Commuting and local students

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 prioritised for a parking permit.

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

There are multiple council-owned car parks across York, though these can be quite expensive. 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. 

Our London campus has no on site parking available and we encourage all students travelling there to use public transport links.

Our York Campus is around 0.7 miles from York railway station. You can make this journey by walking, or by bus or taxi. 

If you plan to commute by train, 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.

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).

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, which are both on the Jubilee Line.

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 by 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 are planning to commute, 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 our Porters Lodge.

For York based students Getaway Cars and Streamline both have a 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.