College Transport - CWA Travel Subsidy

Starting from the 2025 - 2026 academic year, CWA will have it's own bus routes throughout the Fenland region which we're offering for a discounted rate for some students, which could leave eligible students with a maximum of £250 to pay to travel to college for the whole academic year!

If you live in Fenland, have applied to study a full-time course at the Wisbech campus (or King’s Lynn or Sports campuses, if the course is not offered at Wisbech) and can get to local a bus route (full details found below) you will be eligible for this offer, known as the CWA Travel Subsidy, and will only have to pay £250 to travel to college for the whole of the 2025 - 2026 academic year. Please note that this price will increase for the 2026 - 2027 academic year and beyond and will likely be around £600 for the year.

If your household income is below £50,000 per annual year, you will be eligible for our financial support scheme which will cover the full cost, leaving you with nothing to pay!

Eligiblity criteria

To be eligible for this discounted rate, you must:

• Live in the Fenland region, further than two miles away from the campus
• Be age 16 - 18 at the start of your course (or, if you have an EHCP, age 16 - 24)
• Attend a full-time course at the Wisbech campus (or at the King's Lynn or Sports campuses if your chosen course is not offered at Wisbech)
• Pay the £250 before you start your course (unless you're eligible for financial support, please see below).

If your household income is less than £50,000 per annum (or you are a looked after child or care leaver) and you are on a full-time course, you will be eligible for our financial support scheme which will cover the full cost of a single bus pass.  

Bus passes options for those in Fenland

• CWA only transport

  The college will be offering the following bus / mini-bus routes which go to our campuses during the 2025 - 2026 academic year. Our college buses only run twice a day; dropping students off in the morning and picking them up at the end of the college day.

  Wisbech campus

  CWA6 - Chatteris | Doddington | Wimblington | March | Coldham | Friday Bridge | Wisbech campus
  CWA5 - Newton | Tydd St. Giles | Parson's Drove | Murrow | Gorefield | Wisbech St. Mary | Leverington | Wisbech campus
  

  King's Lynn campus

  You must be studying a course in King's Lynn which is not offered at the Wisbech campus to be eligible for this offer.

  CWA1 - March | Coldham | Friday Bridge | Elm | Wisbech | Walsoken (Locomotive) | King's Lynn campus
  CWA1B - Newton | Tydd St. Giles | Murrow | Parson's Drove | Wisbech St. Mary | Leverington | Wisbech (Horse Fair)*

  *The CWA1B is a minibus which connects to the CWA1. For example, if you live in Newton, you would get the CWA1B bus and then change the CWA1 at the Horse Fair. The services always wait for each other - so there shouldn't ever be an instance where you're stuck at the bus station.

  These private bus are managed by the college and tendered to local bus companies. There is a limited amount of spaces on each bus and we encourage you to complete an application as soon as you can as seats will be allocated based on the ability to access the college through public transport (for example, there is no other way to get to King's Lynn from March) and then on a first come, first served basis. Due to the limited number of spaces, you may be allocated a bus pass for the public bus instead of one of the college's routes. 

• Eligible public bus routes

  We're also working with local bus providers for the subsidy. The following buses do not come onto the campus but go to the bus station (15 minute walk away) on a regular basis throughout the day, so are much more flexible than the college bus. These are ideal for those who start later or finish earlier and can be useful when considering work experience! Students who are allocated an Excel bus pass will be able to use the whole route (Peterborough - Norwich) at any point throughout the day, including evenings and weekends!

  You can click the service to find the full timetable. 

  First excel - Thorney Toll | Guyhirn | Wisbech | Walsoken | King's Lynn
  Stagecoach 46 - March | Ring's End | Tydd St. Giles | Newton | Parson Drove | Leverington | Murrow | Guyhirn | Wisbech St. Mary | Wisbech

• What about learners with an EHCP?

  If your young person has an Education, Health & Care Plan and require a taxi (because they are not an independent traveller), you will need to meet Cambridgeshire County Council’s eligibility criteria to use the CWA Travel Subsidy offer. More information on the criteria can be found here. You will be asked to pay £250 but we will cover the remaining parental contibution cost by paying the council directly.

• What if I am not eligible?

  If you do not meet the eligiblity criteria for a college bus, for example if you are an apprentice or your course is offered at Wisbech but you want to attend the King's Lynn campus, we may be able to offer you a place on one of the college buses at a non-discounted rate if:

  • There are spare seats remaining on the college bus during your timetabled days and; 
  • If your household income is more than £50,000 per annum, you agree to cover the full cost of the bus pass (£300 per term for full-time students)

  If your household income is less than £50,000 and you are eligible for financial support (i.e. you are studying a full-time course) but do not meet all of the eligiblity criteria (because of your age or chosen campus, for example), we may be able to cover the cost of the a college bus pass but only if there is space remaining on the bus at the end of September, which is unlikely for our larger buses.

How do I apply?

• How to apply

  Applications for discounted college transport our made online through our fianncial suppoort portal.
  
  You will need to make an application on our financial support portal. We do this just to confirm that you are not eligible for financial support - if you are not eligible, you'll probably answer 'no' to most of the questions. On the portal, you'll also be able to make changes to your application, upload evidence (either a picture or scanned copy) and see all payments and documents which have been sent to you about your application. 

  GO TO THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT PORTAL

  To start using the portal, you'll need to log in with your student email address and password (the one you use for the student portal, your student number followed by @edu.cwa.ac.uk e.g. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). 

• What happens after I've applied?

  Once you've applied for the CWA Travel Subsidy, our student services team will review your application, check whether you are eligible for financial support and then send you an update by email. You should expect to hear an update within two weeks of your application.

  If you are not eligible for financial support (i.e. your household income is above £50,000 per annum), you will be sent a link to our online store to pay your £250 contribution. Your bus pass will not be ordered until you have paid your contribution.

  You do not need to apply directly to the bus company, we will sort all of this for you once your application has been completed (unless you have an EHCP and require specialist transport).

  If you've asked for a travel pass for one of the college buses, we'll send you your bus pass in the post once you've paid. These private bus are managed by the college and tendered to local bus companies. There is a limited amount of spaces on each bus and we encourage you to complete an application as soon as you can as seats will be allocated based on the ability to access the college through public transport (for example, there is no other way to get to King's Lynn from March) and then on a first come, first served basis. Due to the limited number of spaces, you may be allocated a bus pass for the public bus instead of one of the college's routes. 

  If you asked for (or been awarded) a public bus, we won't be able to order your bus pass until you've enrolled during the summer. The Excel pass is on their mobile app and we'll send you a code and instructions to redeem your pass. Your pass will not work until the first day of term.