Warwick Uni: Transport Review

Introduction

If you want to know how to get to the University of Warwick, check out their website. This article will not be explaining how to get to campus, but will instead be a review of how good the transport links are, and what can be done to improve them.

Car

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way. Despite having lots of parking, travelling to campus by car does not offer a good experience. Not only is parking very expensive (£8/day), often far away from where you need to go, but that's assuming you're able to get in/out at all at peak times. The road capacity is severely limited by a one-way system around campus, which gets easily clogged at peak times. Of course, this isn't by accident, and I think that it's great to prioritise other modes of transport, but I'm just being very clear that arriving by car at peak times is not a good idea. Both of the main routes out from campus often queue for a long time, which also slows down buses too.

Some of the roads have a somewhat misleading design, which tends to encourage pedestrians to walk out into the road without looking, or encourage drivers to give way when they shouldn't, increasing the congestion problem. In particular, the main road through campus has the road suface be the same as the pavement, which seems to cause more confusion than bringing safety benefits.

Buses

The campus has a great bus interchange with a variety of different bus routes.

Overall, the buses are very good. They still take longer than driving or cycling, but nearly always provide a reliable service. Be careful at end of school time though, especially on the 18 - the buses are full and take twice as long!

The main problem with the buses has been the steady rise in ticket prices. Of course, this is primarily dictated by the government cap, but the bus operators have been doing other things to increase prices too. For example, there used to be a group ticket that could get 5 people on the bus for £4 after 6pm. I can't really complain at this being removed as it was such ridiculous value, but it is indicative of the general steady rise in prices that we are seeing.

Train

Getting to campus by train is a bit annoying. While Coventry station is well served, it's an extra bus journey from the station to campus. Some people may find Canley station more convenient, but this is also a long walk away. When going south, I would recommend getting the bus from campus to Leamington and picking up the train there, as you'll save a bit of money on the train fare.

Overall, the train service is fine. It's good and reliable, but the distance of the campus from any nearby stations adds quite a bit of extra time to your journey, especially if it's late at night when bus frequencies are lower.

Bicycle

And saving the best for last, cycling! Warwick campus is very amenable to cycling, with most of the campus operating good, separated cycling facilities and bicycle parking right outside each building. It's by far the quickest and easiest way to get where you need to go, and I would highly recommend it. Great job.

...although I've got to try and criticise something. The only annoying thing is how the roads through campus that are closed off to general traffic (but open to deliveries and bikes) are always filled with pedestrians that are not paying any attention, meaning you have to be very aware and often slow down to avoid hitting anyone.

The Scores

The scores are in!

Overall, the University of Warwick has excellent transport links to the surrounding area. While the train station could be closer and the access by car will inevitably be bad as there are so many people, the infrastructure is overall very well designed to facilitate safe and quick access for everyone.