Worcester Students’ Union president Kynton Swingle shares promising views on public transport for students in the city.
Kynton explained that all current University of Worcester students were encouraged to complete a lifestyles survey a couple of months ago. There was a very high response rate to the questionnaire and the results were very interesting. He concluded that without students thinking about it, a lot of them are indeed environmentally-conscious.
“Whereas they might not associate themselves with conservation and environment, they are actually keen on making sure they’re doing things for the good of the environment or taking the most ethical and sustainable way they can to travel and shop.
“The university does a lot to help students travel in a more environmentally-friendly way with schemes such as the bike hire and car share. This new uni bus shuttle that goes down Hylton Road, connecting the three University campuses is a tremendous advantage for students, as well as for the environment. It’s seeing promising results,” said Mr Swingle.
“We’re trying to encourage fewer students to actually come onto site via car. Worcester is a compact city and, to be honest, most don’t need to. We are lucky to have two train stations, and now with the added Uni Shuttle and two bus stops on St John’s Campus, it’s easy to get around. Something else that’s always top of a students list is affordability. With the 10 journey tickets, you can go anywhere, at any time, in Worcester. We’re having more people using the bus so there’s obviously less cars coming onto campus, so there’s less carbon emissions coming from that as well.”
Many positives have come from the bus service as it saves students walking a mile from St. John’s campus to town.
Kynton jokes
“Lugging your shopping across Sabrina Bridge when it’s pouring down with rain, it’s not nice.”
Other advantages include keeping dry and cosy and usually it’s a lot faster than alternative buses in Worcester as there are fewer stops.
Therefore, it has many environmental, practical and economical perks, leaving Kynton encouraging as many people to use it as possible.