Hallam Students’ Union officers campaign for cheaper public transport for students

Sheffield Hallam University’s Students’ Union officers are campaigning for cheaper public transport for students in the city.

SU officers are calling for bus and tram fares to be reduced to £1 for all Sheffield students, with a particular focus on reducing costs for those commuting to university from home.

The price of a single student tram ticket is currently £2, while a single student bus fare has increased to £1.50 over the last five years.

President of Sheffield Hallam SU Martha Mitchell told The Sheffield Tab: “55 per cent of our students are commuters, which means they are the ones that are most affected by travelling into uni and the prices.

“The uni has been really good and they’ve changed the model of learning – so there’s some online and there’s some in person teaching – which does help those students.

“But I think there’s more that can be done to support them financially – especially with the cost of living – which I think this can do.”

As part of the campaign, a call was put out to students to share their own travel stories, with one saying they spent £80 each month on weekly passes to get into uni for their studies alone.

Others spoke of not being able to afford to get unto university.

“Obviously reducing that cost of travel for students means they can actually get involved in other things with the uni experience, which I think they’re kind of missing out on at the moment because they can’t travel in to do it,” Martha added.

In a meeting with South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard on 28th October, SU officers discussed the proposals as part of his wider plans for South Yorkshire public transport.

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A public consultation by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) into the prospect of franchising the region’s buses is currently ongoing, and Hallam SU is now encouraging students to share their views through that.

“I think that’s where his main focus is to get a whole broad picture of what Sheffield thinks about transport. So that’s our now our focus is to help with getting students to input into that consultation,” Martha explained to The Sheffield Tab.

Martha also hopes the process of student ID when purchasing tickets will be made easier and available to more students.

The Travel South Yorkshire Zoom Beyond Travel pass is currently only available for students aged 18 to 21.

“I think the Zoom card is great, but obviously it’s only up to 21, so that doesn’t really cover many of our students because a lot of ours are mature students as well.

“So I think I’d just like to see it as easy as possible just with your student card. You can show that you go to Hallam or Uni of and you can get those buses for a pound.”

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority Consultation is open until 15th January 2025.

Featured image via Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union on Facebook.