Travelling to and around campus
It's a 20-30 minute walk or a short bike ride between the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s and City Campus. There's also a campus bus service (free with a staff or student card) which enables travel between campuses.
We also offer a campus minibus(opens in new tab) operated by the Students' Union (SU). The minibus runs between our student accommodation sites, campuses, and the SU.
We encourage you to choose a sustainable travel option to get to campus. You could walk, cycle, use public transport, or even arrange a lift share.
Electric vehicle (EV) charging
Most of our owned and leased vehicles are 100% electric. We plan to replace the remaining with 100% electric vehicles as leases expire or as the vehicles need replacing.
We also provide EV charging units via the MER(opens in new tab) dual charging units. You can use the chargers at CitySpace and the David Puttnam Media Centre at a rate in line with Sunderland City Council to unify the approach across the city.
To use the MER charging units you can use various methods including the MER app which you can download via the Android Play Store and Apple App Stores.
Business travel
Business related travel contributes 13% to our overall carbon footprint. We're committing to reducing this total carbon footprint to Net Zero by 2050.
Our business travel policy states that all travel must be necessary and justified. Anyone considering travelling on University business must ask themselves before travelling, is this journey necessary? Could this meeting go ahead in another way that would result in reduced cost, fewer resources, or less environmental impact (for example, telephone/video conferencing)? The policy also states that public transport is our preferred mode of transport.
Gold Cycle Friendly Employer
In 2025, we were awarded the Gold Cycle Friendly Employer accreditation by Cycling UK. This was in recognition of our outstanding commitment to promoting cycling, reducing carbon emissions, and improving staff wellbeing.
The Gold award is the highest level of accreditation available and reflects our ongoing investment in cycling culture, facilities, and staff engagement. It positions Sunderland as one of the UK’s leading cycle-friendly workplaces.