Transport links and the student experience: supporting commuting students

This is the fourth part of HEPI’s themed week of blogs all about commuter students. You can read the first blog in the series here, the second blog here and the third blog here.

This blog was kindly authored by Dr Charlotte Fawcett, former HEPI Policy Intern.

There are now more than 700,000 commuter students attending universities across the UK. Commuter students do not have a consistent definition however, for the purpose of this blog, the following definition will be used: those for whom the travel between their residence and principal study location materially affects their ability to succeed in higher education.

For many, commuting offers practical advantages: remaining close to existing support networks, maintaining part-time work, or balancing caring responsibilities. But, for a large proportion of students, the decision to commute is not simply a lifestyle preference – it is a financial necessity.

Living at home can significantly reduce the cost of higher education by avoiding the costs of student accommodation, which have risen sharply in recent years. In this sense, commuting can make university accessible to students who might otherwise struggle to afford it. However, the financial pressures driving students to commute do not disappear upon registration. A 2024 survey of 1,200 students found that 61 per cent of commuter students reported that worries about money negatively affected their mental health, compared with 54 per cent of non-commuting students. This suggests that commuting students may face additional financial stress, even while attempting to reduce their living costs.

Despite the large and growing number of commuting students, their ability to study successfully often depends on something universities themselves have limited control over: transport infrastructure. Reliable transport links, affordable fares and accessible parking are essential for making commuting viable. Without them, the cost and complexity of travel can become another barrier to participation in higher education.

My own experience highlights how dependent commuting is on local infrastructure. After four years of living away from home during my undergraduate degree, it felt odd to live back at home for my MSc and commute to campus.

I initially planned to commute by bus, but changed to car-sharing with a nearby course-mate as a more cost-effective alternative, particularly by splitting parking costs. However, this experience highlighted a structural issue, namely the absence of designated student parking, resulting in limited access to shared public spaces, which were highly constrained after 8am and during adverse weather conditions.

This experience is not unusual. At many universities, parking permits are limited and can be difficult for students to obtain, while the number of available spaces is restricted. In other cases, institutions actively discourage driving in favour of public transport or walking, particularly in cities where campuses are close to local amenities. While these policies may be sensible from an environmental or urban planning perspective, they can inadvertently disadvantage commuting students with limited public transport provision.

Later in my studies, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I switched to using the bus as my primary way of commuting. Initially, this was a relatively straightforward journey: a lift or walk to a nearby shopping centre, followed by a bus that dropped me within a ten-minute walk of the university.

Over time, however, the route changed. Instead of a direct service, the journey now involved two buses and a change in town. This increased the risk of delays and made the commute more unpredictable. Missing one bus would mean waiting for the next connection, increasing the likelihood of arriving late to campus.

It also affected how productive the commute could be. One of the advantages of public transport is the ability to read, catch up on emails, or make notes during the journey. However, public transport may have limited Wi-Fi, reducing my ability to be productive during my commute. When travel involves multiple changes, crowded buses, and the need to monitor connections, working productively becomes far more difficult. As a result, commuting required building significant buffers into my schedule. To reliably arrive for a 9am start, I often needed to leave home by 7:15am in case a bus was delayed or there was significant traffic.

In contrast, the direct journey without traffic takes only 25 minutes, yet the lack of parking spaces meant I would often have to leave at a similar time. As a result I tended to rely on using public transport with its greater environmental advantages, as well as, allowing for some productivity during my commute.  

Living at home still allowed me to save money compared with renting accommodation, and the introduction of the single-fare bus cap helped keep travel costs manageable. Public transport also offered opportunities to work during the journey when services ran smoothly.

However, the experience also highlights the extent to which commuting students depend on consistent and well-designed transport networks. Where I live now has not had a direct bus route to the city centre in more than a decade, even though a large new housing development has since been built nearby.

If the government is serious about widening participation and supporting commuter students, transport infrastructure cannot remain an afterthought. Reliable bus routes, affordable fares, and accessible transport links are not just conveniences – they are essential components of making higher education genuinely accessible.