From San Juan Beach to the University of Alicante: the daily commute, solved
From a beach flat to the San Vicente campus it's a 14 km cross-town trip that public transport handles poorly. The real numbers, and the options for a full academic year.
Living by San Juan Beach and studying at the University of Alicante is a classic combination: the good accommodation is on the coast and the campus is inland, in San Vicente del Raspeig. The problem is that they sit at almost opposite ends of the metropolitan area, and you’ll make that trip hundreds of times in an academic year.
Here are the real numbers for the commute and the ways to solve it. Honest disclaimer, as always: we rent scooters, so one of the options is ours. The others are covered seriously too.
The commute in numbers
From San Juan Beach to the UA campus it’s 14.2 km by road, around 15–20 minutes by scooter depending on traffic. It’s not a radial route into Alicante’s centre but a transversal one, and that’s the catch: public transport in the area is designed to take you downtown.
By public transport you have two paths: bus line 38, which links San Juan Beach, Sant Joan Hospital and the University — the route you actually need — or the TRAM with a line change, which forces a detour. At rush hour, with the 38’s frequencies, door to door easily takes two or three times longer than by scooter. And the ride back from evening classes, or the weekend trip in the opposite direction (campus to beach), is where it hurts most.
If you’re weighing up all the options — transport pass, buying a second-hand bike, renting — we have a full comparison with prices and fine print. This article is about this specific commute.
Why this particular commute favours a scooter
Not every commute justifies a scooter. This one does, for three reasons:
- It’s transversal. The 14 km don’t go through the city centre, and routes that skip the centre are the ones public transport solves worst.
- It has awkward hours. Classes ending at 9pm, early exams, odd lab sessions. The stranger your timetable, the more it costs to depend on a bus frequency.
- It repeats every day. Ten minutes saved each way is over an hour a week. Over an academic year, that’s whole days.
What a scooter won’t fix: if you live next to a line 38 stop and your timetable is mornings only, the bus is cheaper, full stop. We say it just as plainly in the comparison article.
What you need to ride a 125
A category B car licence held for 3+ years lets you ride any of our automatic 125s. A1 or higher also works. No previous experience needed: we explain how it works before you set off.
If your licence is not Spanish, careful: the equivalence between a car licence and 125cc bikes is a Spanish rule, and in several countries a car licence does not cover a 125. Message us on WhatsApp before counting on the bike and we’ll check it with your licence in front of us.
What it costs for the whole academic year
Our monthly rental starts at €275/month (3-month minimum) with everything included: insurance, maintenance and servicing at our own workshop, helmet and top case, and 300 km per day, cumulative. Nothing to buy, no NIE needed to register a vehicle in your name, no inspections, and nothing to sell off in June. The deposit is refunded when you return the bike.
Details and the full breakdown are on the monthly rental page.
Arriving in September? Move early
Our fleet is small and full-year rentals keep bikes out for months: when the last one goes, it’s gone until it comes back. If you already know your dates, message us on WhatsApp with your arrival and departure months and we’ll send you a price and availability the same day.
We’re in Sant Joan d’Alacant, 5 minutes from San Juan Beach and about 10 minutes from campus.