Slight departure from my usual posts, as I’ve got a little bit of time to fill before delivering a training session on Blackboard’s gradebook at our Holbeach campus. I’ve always driven down here before, which takes about an hour, on not very pleasant roads. Today, I thought I’d try public transport and, I have to say I’m quite impressed. (But probably shouldn’t be saying that until I get home!).

Perhaps I was lucky. The journey involves a train (about an hour) and a bus (25 minutes) and everything was on time. (Also, and very unusually for rural Lincolnshire the train appeared to be brand new – you could almost smell the polythene on the seats – and was very comfortable. Usually it’s not much more than one of those handcarts you used to see in old movies!)  And the cost to the university was about a third of what it would have been if I’d driven. (of course that’s only true if you’re travelling alone.)

It did take half an hour longer, yes, but I was able to do some preparation and reading on the train. But my real point is this. Isn’t it interesting that Holbeach, easily the university’s most remote campus is the only one where public transport is a realistic option for inter-campus travel. Riseholme, which is only a few miles out of Lincoln doesn’t have any sort of service at all, and getting to Hull involves a monumental detour to avoid the Humber estuary and so takes about three times longer than it does to drive.