As staff prepare for a fuller return to campus, localised flexibility in working patterns will continue to have an impact on the ways in which we all work and travel to our place of work. Below is an overview and update on many of the schemes that the university operates.

Public transport

The university in collaboration with a number of public transport operators across the city offer a number of travel pass schemes. These scheme offer staff the opportunity to purchase travel passes through salary deductions – there are a range of these available to support differing work patterns, many at discounted rates.

Car Parking

From Wednesday 1 September, parking charges will be re-introduced with the application window for applying for parking permits opening from today (Monday 12 July).

Recognising that colleagues will have differing campus return dates and to reflect more flexible patterns of working on-campus- and home-working, we are retaining the flexibility that we introduced last year in how you can pay to park on campus.

• Full permits: full annual permits will still be available. Alternatively, staff or students will now be able to apply for a parking permit at any point in the year and only pay for the months remaining in the permit year. For example, if you apply in December you only pay 9 months of charges.
• Occasional use vouchers: should you wish to use occasional use vouchers to park on campus for a few days each week, for example to accommodate flexible working or until public transport is fully restored, the cost of any unused vouchers will be refunded once you revert to your usual mode of transport. If you wish to upgrade to a full parking permit, the cost of it will be reduced to account for the amount you have already spent on vouchers. For any members of staff typically needing to park on campus for fewer than four days each week, the occasional use voucher scheme offers the more cost-effective solution. These can be ordered through the online permit system, by selecting ‘Occasional Driver’ under the Driver Scheme.

To underpin the sustainability commitments in the University Strategy and reduce the large loss that the university currently makes between parking charges, the cost of providing car parking and its commitments to Nottingham City Council’s Workplace Parking Levy (WPL), the cost of a parking permit will need to rise by 12.5% for 2021/22.

This works out as an annual increase from £69 to £78 for cars in the lowest emission and salary bracket and an annual increase from £774 to £871 in the highest bracket. The average cost of an annual parking permit is £270  – less than £1.18 per day based on 230 days use.

Over the next year as we better understand travel demand, patterns and car parking use we will be developing and consulting on a revised sustainable parking strategy and charging mechanism more aligned to the University Strategy.

Find out more about the university’s car parking scheme

Cycle to Work

Cycling to work offers a flexible, fit and sustainable way to travel between our campuses and elsewhere. The university offers a comprehensive Cycle to Work scheme accessible through the Employee Hub and has increased the value of the scheme to enable staff to purchase bicycles up to the value of £2,000.

Operated on a salary sacrifice basis, the scheme allows employees to hire a bike and equipment from the university for twelve months. After this period the employee may, at the university and scheme provider discretion, be offered options to extend the hire agreement or take ownership of the bike.

Hopper buses

The university has continued to run a number of hopper bus services over the last year to provide connectivity between campuses. Work is underway to design timetables for the start of next session in line with the latest guidance and we will continue to provide regular updates on services and timetables.

Details on the hopper bus services can be found on the Transport pages.

In the meantime anyone wanting to travel between University Park and King’s Meadow Campus can catch the Sutton Bonington service from East Drive on University park and get off at the Showcase Cinema ( LI01) stop a short walk from KMC and for travel in the opposite direction catch the Sutton Bonington Bus at the Showcase Cinema ( LI04) stop on the other side of Clifton Boulevard which can be accessed from the pedestrian bridge.