We want all of our staff to think about their travel habits and we offer a range of incentives to encourage sustainable travel to, from and between our campuses. When you join BU, you’ll receive full details of any relevant schemes but for now, take a look at the options below.
Ways to travel to BU
Walking
If you are lucky enough to live within walking distance of the university you may be interested in applying for our interest-free travel to work loan, which can provide you with money towards footwear and waterproof clothing.
We have also negotiated staff discounts at Cotswold Outdoor and Go Outdoors.
Cycling
We want to make it as easy as possible for our staff to cycle to work, so there are secure bike storage areas, lockers and showers for you to use at both of our campuses, and we run free monthly Dr Bike maintenance sessions at both campuses.
If you don’t have a bike but want to start cycling, you can take advantage of our Cycle to Work scheme, which could see you save up to 42% off the value of a new bike and/or accessories; or you can loan a refurbished bike from us for a small annual fee.
You can even borrow an electric bike for a week, to discover the benefits of power-assisted cycling, or use an electric pool bike to travel between campus sites.
Cycling isn’t just a way of getting to and from work - we know that many of you enjoy hopping on your bike in your free time as well. Sign up to our BU bicycle user group and you’ll receive useful information about local cycling events.
Bus
We work with a local bus company morebus to provide a regular service between our campuses and our halls of residence. As a staff member, you will be entitled to free travel on the U1 route (which runs between campuses and the train station), as well as discounts on the other BU routes, and on many non-university services run by More.
If you will be using the bus regularly, you can sign up for a BU Key Card, which entitles you to subsidised travel on a range of routes. Find out more on the UNIBUS website.
Staff are also entitled to a 10% discount on advanced ticket fares with Yellow Buses.
All new members of staff are entitled to a free 30-day travel pass for the morebus zone A network or the Yellow Buses network.
Rail
If you will be travelling to Bournemouth by rail, you can apply for an interest-free travel to work loan to purchase a rail season ticket (up to £3,000 interest free). The U1 bus is free for staff members to use and it travels from the station to both campuses at regular intervals.
Driving
We encourage lift sharing at BU and offer a range of incentives for those who regularly share their journey to work with other colleagues. These include priority parking spaces for registered lift sharers, a free online journey matching service, and the cost of a taxi home should your lift sharing partner let you down.
There are car parks available on both of our campuses, although spaces are limited. Any staff who live more than two miles from their usual place of work are entitled to apply for an annual car parking permit, with the option to pay for this through a salary sacrifice scheme.
The cost of these permits varies depending on your salary. You can download the current staff parking charges document (pdf 21kb).
We have also put together some FAQs (pdf 198kb) about applying for an annual parking permit. When you start work at BU you will receive a generic BU username and password. You can then apply for an annual permit online.
To arrange parking for your first day, please contact 01202 968040 or email [email protected] in advance.
If you only want to drive to work occasionally, you can pay for a daily parking permit when you need one. These currently cost £2 per day and are available from the cashiers office on Talbot Campus or the finance office on Lansdowne Campus.