Sustainable travel
Sustainable Travel
We aim to make travelling around and between campuses better for everyone and to ease pressure on the environment and reduce carbon emissions.
We have around 30,000 students and nearly 6,000 staff who study, live or work at the University, and many more people visit our campuses for events. The potential implications for congestion and air pollution from traffic are significant.
As well as developing public transport links and the free bus service between Exeter St David’s, Streatham campus and St Luke’s campus, we are looking at ways to encourage people to reduce single-occupancy car journeys and adopt more sustainable transport options.
Over the last two years we have been working on a Sustainable Transport Strategy to ensure that changes in travel and behaviour post-Covid are accurately reflected and any impacts on our initiatives are addressed. This has now been published and you can find it here.
Task and Finish Groups
As part of the University’s commitment to reducing its travel-based emissions, two Task and Finish Groups were set up to explore specific areas.
The Field Course Task and Finish Group, led by Dr Ewan Woodley, met between 2022 and 2024 to consider how field courses on taught programmes can be environmentally sustainable, accessible and inclusive for all University students and colleagues. They are now working to get the guiding principles into a format to be shared with colleagues.
The Enabling Rail Travel Task and Finish Group, led by Professor Stewart Barr, met throughout 2023 and 2024 and looked at how we can enable staff and students at the University to undertake business travel by train.
Outputs from both of these groups are currently feeding into broader University-wide initiatives and projects.
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Business travel
The University of Exeter Travel Policy addresses issues such as approvals, insurance, procurement and approved suppliers, risk management, sustainability and environmental issues. Staff intending to travel must refer to this policy ahead of making any travel arrangements.
Visit our Finance pages to view more information on travel.
Travelling by foot
The University of Exeter is well connected with a variety of walking routes and is easily accessible on foot from the city centre, Exeter St David's and central railway stations.
- Streatham campus map
- St Luke's campus map
- Exeter city walking map
- Exeter city centre walking map
- The Green Circle maps highlight five circular walking routes around the city
Travelling by bus locally
News:
A new Stagecoach line 4 University service will come into operation on Sunday 1 September bringing a range of benefits for colleagues and helping to reduce the use of cars for business travel between our campuses. Colleagues will continue to have the opportunity to travel for free between campuses and also to and from train stations between the hours of 7:45am - 6pm. To take advantage of this, colleagues will just need to show their staff card.
The new service will connect more key areas across the city and will continue to provide free inter-campus travel for colleagues with the use of your staff card. The new service will also offer improved service times – every 12 minutes, from 6.30 m until midnight, and reduced journey times as the route takes advantage of the new bus corridor in the city centre. In addition, a 30% Stagecoach ticket discount will be introduced for colleagues and this will apply to all Devon destinations served by Stagecoach. This will be available using the Stagecoach app. This new service replaces the existing University minibus services. The student Night Bus service will also change – it will follow a new route running closer to the students’ residences. More information coming shortly.
The new line 4 will connect the following areas, allowing inter-campus travel and links with key locations:
- Streatham Campus
- St David's Station
- Central Station
- Exeter City Centre
- St Luke's Campus
- Honiton Road Park and Ride
- Exeter Science Park
- Cranbrook
The new service route means that journey times will be reduced and services will be speedier as buses will be using the new bus corridor in front of John Lewis, instead of needing to drive through the pedestrian zone, which forces drivers to travel at walking speed.
How to access the Stagecoach colleague discount
To purchase discounted tickets via the Stagecoach Bus app, colleagues will need to scan an activation QR code. The code is available from reception at Northcote House and SID St Luke's. Once scanned even if you already have the Stagecoach app click Get App when it comes up. More info can be found Info About Stagecoach Corporate App
In addition, more saver options will be available. As well as the daily and one-week tickets, a four week, 13 week and 52 week ticket saver will also be available.
To meet the demand for flexibility due to remote working, it will also be possible to purchase Flexi 5 and Flexi 10 fares via the Stagecoach app, which offer groups of five or 10 day tickets at a particularly low price.
Discounted bus ticket sales for Exeter-area colleagues will be maintained for Dayrider and the seven-day, Megarider fares.
If you have any queries about the new service, please email sustainability@exeter.ac.uk
Plan your journey:
- Devon County Council interactive bus map
- Devon County Council journey planner
- Exeter Bus Map
- UNI line timetable
- Download the Stagecoach app
- To check the arrival of the next bus, see the NextBuses website.
Travelling by car
Although driving a car is the least sustainable option when travelling, there are still ways to limit the impact on the environment.
Carsharing
If you do travel to campus by car, we would encourage you to consider car sharing - reducing single occupancy journeys, carbon emissions, congestion and the cost of travel.
Staff and students can register for free through Liftshare which helps you find others to car share with.
The Liftshare Policy 2023 will help guide you on how to access the University of Exeter Liftshare community, how to successfully use the technology to access the free parking permits and priority parking spaces, how to guarantee a ride home, and also claim the rewards.
For those staff and students entitled to a Standard Parking Permit, you can also apply for a free car share permit (once you have created and confirmed your Liftshare Team).
To access the free car share parking spaces and the University of Exeter Liftshare rewards, you must authenticate every time you Liftshare to campus, through the Liftshare app.
