From the start of the autumn term, students will be able to buy a termly pass for the Pontar Crossing, the ferry between the Novigrad landing stage and Ferry Lane, for £41, about a third of the cost of the same number of single fares. The University will meet a further £12 of the cost of each pass from the Ferry Bursary, which has helped students cross the river since 1897.
About 1,940 students live in Novigrad, where rents are on average 18% lower than on the south bank. The crossing takes six minutes and runs every twenty minutes from 06:40 to 23:20.
The ferry has run without a crew on board since 2015, under a licence from the Turing Registry held by the Harbour Authority. Its licence requires sailings to be cancelled automatically in high water, which happened on 23 days last year, most of them in February. The University has agreed that a cancelled crossing will be accepted as a reason for late arrival at teaching, examinations and the Library, and the Students’ Union has asked for the same of employers in the city.
Passes will be sold through the Students’ Union from 7 September.