Getting Around Bristol on a Student Budget

01Student fares are in the app

First’s student tickets are sold only in the First Bus app, for up to 10% off. Any valid photo student ID will do, from an NUS card to your university ID, and you show it on every journey or pay the adult single.

In the Bristol Zone, a flat fare on more than 50 First and metrobus routes (but not the A1 Airport Flyer), a student single is £2.34, a day £6.10, a week £25.20 and a calendar month £91.08. Tap on and off with a contactless card instead and you pay adult fares: £2.60 a trip, capped at £6.90 a day and £28 a week.

At £2.34 a single, the £91.08 student month pays for itself after 39 journeys.

02Term and year tickets

First’s University of Bristol page sells Teaching Block 1 (11 September to 20 December 2026) for £230, Teaching Block 2 (9 January to 30 May 2027) for £320, and a Uni Year (11 September 2026 to 30 May 2027) for £520.

Its UWE page also has a £520 Uni Year (11 September 2026 to 16 May 2027) and Teaching Block 3 (1 April to 16 May 2027) for £220, but prices Teaching Block 1, for the same dates, at £300. Check the price in the app before you pay.

Using more than one bus company? A student WESTrider works on First, Stagecoach South Wales, The Big Lemon and other operators across Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire: £6.30 a day or £27 a week. It’s a paper ticket bought on the bus, so bring your NUS card or other proof you’re a student.

The £520 Uni Year costs less than six student months at £91.08.

03Which bus goes where

To UWE Frenchay: metrobus m1, m3 and m4 (up to every 10 minutes on weekday daytimes; buy before you board, or tap on and off), and the 19, 46, 70, 72 and 73. The 70 runs 24 hours a day between the city centre and Frenchay. The 72 runs from Temple Meads through the city centre, past the University of Bristol and up through Cotham, Redland, Gloucester Road, Horfield and Lockleaze; the 46 goes through Old Market, Easton, Eastville and Fishponds, and on past the Glenside campus.

For the University of Bristol: the U1 and U1N link Stoke Bishop, Clifton Down station, the campus and the city centre, and the 1, 2, 2a and 8 link Clifton with Temple Meads for the Temple Quarter campus. Walking between the Clifton campus and Temple Quarter takes about 40 minutes, and the University doesn’t pay for travel between its sites.

On certain bursaries at the University of Bristol? Bristol SU says the University has a fund towards a First Bus pass, and there’s a free Wednesday shuttle to the Coombe Dingle Sports Complex. University of Bristol students also get 35% off 500 pay-as-you-go Dott e-scooter and e-bike rides. At UWE, the SU runs a student cycle loan scheme, and privately owned e-scooters are banned on campus.

04Trains and the railcard

A 16–25 Railcard is £35 for a year or £80 for three, and takes a third off most fares; full-time mature students can get one too. On weekdays from 4.30am to 9.59am there’s a £12 minimum fare, though GWR says not at weekends, on public holidays or in July and August. It doesn’t cover season tickets. Older postgraduates: the 26–30 Railcard is also £35.

GWR’s pay-as-you-go lets you tap in and out with a GWR Touch smartcard from Weston-super-Mare to Cheltenham Spa and Swindon to Severn Beach, including the Severn Beach line’s stations near Clifton, Redland and Montpelier. Your railcard discount is applied, and you’re charged the best fare for the day.

Clifton Down is the nearest station to the Clifton campus, Temple Meads connects to the Temple Quarter campus, and Redland is ten minutes from Temple Meads by train. For UWE Frenchay, the nearest stations are Filton Abbey Wood, about 30 minutes’ walk or a First bus from the station car park, and Bristol Parkway. Frenchay also has its own FlixBus and National Express stop.