Travel

Dr Bike is a free bicycle maintenance service offered on campus by the lovely people at WATBike. Dr Bike takes place in King’s Gate Level 1 Foyer on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays once every 2 weeks and provides:

• free bicycle health checks
• basic maintenance work
• 'bike prescriptions' for more complex repairs

Please note that any advanced repairs and additional parts will not be part of the free service. Prescriptions for complex repairs will need to be taken to WATBike’s paid service or your local bike shop. Dr Bike’s free basic maintenance service is available to all University staff and students when you show your smartcard.

Please direct queries to sustainable.campus@ncl.ac.uk.

Returning home for the summer or fancy a weekend home with parents, family and friends? Access a 33% discount off First Class Advance, Standard Advance, Standard Anytime and Off-Peak fares with the:

• 16-25 Railcard
• 26-30 Railcard
• Senior Railcard: for people aged 60 and over

For those aged 31 to 59 who like to travel in pairs, get a 33% discount with the Two Together Railcard.

Both students and staff can buy or hire fully repaired and refurbished bicycles at Recyke y'Bike, based above the Ouseburn Valley in Byker and in Durham.

All staff can benefit from a monthly salary deduction and reduced ticket prices on Newcastle public transport. The Estates & Facilities SharePoint page has details on how to apply.

Newcastle University is now official partners with Co-wheels Car Club, where University staff can benefit from the 'dual membership' discount. Staff who join the scheme for private and business use avoid the annual membership fee and minimum monthly spend. Students can acquire a private membership too.

For more information or to join, visit the Co-wheels Car Club website. For your nearest car station, see the Locations map.

The University offers the purchasing of bikes and safety equipment to allow staff members to hire the equipment at a saving of between 30.4% to 52% of the purchase amount. For more information or to join the scheme, visit the Cycle Scheme page on the Human Resources section of the University Intranet (University login required).

All students with a valid student ID card are able to access Newcastle’s extensive metro network with significant savings via Nexus’s Pop Cards. Several options are available here:

1. The Student Metro Season Ticket can be purchased annually or month by month to get 30% off a normal season ticket.
2. Students aged 16-21 can also purchase a 16-21 ‘Pop Blue’ Card for 60% off individual metro tickets.
3. Additionally, further Pop deals can be found on the Nexus website.

• Wear a good pair of shoes,
• Encourage a neighbour, friend or colleague to walk with you,
• Let people know where you are and keep your phone charged,
• Carry a personal alarm for safety,
• Use well-lit routes,
• Avoid walking on the road.

• Wearing a helmet is important,
• Remember to obey traffic lights and road signals,
• Don’t ride on the pavement unless a sign says you can,
• Use lights and reflectors so you are clearly visible,
• Don’t use headphones or a mobile while cycling,
• Remove lights and accessories from your cycle when parked to avoid theft,
• Always securely lock your cycle with at least one 'Sold Secure' certified cycle lock and only use purpose-designed Sheffield stands or racks,
• Don't leave your cycle on campus overnight and arrange adequate insurance to cover any theft or damage to your cycle.
  

• Cyclestreets is a cycle route planning site where you can plan journeys taking into account your cycling speed.
• Go Smarter Go Active provides information and help available about sustainable travel.
• Newcastle City Council contains lots of local information for cyclists including advice, cycling parking spaces and new proposed routes, as well as up to date information about travel plans.
• Recyke y’Bike is a volunteer community project selling spares and second-hand bikes.
• The Cycle Hub is a café, bike shop, repair workshop and bike hire shop all in one.
• Plot a Route is a site allowing the planning of active travel routes.
• Sustrans is a charity aimed at helping to make more environmentally friendly transport choices.

Currently, the average car occupancy is 1.58 persons per car, if that increased by 50% to 2.37 people, it would lead to a fall in traffic of a third. Car sharing can be as simple as a quick conversation or setting up a groupchat with a few of your course-mates or colleagues to organise when people are commuting!

Benefits of car sharing:

• Reduces the number of cars on the road, reducing pollution, congestion and parking problems,
• Reduces fuel costs as these can be split between passengers and the driver,
• Reduces stress if you don’t do all the driving yourself,
• Allows you to socialise and connect with those you share with.

If you do need to drive, there are methods to drive in a more environmentally friendly way:

• Keep your tyres properly inflated: they're safer, they'll last longer, and can improve your petrol mileage by >3%,
• Plan ahead for the shortest, most petrol-saving itinerary,
• Use cruise control while on the motorway, as this can save petrol,
• Get your car serviced regularly to maintain engine efficiency,
• Make sure you’re using the right specification of engine oil,
• Travel light and remove excess weight: do you really need all that stuff in the boot?
• Cold starts use more fuel: combine journeys to aid fuel efficiency,
• Drive smoothly, accelerate gently and look ahead to try and prevent unnecessary braking,
• Change up the gears earlier - when the engine speed is at ~2000rpm in a diesel car and ~2500rpm in a petrol car,
• Take off roof racks to reduce drag,
• Don’t idle: an idle vehicle gives off 80% more pollution than one that’s moving – turning the engine off and then back on again uses less fuel than idling longer than 30 seconds.

Access to cycle compounds located across the City Centre campus is managed by the Estates & Facilities Helpdesk. Contact the Helpdesk via ess-helpdesk@newcastle.ac.uk or 0191 208 7171 to request access.

Colleagues can find out further information about cycle parking and other facilities via the Cycling page on the Estates & Facilities NU Connect webpages (University login required).

Find when Dr Bike is on campus on our Events webpage.

A state-of-the-art electric vehicle charging station is located on Wellington Street at Newcastle Helix, near to the University's Urban Sciences Building, with a number of public rapid and fast charge points available. These charge points can provide between 30-150 miles range in less than 30mins for most electric vehicles. The station is operated by Fastned – information about how to charge at a Fastned station, costs and other details can be found on the Fastned support website.

Alternatively, for use of a charge point while a car is parked through the day in the city centre, Eldon Garden multi-storey car park, located nearby to campus, has a eighteen charge points.

Yes – the University provides a cycle-to-work scheme benefit, allowing colleagues to save money on a new cycle and spread the cost, using salary sacrifice.

The scheme is provided by Cycle Scheme and managed by People Services. Details of how to take advantage of this benefit can be found on the Cycle Scheme page on the People Services NU Connect pages (University login required).

The University does not operate an electric vehicle (EV) salary sacrifice scheme.