The Student Room Group

Transport firms for commuting students

Hello,
I'm going to be a commuting student to university. Just for safety reasons I'm not going to say which university but could someone be able to recommend me a taxi firm or transport that would be able to pick me up from my house to the university as a commuting student. Getting a train/bus is not really feasible as it is too much of a faff to get there from where I live so an affordable mode of transport that would be able to pick me up from my home would be ideal.

Thank you

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Original post by Anonymous
Hello,
I'm going to be a commuting student to university. Just for safety reasons I'm not going to say which university but could someone be able to recommend me a taxi firm or transport that would be able to pick me up from my house to the university as a commuting student. Getting a train/bus is not really feasible as it is too much of a faff to get there from where I live so an affordable mode of transport that would be able to pick me up from my home would be ideal.

Thank you

The best thing for you to do would be to contact some taxi firms local to your home, and ask if they could provide you with a contract to pick you up at X time on whichever specific days on a rolling basis. This would be similar to arrangements they would make for schoolchildren and regular punters. My brother has a contract with a local taxi firm, so I have experience of this. It may be pricey though, so once you call and get quotes, you might want to consider if that's the best route for you. You also probably won't have much flexibility either - if you decide not to go into uni one day, you'd need to give them notice of this for example.
Reply 2
Original post by PhoenixFortune
The best thing for you to do would be to contact some taxi firms local to your home, and ask if they could provide you with a contract to pick you up at X time on whichever specific days on a rolling basis. This would be similar to arrangements they would make for schoolchildren and regular punters. My brother has a contract with a local taxi firm, so I have experience of this. It may be pricey though, so once you call and get quotes, you might want to consider if that's the best route for you. You also probably won't have much flexibility either - if you decide not to go into uni one day, you'd need to give them notice of this for example.

The thing is I do have a driving test booked but if I don't pass I need to have arrangements in place as there's a massive backlog from Covid and getting another test isn't as easy as pre-Covid times. As I've said before bus/train isn't really feasible so a taxi type transport I believe is going to be the only option. I hope it's not too expensive considering it could be for a period of time ... Do you know roughly how much I'd be looking at? I have got in touch with a few firms but I'm just awaiting their replies and also just asking on here if there's any specific companies that anyone would recommend .
Original post by Anonymous
The thing is I do have a driving test booked but if I don't pass I need to have arrangements in place as there's a massive backlog from Covid and getting another test isn't as easy as pre-Covid times. As I've said before bus/train isn't really feasible so a taxi type transport I believe is going to be the only option. I hope it's not too expensive considering it could be for a period of time ... Do you know roughly how much I'd be looking at? I have got in touch with a few firms but I'm just awaiting their replies and also just asking on here if there's any specific companies that anyone would recommend .

There are no national companies for this sort of thing unfortunately, unless you want to rely on Uber or other carshare apps. The cost will depend on how far away you live from the university, and perhaps even what time of day you'll be travelling in (rush hour will inevitably cost more). What is the distance/travel time you're talking about?
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by PhoenixFortune
There is no national companies for this sort of thing unfortunately, unless you want to rely on Uber or other carshare apps. The cost will depend on how far away you live from the university, and perhaps even what time of day you'll be travelling in (rush hour will inevitably cost more). What is the distance/travel time you're talking about?

All I can say just because of safety etc it's not London based so it's not an area where I can quickly get transport. The ride is roughly 18.5 miles. I'd probably leave the house at 7:45 in the morning and get picked up at 17:30 perhaps. (just a rough estimate there)
Reply 5
Original post by PhoenixFortune
There are no national companies for this sort of thing unfortunately, unless you want to rely on Uber or other carshare apps. The cost will depend on how far away you live from the university, and perhaps even what time of day you'll be travelling in (rush hour will inevitably cost more). What is the distance/travel time you're talking about?

I'm just looking for any sort of transport that's fairly priced and can pick me up from my home really
Original post by Anonymous
All I can say just because of safety etc it's not London based so it's not an area where I can quickly get transport. The ride is roughly 18.5 miles. I'd probably leave the house at 7:45 in the morning and get picked up at 17:30 perhaps. (just a rough estimate there)

Okay, well given that we're talking about London prices (and potentially the congestion charge too if that applies), you'd be looking at least ÂŁ60 per day, if not more. My brother does a 15 mile journey, and his taxi costs ÂŁ25 each way (so ÂŁ50 per day), but that isn't in London.
Reply 7
Original post by PhoenixFortune
Okay, well given that we're talking about London prices (and potentially the congestion charge too if that applies), you'd be looking at least ÂŁ60 per day, if not more. My brother does a 15 mile journey, and his taxi costs ÂŁ25 each way (so ÂŁ50 per day), but that isn't in London.

It's not London based
Reply 8
You need to ask some local firms. Would this be every day in term time? Possible you find a company which also collects school children on a council contract as the hours and regularity would fit.
Original post by Anonymous
It's not London based

I beg your pardon, I misread your post. You'd still be looking at around ÂŁ60 per day though.
Original post by PhoenixFortune
I beg your pardon, I misread your post. You'd still be looking at around ÂŁ60 per day though.

Do you have any idea of whom I could contact to help me with transport ? I'm finding it really difficult myself trying to scour the internet for local firms... and It's something I really do want to sort out as I don't want the stress of it on my shoulders when going to university
Original post by Anonymous
Do you have any idea of whom I could contact to help me with transport ? I'm finding it really difficult myself trying to scour the internet for local firms... and It's something I really do want to sort out as I don't want the stress of it on my shoulders when going to university

Have you tried the local listings on Yell? If not, you could post on local Facebook groups to get recommended of reliable taxi firms. Otherwise, you could try looking on LiftShare or GoCarShare. There really aren't many other options aside from those.
Original post by Anonymous
Do you have any idea of whom I could contact to help me with transport ? I'm finding it really difficult myself trying to scour the internet for local firms... and It's something I really do want to sort out as I don't want the stress of it on my shoulders when going to university


If you're not willing to give information on where you are looking, then nobody can really help you with that except yourself. As above taxi firms and so on are regional or local, and without knowing what area you're looking to commute to/from there is nobody that can really advise you. I'm not sure what advice you were really hoping for here - other than suggesting lyft/uber, there is nothing anyone can contribute because you've not provided enough information for people to do anything but give you extremely vague ballpark numbers and general advice.
Original post by artful_lounger
If you're not willing to give information on where you are looking, then nobody can really help you with that except yourself. As above taxi firms and so on are regional or local, and without knowing what area you're looking to commute to/from there is nobody that can really advise you. I'm not sure what advice you were really hoping for here - other than suggesting lyft/uber, there is nothing anyone can contribute because you've not provided enough information for people to do anything but give you extremely vague ballpark numbers and general advice.

The reason is because I don't really want to tell the world where I live and what university I go to. The aim of my questioning was to get some transport firm names , anyone I could contact to get a quote . I've said that it's not in the London area and given the milage .
Original post by Anonymous
The reason is because I don't really want to tell the world where I live and what university I go to. The aim of my questioning was to get some transport firm names , anyone I could contact to get a quote . I've said that it's not in the London area and given the milage .

As artful_lounger said, we can't give you specific names. I could recommend a firm in my area (e.g. Acme Taxis - that isn't a real company btw), but that won't help you because it's a local firm and I don't know if you live in my region, let alone immediate area.
Original post by Anonymous
The reason is because I don't really want to tell the world where I live and what university I go to. The aim of my questioning was to get some transport firm names , anyone I could contact to get a quote . I've said that it's not in the London area and given the milage .

No one can answer this without knowing where you are. No national companies will give you a decent rate and there may well not be any where you live. You need to check in yellow pages and call them to ask.
You're posting anon as it is, WTF cares what uni you post apart from you? :redface:
Original post by Anonymous
The reason is because I don't really want to tell the world where I live and what university I go to. The aim of my questioning was to get some transport firm names , anyone I could contact to get a quote . I've said that it's not in the London area and given the milage .


As above people can't give you names without knowing where you are looking to travel in. When I lived in Cambridge the taxi firm I used normally was Panther Taxis - they don't operate outside of the greater Cambridge area. When I lived in Exeter the usual taxi firm I used was Apple Taxis. Likewise, they don't operate outside of that general area. As a result, neither are firms I can use where I live now, in Hampshire (and I couldn't use either in the other city)!

There is no national taxi service as far as I'm aware. Taxis services are local more or less by design - the only national taxi-like services I know of are lyft and uber (which incidentally, run at a loss and only continue to exist through venture capitalism and the hopes of driving local firms out of business to establish a monopoly whereupon they can up their prices). So the only names people can give you are lyft/uber/similar apps, or they need more information...

I can understand your preference for privacy, absolutely, but in the context of what you're asking it makes it impossible to really give advice, which you don't seem to understand.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by artful_lounger
As above people can't give you names without knowing where you are looking to travel in. When I lived in Cambridge the taxi firm I used normally was Panther Taxis - they don't operate outside of the greater Cambridge area. When I lived in Exeter the usual taxi firm I used was Apple Taxis. Likewise, they don't operate outside of that general area. As a result, neither are firms I can use where I live now, in Hampshire (and I couldn't use either in the other city)!

There is no national taxi service as far as I'm aware. Taxis services are local more or less by design - the only national taxi-like services I know of are lyft and uber (which incidentally, run at a loss and only continue to exist through venture capitalism and the hopes of driving local firms out of business to establish a monopoly whereupon they can up their prices). So the only names people can give you are lyft/uber/similar apps, or they need more information...

I can understand your preference for privacy, absolutely, but in the context of what you're asking it makes it impossible to really give advice, which you don't seem to understand.

Thank you all for enlightening me to this. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a rookie as far as transport is concerned (hence why I'm here asking for advice as I'm finding it hard on my own to find help) . So therefore I didn't know that it was more of a 'local' approach .
Original post by Anonymous
Thank you all for enlightening me to this. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a rookie as far as transport is concerned (hence why I'm here asking for advice as I'm finding it hard on my own to find help) . So therefore I didn't know that it was more of a 'local' approach .

Why not live in halls - your commute will be VERY expensive ....

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