Fare-dodging students have been told to pay up or risk losing the UB1 bus after suspicion that a number were using the free ‘campus hopper’ service on board the Number 44 to travel to the city centre.
Officials on board the Number 44 Unibus Transdev service, which serves both campus and the city centre, have been carrying out extra ticket checks in a bid to stop students abusing the service as they jump on at Heslington East.
Currently, undergraduates and postgraduates can claim a ‘campus hopper’ when they hop on at one of Heslington East’s bus stops which entitles them to travel up to the Heslington West campus for free.
However, some are staying on until they reach the heart of York – and not paying for the privilege.
In a YUSU Blog post, President Kallum Taylor said: “Can we please not? And spread the word about this? The service is cheap enough, and we’re fortunate to have a free campus 2 campus service… If this gets abused then it might open up a leak in the whole bus/transport package we have.”
Students can travel from campus to the city centre for £1.50 on a single travel or £2 for return travel.
Kallum warned that the UB1 service – which serves the campus – could be scrapped if fare dodging continues and that the Clubbers Bus – which serves students going out at night – could be scaled back.
“We don’t want to scale back the Clubbers Bus or get rid of the UB1 because the #44 is being tricked out of money,” he said.
“It’s only fair on everyone else… Please do not be #Nawty.”
Really? who actually cares? It happens, it’s sad, most people pay so what difference does it make? lets not let a few idiots affect our bus service!
@blahhh You don’t seem to understand… ‘A few idiots’ may affect our bus service if we don’t tell them to stop. You can understand that if people are fare-dodging, Transdev will be wary of it becoming an increasing trend and they’ll make even less profit than they do on an already pretty cheap service.