Travel and Transport

The Let’s Talk Transport Microsoft Teams group, invites staff and students from across the institution to voice their opinions on sustainable travel provision at the University and more broadly within Chester.

The group aims to provide staff and students with an opportunity to contribute to the development of the University’s Travel Plan. We want to understand the opportunities and challenges that are associated with different forms of travel, for commuting and business travel and what would make that transition easier.

Interested in taking part? Join our Let's Talk Transport group.

The role of this steering group will be to ensure the successful integrated creation, communication, and delivery of the 2022-2030 Travel Plan. The group comprising key stakeholders from across the institution, aims to better facilitate sustainable transport options across the University.

Walking is a simple and free way to stay active. We recommend using Google Maps or Traveline to plan your routes. 

The Sports and Active Lifestyle team have produced a variety of walking and running routes around our Exton Park Campus and Chester City Centre. All maps include distance, a difficulty rating and approximate times to run and walk. If you are running the routes, please ensure that you warm up and cool down. If you require any further information, please email activecampus@chester.ac.uk. 

Countess of Chester Country Park

The Countess of Chester Country Park is located a short twenty minute walk from our Exton Park Campus and has a variety of wetland, meadowland and woodland areas. There are also a multitude of trails to enjoy:

• Cultural Trail
• Fallen for the Fallen Poppy Trail
• Walking and Running Trails

Chester Zoo Wildlife Connections

Chester Zoo have created a Wildlife Connections Trail that seeks to connect people with nature. The route begins at the Chester Zoo Nature Reserve and continues its way through the city for 5.4 miles.

Cycle Storage 

Cycle shelters located on all sites and these are marked on the University maps and marked with a yellow circle and the letter C. Please ensure you secure your bike with a heavy-duty lock. In addition, a secure, two-tier cycle rack and coin operated lockers are located in the Grosvenor Bike store in the centre of Exton Park. When using Grosvenor Bike store, please use a lock. You will need your University pass to access the store.

A fix it cycle stations are located on the sites below. These are for you to make use of the pump and tools on the bright red fix it station. If you need help using them please contact the Sustainability Team.

• Exton Park Campus, outside Grosvenor Bike Store
• The Wheeler Building - at the side entrance by the cycle shelter
• Kingsway Building - alongside CKW060 cycle shelter
• Queen's Park Campus - in the bike shelter

Cycle Maps and Support

Chester Cycling Campaign have created a library of local cycle maps, free to access via their website. The maps provide a useful resource if you are looking to cycle around the city of Chester or in between our campuses. Listen to our Green Chester Podcast, where we are joined by Cathey from Chester Cycling Campaign who shares her tips from what to wear, to types of bikes! 

BikeRight offer Bikeability training within the borough, to adults, children and families.

Greenway Gate

Our Greenway Gate provides access to the University directly from the Millennium Greenway. The Millennium Greenway cycle path connects to several cycle routes through the city and cycle routes between sites are available too.

The gate is located at the back of Exton Park Campus, behind the new Science and Engineering building and open between 7:00am and 21:00pm. This makes journeys for cyclists and walkers a lot easier and safer.

Ginger Scooters

Cheshire West and Chester Council have partnered with Ginger Scooters to launch a trial in Chester to provide a form of sustainable travel for shorter journeys. Scooters can be hired for £2.20 per 20 minutes from a variety of locations across the city.

Bren Bikes

The University of Chester have partnered with Bren Bikes, a local social enterprise, who offer refurbished bicycles at an affordable price, as well as provide maintenance and repair services. They are located off the millennium greenway.

Services include:

• Puncture – £10 (includes price of new tube)
• Brake Service – £23 (excluding price of parts if required)
• Gear Service – £23 (excluding price of parts if required)
• Accessories Fitted – £15 (excl. parts)
• “Boxed” Bike Build – £40 (they fully assemble any bike you have bought, parts may be required)
• Bike “Health Check” – £25 (check of your bike and recommend any servicing or repairs that may be require. Excluding price of parts if required)
• Full Bike Service – £45 (excluding price of parts if required)

A number of regular bus services run from outside of Hamilton Square Station and are served by Arriva.

• bus 410 New Brighton - Clatterbridge
• bus 411 New Brighton - Birkenhead
• bus 413/423 Seacombe Ferry – Birkenhead and Liverpool
• bus 471/472 Heswall – Liverpool

Hamilton Square Train Station, serviced by Merseyrail, is a short 6–10-minute walk from the University Centre Birkenhead. Hamilton Square provides regular services to Liverpool, New Brighton, West Kirby, and Chester.

Warrington Borough Council own and manage the Bus Interchange, which is near to Warrington Central station. The Bus Interchange is open: 5am – 11:30pm Monday – Saturdays 9am – 6pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Warrington Own Buses offer weekly tickets £23 (adult tickets) or £17 for under 21s. Discounted travel is also available on certain services operated by Warrington Own buses including services: 1, 2, 11, 12 16, 16A, 20, 21 and 32.

Frequent bus services run through Chester, making it easy to travel to campus:

Exton Park - from Chester Bus Interchange

• Arriva 1A to Blacon runs every 10 minutes and stops at Northgate Church with a short walk to Exton Park.
• Arriva 1 stops at the corner of Bouverie St/Walpole St with a 3 min walk to Exton Park.

Kingsway - from Chester Bus Interchange

• Stagecoach 53 runs every 15 minutes to and from the Chester Bus Exchange

Queen’s Park and Wheeler – from Chester train station, Chester Bus Interchange and Bache train station

• Arriva 1 to Wrexham from Chester railway station, every 15 minutes stopping at Vicar’s Lane Coach stop
• Arriva 11 runs from Chester Bus Interchange, every 30 minutes stopping at Vicar’s Lane Coach stop, with a short 9 min walk to Queen’s Park.
• Arrowebrook Coaches 26 from Ellesmere Port to Guilden Sutton, runs every hour, from Bache Station to Foregate Street stop DD with a 10 min walk to Queen’s Park

Bache and Chester train station are a short 15 – 20-minute walk from Exton Park, Queen’s Park, and Kingsway campus. Bache is serviced by Merseyrail, providing links to Liverpool and the Wirral. Chester station serves: Manchester, Crewe, Stoke, the wider North West and North Wales regions.

Our latest staff and student travel surveys revealed that the majority of journeys taken are taken in single occupancy cars. Sharing your journey to work can help save you money, reduce CO2 emissions and reduce your travel stress. LiftShare provides a portal for you to register your journey and enables you to get in touch with other people to share you journey.

If you do use your car, restricted parking is available at every site for vehicles displaying a valid university or disabled parking permit. For further information on where to apply for a parking permit, please email parking. 

Other parking options are also available – often only a short walk to campus. Further details can be found on the Cheshire West and Chester Council website. There are disabled parking spaces across sites for those with access requirements. To see if you are eligible, please refer to the Parking Regulations. If you drive an electric vehicle, check out information on EV charging stations and electric vehicles.

At the University of Chester, we promote the use of sustainable travel modes to our staff, students and visitors. They are encouraged to make use of our Travel Hierarchy (below), when making decisions about how they commute.

A travel hierarchy suggest ways to make more sustainable travel decisions.