Commuting Students
Lots of students choose to commute for all sorts of reasons: to save money, to be near family, to keep a part-time job or simply because they like their home comforts. If you’re considering living at home and commuting, the University of Chester offers lots of support to help make your university experience everything it should be.
Public transport
Chester has high-quality public transport links, making it easy to commute within the city and to the city from the wider local region. Chester train station and Chester bus station are both a 15-minuite walk from our Exton Park learning site and all of our other sites in Chester. The Bache railway station is on the main Chester to Liverpool Merseyrail Wiiral line, so there are regular trains between the cities.The Bache station is a ten-minute walk from Exton Park.
All of our University Centres are well-served by public transport, making them easy to commute to from around their regions.
University Centre Birkenhead is a five-minute walk from Hamilton Square train station on the Merseyrail Wirral line between Chester and Liverpool and so takes just ten minutes to reach from Liverpool city centre. Birkenhead bus station is also just a five-minute walk from University Centre Birkenhead.
University Centre Warrington is a short walk from both Warrington Central and Warrington Bank Quay train stations as well as Warrington bus station. This means University Centre Warrington is quick and easy to get to by public transport from around the north-west.
We are able to offer a small number of parking permits to those students who meet the specified criteria; students with disabilities and those who have the furthest to travel are prioritised.
View our interactive Public Transport Planner for local train journey information.
Starting University: Commuting Students
Induction Process
For many students, the concern around commuting is that they won’t be able to meet people or make friends. Please be reassured that this is the main concern for the vast majority of students – commuting and residential – so you are not alone. Because of this, our student induction process starts even before you arrive, with access to our Offer Holder Community to help you find your course mates and those you might share common interests with, and meetings with your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) to help you settle in.
Clubs and Societies
We encourage our commuting students to get involved in clubs and societies – it’s a great way to meet people. Societies and clubs can often be the basis of lifelong friendships, leadership opportunities or just a great way to spend time doing something you love. Seize those opportunities, as you never know where they might lead.
Ongoing Support
Our personalised learning ethos means that we want to get to know you as an individual to help you develop and grow. Your Personal Academic Tutor will help with that, but it’s good to know that the network of experts in Student Services are also on hand to offer support as and when it is needed.
Social Spaces
In Chester, Warrington and Shrewsbury, you’ll find lots of social spaces designed for students to use, as well as our libraries, which are often a social hub, too. Come for your lecture and stay all day.
