus is based. You may still be at the same address as prior to starting university or you may be in private halls of residence. Your length of commute may vary from just outside the area of your campus to as far afield as other regions of the UK.
Our support
We have dedicated advisers who offer 1 to 1 support for both local and commuting students. You can contact the team at specialistsupport@yorksj.ac.uk or book an appointment with one of our advisors.
Book a meeting with a dedicated advisor
If you are already commuting they will be happy to speak to you about managing the impact of your commute on your academic studies and wellbeing. If you are considering commuting then they can discuss your travel options or help you to decide if commuting is the right choice for you.
Transport
If there are a number of travel options if you are attending either our York or London campus and you can speak to an advisor if you’re not sure which option will be best for you.
Parking
Parking on our Lord Mayors Walk campus is limited and all students will require a parking permit for one of our accommodation site car parks. Blue badge holders are guaranteed a free permit. Students who commute from outside of York or have a disability or medical condition will be prioritized 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.
There are also multiple council-owned car parks across York, though these can be quite expensive. You can find a directory of council-owned car parks on the York City Council website. Prices for each of the car parks are in the individual car park pages linked at the bottom of the page.
York also has a number of Park and Ride sites outside of the city, with regular bus routes connecting the car parks and the city centre. You can park for free at a Park and Ride site and just need to purchase a bus ticket to use the Park and Ride bus service. You can find a map of the sites on the York City Council website.
Our London campus has no on site parking available and we encourage all students travelling there to use public transport links.
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:
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 speak to the Specialist Support team 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 (including mature students) which can save you a third off travel. These can be bought on the National Rail website, but 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 York campus or a member of the support team on the London 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.
For students based at our London campus we recommend using either the Tube or the DLR to travel to campus. The nearest Tube stations to the London campus are either Canning Town or Canary Wharf. Both these stations are on the Jubilee Line (the silver coloured line on the London tube map).
To get to campus from the Canning Town Tube station, you will need to get either the DLR or bus number 115. To get to campus from Canary Wharf, you can either walk (approximately 20 minutes) or get one of the following buses: D3, D7 or D8.
The closest DLR station to the London campus is the East India DLR station which is only a few hundred metres away. The DLR (Docklands Light Railway) only runs in the docklands area of East London, so you will need to connect to it from other areas of London via either a bus or a tube.
We would suggest downloading a TFL London tube or rail map to plan your journey effectively.
York has lots of different bus services for different parts of the city and surrounding towns and villages. You can find details of all the bus routes and plan your journey on the iTravelYork website.
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.
TFL offers comprehensive information on bus services in London as well as links to the individual service providers websites.
There are over 300 bicycle racks located across our York and London campuses.
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.
TFL also offers information and maps for cycling around London as well as handy guidance on when and where you can take a bike onto other forms of public transport such as the tube.
If you're considering buying a bike for University, you could save some cash (and help the planet) by buying second-hand. Recycle York sell bikes from as little as £60, and they'll even buy it back when you're finished with it.
Taking a taxi is much more expensive than taking the bus, train or cycling. Taxis in York and London 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 our York campus by taxi, or need to get a taxi once on campus, we have a dedicated taxi pick up spot opposite the Porters Lodge.
For York based students Getaway Cars and Streamline both have a handy booking app and offer discounts for students.
Streamline also 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 your fare the next day at their office.
Food and drink
If you would like to purchase food on campus, you can get hot meals from YSJ Kitchen, Punk Mamas and the Students’ Union café. There are also various cafes on campus selling hot drinks and snacks, and vending machines in Fountains Learning Centre and on the ground floor of Holgate.
There is a Student Kitchen on the second floor of the library with 2 microwaves and a hot water tap, perfect for making a cup of tea and heating up your lunch.
A hot water tap is located on the ground floor of the Fountains Learning Centre near the vending machines. Hot and cold water is also available free of charge from all catering outlets if you bring your own cup or bottle.
The Chapel has a small kitchen and quiet space which is available for students to use during the day.
There is a Student Kitchen on the third floor where you can access hot and cold water as well as fridges and microwaves to store or heat your own food.
Water fountains are available at various points across the campus, so bring your own cup or bottle. There is also a vending machine selling snacks and drinks.
Accommodation at York Campus
If you need to be on campus for an early morning, avoid the rush-hour traffic by staying overnight in our exclusive accommodation for commuting students. We have two accommodation sites we use for our commuting students requesting overnight accommodation:
- Our 49 Clarence Street commuter flat has en-suite rooms as standard which are available at £25 per night.
- Our Limes Court commuter rooms have two bathrooms per five-bedrooms which are available at £20 per night.
This accommodation can be booked for 3 nights a week maximum and is allocated on a first come first serve basis. You must submit your request with a minimum of 2 working days’ notice to allow the request to be processed.
As this accommodation is limited, we will not process block/multiple bookings at once. Rooms can be booked up to a month in advance for the current or following month only.
To make a booking, send an email to the Accommodation team at accommodation@yorksj.ac.uk, with the subject "Commuting room". You are welcome to request either Limes Court or 49 Clarence Street as a preference, however this cannot be guaranteed. If you are not interested in an alternative option if your preference is not available then please mention this when contacting us.
Sending the email does not guarantee accommodation. The Accommodation team will respond as soon as possible to confirm availability and to which site you have been allocated. All information regarding your booking will be sent to your University email address.
Please be mindful that this accommodation is in high demand, and if you wish to cancel your booking, you should contact the Accommodation team as soon as possible.
What's included
Expand the drop-down for information on what is included in your accommodation.
- Single or double bed depending on room size
- Bedding
- Desk
- Chair
- Built-in wardrobe
- Shelves
- Notice board
- Wifi access
Bathroom facilities are ensuite and include:
- Shower
- Sink
- Toilet
- Loo roll
- Hand wash
- Microwave
- Oven
- Kettle
- Toaster
- Crockery (plates, bowls, cutlery, cups/glasses)
- Pots and pans
- Ironing board and iron
- Mop and bucket
- Broom/dustpan and brush
- Washing machine
- Towel
- Pyjamas
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Shampoo and conditioner
- Your own food
Local students
If you consider yourself a local student, you probably think that you already know everything that York has to offer. However, you haven’t experienced life in the city as a York St John student yet.
You can re-discover York from a whole new perspective and share your favourite parts of the city with new friends. You’ll also get to experience a whole host of new activities and events in our Students’ Union.
