Sustainable travel
Most people in St Andrews move around on foot or by bike, and we want to do our part to support these sustainable travel options. We work with cycling and car share schemes and share tips for moving around on foot and by public transport.
Active Travel Champions, St Andrews brings together and celebrates the power of collective local action for active and sustainable travel solutions across our communities.
What you can do
You can be a part of one of the many St Andrews initiatives supporting sustainable travel:
- Join the Active Travel Champion group
- Volunteer at the Bike Pool's fixer sessions
- Help Transition St Andrews monitor air quality: email transition@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Find out about low-carbon travel options in St Andrews on the Go St Andrews website
- Get out and about on one of the Ramblers favourite walking routes
Cycling
We want to make it easier for you to cycle, so we provide the following services:
- BikePool: the service refurbishes old bikes and rents them to students and locals for an affordable price. They also run Fix It sessions to keep your bike in shape.
- E-bike scheme: allows staff to borrow an e-bike for free for up to 24 hours.
- Bike lights: we issue bike lights during the darker months to help you stay safe. For more information, email transition@st-andrews.ac.uk.
- Bike to Work Breakfasts: these are free for locals, staff and postgraduate students, and are a good way to meet new people.
Cycle to work staff scheme
The University supports staff to travel to work in a more healthy and active way. The cycle to work scheme is a salary sacrifice scheme that provides an Income Tax and National Insurance efficient way to pay towards the hire and eventual ownership of a bike, and associated cycling equipment, up to the value of £2500. This is repayable to the University over a period of between 12 and 24 months.
How it works:
- Locate your local bike shop and find the bike and the cycling equipment you want to buy via Greener Commute.
- Email HR Salaries at monthly-ns@st-andrews.ac.uk with Cycle to work eligibility check in the subject line. State your staff ID number, which you can find on your ID card, the total amount you want to spend on the bike and cycling equipment, and the duration of repayment (12 or 24 months).
- Salaries will receive notification of the application and will check your eligibility.
- Once approved, Salaries will confirm eligibility and provide you with an employer code to purchase the items.
- Login to the scheme, enter the code, submit details of your bike request, and select the shop you want to purchase from.
- Greener Commute will send you the Hire Agreement for electronic signature via E-Sign.
- Once the agreement is signed, Greener Commute will email you a voucher that should be presented to the bike shop to collect your purchases.
Travelling by bus
Cleaner, cheaper and quicker, public transport has many benefits. From St Andrews, buses take you all over Scotland and the rest of the UK, whether to the Highlands or to cities like London and Glasgow.
University staff and students get 75% off bus travel with Stagecoach. Megabus is another option for travel to the rest of Scotland.
Travelling by train
The nearest railway station is Leuchars. From there you can get a bus or taxi to St Andrews, and cyclists can use the cycle path that takes you right into St Andrews in about half an hour. National rail provides details of train tickets and timetables.
There is a campaign underway for reopening the railway from Leuchars to St Andrews. The railway would improve sustainable commuting between Edinburgh, Crail, St Andrews and Dundee, and make our roads less busy.
Driving
Save time, money and the environment by using the University's lift share scheme, which has many benefits. You can save up to £1000 in fuel costs and emit significantly fewer emissions by taking part in lift share.
The University prioritises parking for staff sharing vehicles for their commute to work. At Eden Campus, the parking spaces closest to the entrance are dedicated to shared vehicles, and we are looking to expand this initiative to the town of St Andrews.
Electric vehicles
The University supports the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) and has installed a network of publicly available charge points across campus. These can be accessed using ChargePlace Scotland.
Drivers can access charge points by using a ChargePlace Scotland RFID access card, through the ChargePlace Scotland smartphone app, or using the ChargePlace webpay link.
There is a charge of 50p per kWh to charge on University stations, with a £10 surcharge added after four hours of charging. Cars must display a valid University car parking permit.
You can see a live map of charge point status and availability at Charge Place Scotland, which is also accessible through the Transition Travel Map.
Issues accessing chargers should be directed to ChargePlace Scotland using their Fault Reporting Form and the six-digit charge point ID found on the charge post. Problems with car parking management, such as non-electric vehicles in charge bays, should be directed to the University’s Security Team by calling +44 (0)1334 46 8999 or emailing security@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Parking is regulated by the University's Car Parking Regulations 2007.
St Andrews Car Club
The University has partnered with Enterprise Car Club to bring two cars into St Andrews. These are located at:
- Gateway Building (Vauxhall Astra)
- St Katharine’s West (Renault Captur – Hybrid)
If you are registered to drive hire cars on University business and wish to have the option to use the Car Club vehicles, sign up for the University’s Car Club account.
Staff who have downloaded the Enterprise Car Club app should not be able to reserve the vehicles using the app. Bookings can only be made by authorised bookers on the Enterprise Travel Direct website.
Things you should know:
- The petrol vehicle at The Gateway can be driven by those aged 19 or over for personal use.
- The hybrid vehicle at St Katherine’s West and the one at St Andrews West can be driven by those aged 25 or over for personal use.
- For University use, please follow the age restriction guidelines set out by the University’s insurance.
- If you are a member of Car Club, you can use any Car Club vehicle, for example, if you arrived at Stornoway airport you could book the Car Club car there.
- The tank doesn’t have to be filled up every time a vehicle is returned, but please don’t leave it with a tank less than a quarter full.
- There is a fuel card in each vehicle. Staff don’t need to use a credit card or expenses to put fuel in.
Air travel
Travel is part of academic life and it can be challenging for research or professional staff who are climate aware to balance international network building opportunities with the requirement for air travel.
Colleagues at the Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde are testing a decision-making tool kit designed to help people reflect on their decision to fly to a conference. The kit also offers advice on alternatives.
Download the Air Travel Justification Tool Kit (PDF) to help you decide whether or not you need to fly.
What we are doing
University travel survey
The University of St Andrews regularly surveys staff and students’ travel uses and behaviour. You can find the most recent results in our Staff Travel Survey 2022 Summary Report (PDF).