Students and staff share their thoughts on travel in Travel Survey
By: Monika Farkas
Last updated: Thursday, 10 April 2025
At the end of last year, 617 students and 894 staff took time to tell us how they travel to and from campus and shared their thoughts on sustainable travel.
Your feedback gives insight into travel behaviour, working patterns, areas for improvement and incentives that will encourage sustainable travel. Here is what you had to say in more detail…
Traveling to campus
The top three factors influencing staff and student travel choices are time (34%), cost (30%), and convenience (28%), while sustainability (5%) and fitness (3%) were less of a priority when choosing travel methods.
When asked about your main mode of transport, 38% of staff travel by car to campus and 23% take the train. Meanwhile, 35% of students take the bus and between those living on or close to campus, 27% walk.
Active travel
Active travel includes methods such as walking or cycling. Currently, 11% of staff and 33% of students use active travel methods when commuting to campus.
When asked what would encourage more active travel, you told us that improved pedestrian access (improved pavement, lighting) and having more facilities (showers, lockers and drying cabinets) would encourage active travel. However, some of you said that you don’t feel confident riding a bike (8%) or feel that it is too dangerous to cycle (13%).
Your feedback highlighted the lack of facilities, such as showers and lockers on campus and concerns around bike theft and safety.
Public transport
Most students (35%) use the bus for commuting in comparison to 17% of staff. The train is the second choice both for students and staff when it comes to commuting to campus.
Besides affordability, childcare, caring responsibilities, overcrowding and slow services were cited as reasons why using public transport isn’t an easy choice.
The most popular answer when asked what would encourage students and staff to use more public transport was discounted fares (43%) with integrated transport networks coming next on the list (19%).
Affordability has come up in many comments as a big barrier: 52% of students have a direct bus service to campus, compared to 37% of staff. The biggest challenge with using the bus for staff (27%) is the fact that it takes too long to get to campus, while for students it is mainly the cost of bus fares (17%) and the time it takes (17%).
50% of staff and students don’t know about the public transport discounts, so check the discount pages for staff and students to learn more about what is available to you.
Driving and parking
Between the car drivers most of the respondents agree that they drive because of shorter journey time (25%) and because of the convenience/flexibility (25%) a car gives. Only 6% of drivers currently own an electric vehicle, and 9% drive a hybrid. Find out about owning a pre-loved car through the sustainable Sussex car benefit scheme.
When asked about car share, 31% would be interested in sharing a lift, either as a driver or passenger. The benefits that would encourage more car share are the reduced cost for those car sharing (38%) and having dedicated car parking spaces for car share (17%). Visit the Easit website, to register and add yourself as a driver or passenger and contact other drivers in the area for free.
If you want to be engaged and contacted about car share, get in touch with Monika Farkas in the Sustainability team at m.farkas@sussex.ac.uk.