Lancaster travel information

Pay and Display parking is available on this campus, the university operates a cashless parking system. It is possible to pay for you parking, by Pay by Phone, App or Connect Cashless Parking website. Please see the table below for prices.

University Car Parking Policy 2024 2025

Connect Cashless Parking Guidelines

Open day attendees, course interview candidates, conference delegates and other visitors should be provided with parking information and permits by their hosts.

This will involve either a dedicated visitors parking area, supply of a visitors' parking permit, or use of pay-and-display. Visitors' parking permits might be provided in advance or arrangements made for their collection on arrival.

Unless a dedicated visitors' parking area has been provided, visitors' parking permits are valid in any non-allocated parking space.

Where an area is designated for visitors parking, staff and students with a parking permit or pay and display ticket must not park there.

For the avoidance of doubt, the following definitions are used in deciding eligibility:

• ‘Bona fide’ visitors are people who have been invited to the university and are not being paid. This includes people who are paying to attend an event but who are not students. This would include open days, conference delegates and registration events.
• Contractors and consultants are regarded as permanent employees for parking purposes. This means that they would need to use pay and display parking or purchase a twelve week or annual parking permit.

On-campus parking

On-site parking is available to all students who have purchased a parking permit or a pay and display ticket.

Pay and Display parking is available on this campus, the university operates a cashless parking system. It is possible to pay for you parking, by Pay by Phone, App or Connect Cashless Parking website.

Apply for a student parking permit

On-street parking

Students are asked not to park on neighbouring residential streets.

Apply for a staff parking permit

Salary sacrifice and staff car parking

Staff car parking permits are available through a salary sacrifice scheme, which works in a similar way to other University salary sacrifice schemes currently in operation, i.e. childcare vouchers and cycle scheme. The salary sacrifice arrangement will work on an ‘opt-out’ basis. Full details on the scheme are available on the FAQs, or contact Payroll by email at payroll@cumbria.ac.uk

Our Lancaster campus is well-served by public transport, with buses stopping frequently at the stops near the campus entrance. 

As a University of Cumbria student, you can get discounted season tickets for Stagecoach bus travel in Lancaster (the ‘Unirider’ ticket).

Get a UniRider ticket

Find bus times

The Lancaster train station is a 20-30 minute walk from campus and a five-minute walk away from the bus station.

Bicycle parking is available on campus - please see the Lancaster campus map for details.

Anyone using the bicycle parking must ensure that they lock their bicycle securely to the racks. The University does not accept liability for any property that is lost, stolen or damaged on campus.

Do you bike, run or walk to work or study at the University of Cumbria?

Then join the University of Cumbria Strava Club!

Strava is a social media site that allows cyclists and other outdoorsy people to use GPS data to share routes and compare their performance. 

If you’ve got a GPS device or a smartphone you can log your activities and upload them to the site. You’ll then be able to find out what other students and staff have been up to – helping you to pick up new route ideas and meet new people with similar interests. The site will also help you meet other people who ride the same commutes as you on a regular basis.

Visit the club page at www.strava.com/clubs/cumbriauni     

Security advice

Please note: We strongly advise that Strava members use the site’s ‘Privacy Zone’ function to keep their home address hidden. 

For more information visit the Strava security information page. 

If your usual home address is in Cumbria and you face difficulties getting to our University, it might be possible to loan you a moped at a heavily discounted rate. The moped could be used to get to one of our campuses or to get you to a bus stop or train station.

The moped loan scheme called Wheels 2 Work (W2W) is operated by Inspira and all arrangements would be made with their W2W Co-ordinator.

To be eligible for a loan:

• You must be under 20 years old and your permanent address must be in Cumbria.
• You will have difficulty accessing one of our courses because of transport problems.

If a loan is agreed:

• The maximum hire period for accessing an education course is ten months.
• A one-day training course is provided and must be completed before the moped is handed over.
• The loan fee includes full outer clothing, helmet and insurance, you just need to add fuel.

Your journey would be assessed by Inspira.

For more details please phone Deborah Naylor on 01900 604674 or email Deborah.Naylor@inspira.org.uk.