• Bicycles - see also Bikes page
    Cambridge is small enough where you can walk to most places you need to go. For the most
    part, classes are grouped together within their respective departments, so you won't need to walk
    far to get from lecture to lecture. However, the departments or lecture halls may quite the
    distance from where you live (often a fifteen to thirty minute walk). Bicycles are very common
    among Cambridge students; most students and even some professors use them to get around the
    city. Bicycles are not necessary for the most part, but may be very useful in that they allow you
    to get around faster. If you live at one of the Colleges outside City Centre (namely Girton,
    Homerton, Robinson, Churchill, New Hall, and Fitzwilliam), you will be far enough away that a
    bike will be very useful. A general rule: everyone who has a bike is very glad they do, but
    people who don't get by just fine without one.
    A few common ways to purchase a bike: (1) visit any of several bicycle shops around
    Cambridge (a few good ones to try are Ben Hayward Cycles; (2) go to the police bike auction at
    the beginning of the year. You should be able to get information from your College during
    Freshers' Week, but there's a chance you won't hear anything. The auction takes place the last
    Saturday of each month - visit www.auctions.freeserve.co.uk/calendar.htm for more
    information. You'll need to catch a bus to get there, but it's easy to call for bus times and figure
    out the schedule. Ask the bus driver and they will probably be able to drop you off right at the
    auction site, instead of in the center of town in Ramsey. This is where lots of the used bike shops
    get many of their bikes. You'll be able to come away with a bike costing you between £5 and
    £40, depending on how much you're willing to spend (and how many repairs you're willing to
    make); or (3) buy one from an MIT student who was in Cambridge the previous year. With all
    the bike shops around Cambridge, getting a broken bike fixed is not difficult. Law requires
    (under penalty of a fine) that your bike be equipped with front and rear lights when you ride at
    night. Common sense requires that you wear a helmet when you ride at any time of day.
  • Buses and Taxis -
    The main bus station in Cambridge is on Drummer Street, near the backs of Sidney Sussex and
    Emmanuel Colleges. Buses going to the Cambridge train station (just under £0.60 each way),
    the various London airports, and several cities throughout the country leave from here. A free
    bus has been operating recently in the city center during working hours of weekdays; this
    circulates around the market and out to the Grafton Centre (for more information, see http://www.graftoncentre.co.uk/gbus.asp). Also, your university card will also get you on the
    Citi4 bus for free, which runs during the week till 7pm; it makes convenient stops for students at
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    New Hall, Churchill, Fitzwilliam, and Robinson Colleges, in addition to stopping near the
    University Library (UL), the edge of the town center, and the engineering department. For more
    information on the Citi4 bus, see http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/embs/travel/citi4.pdf.
    Another way to get around town and to the train station is by using taxis. A trip across town will
    cost between £5 and £8, but split the cost with a few friends, and you might find that taxis are a
    good way to get home late at night. In the UK, taxis are not allowed to stop for passengers along
    a route, and can only be reserved by telephone or taken from stands at the train/bus stations etc.
    The exceptions are the 'black-cabs' that are very popular and pervasive in London, but are rarely
    seen in Cambridge. The government is considering changing this law, which has been around for
    eons. There are a few major taxi companies operating in Cambridge. Below are the phone
    numbers of a few taxi companies in Cambridge:
    Diamond Taxi - 01223 523 523
    Panther Taxi - 01223 715 715 (recommended)
    United Taxi - 01223 313 131
    For more about taxis in Cambridge, visit http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambarea/travel/taxis.html.
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