Welcome to all new students that have joined our community at University of Reading. If you are wondering what the most sustainable way to get round your new home is, then this blog is for you!
The carbon hierarchy, as above, shows travel methods in order of sustainability – it is a helpful tool to consider the impact of travel decisions and supports the consideration of suitable alternatives. For further information and offers, please visit our sustainable travel pages.
The University has beautiful campuses’ and each one is easy to navigate via foot. Our walking webpage shows how to get to and around Whiteknights, Greenlands and London Road. Walking is very popular with our student population – the 2022 University travel survey revealed that 70% of students get to University via foot. Not only is this one of the most sustainable modes of travel, but it is great for your physical and mental health and it’s FREE.
Cycling to University is a fantastic option to keep you fit and another great way to travel more sustainably – our 2022 travel survey revealed that 7% of our student population travelled by bike. We support cyclists in the following ways:
- Weekly Dr Bike FREE bike maintenance sessions, 12 to 2pm Palmer Quad.
- FREE cycling training
- Low cost bike hire with our Unicycle scheme
- Security Services offer discounted D locks to keep your bike safe and secure
More details about all these schemes can be found here. Please also see here for all our cycling related travel offers!
We work in partnership with Reading Buses and our Whiteknights, Earley Gate and London Road campuses are well served by the local bus network – all information can be found on our Bus travel webpage.
We have some great offer for students:
- The 360 FREE bus service will get you safely and sustainably to Union events on Wednesdays and Fridays.
- All new students are eligible for 2 free trips on Reading Buses to let you explore your new home for free. Sign up here.
- Students can buy BOOST tickets, which can save you up to 1/3 off your bus fare!
- If you buy PlusBus with your rail ticket, you can add unlimited bus travel around the Reading urban area.
Our Whiteknights, London Road and Earley gate campuses are well served by local train stations which are a short walk away. The Young Person railcard 16-25 is a great investment if you make regular journeys by rail.
Driving
With so many sustainable travel offers and such beautiful campuses to travel around – do you really need the cost and hassle of owning a car? If you do occasionally need access to a car – we partner with Co Wheels car club! We host two cars on Whiteknights – one at Sherfield Drive and the other at Dunsden Crescent. With Co Wheels you can hire a car for as little as an hour and you can get £25 driving credit when you sign up with University email address.
Further information
- We are always keen to hear suggestions about how we could improve sustainable travel at the University – email us on sustainability@reading.ac.uk with any ideas!
- If you want to find out more about our 2022 Travel Survey you can read the full report here or check our summary infographic.
- We have now launched our student sustainability platform, Doing #UoRBit – here you can download the app or desktop version. You can earn Green Points simply by travelling sustainably – and be in with a chance of winning one of 75 prizes every month!
