The Universitat de València is committed to sustainability, thus it is working with various Public Administrations on the demand for improvements in public transport networks: both railway and tram; underground and urban, metropolitan and provincial buses; and in their combination to provide a better service to the university community, with higher levels of quality and tariff advantages.

Therefore, the Vice-Principal for Economics and Infrastructures of the university, Justo Herrero, has held several meetings with the Minister of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility of the Government of the Valencian Community, Arcadi España.

The coordinated actions of these demands for improvements in the mobility systems, linked to the structures and campus of the Universitat de València, are also coordinated with local authorities in the context of university-administration relations.

Lately, there has been evidence of a series of shortcomings in the train line of the university community that travels to/from central regions. Particularly, the suppression of some services on the Xàtiva-Ontinyent-València train line due to the current situation of the pandemic has affected the students and professors which regularly use transport services to travel to the Campus of Ontinyent (Universitat de València).

In this sense, the Principal of the Universitat de València, Mª Vicenta Mestre, and the Vice-Principal for Studies and Linguistic Policy Services, Isabel Vázquez, have addressed this situation with the Director of the Ontinyent Campus at the university, José Cantó.

Furthermore, data from the Universitat demonstrate that nearly 60% of the students of the campus of Ontinyent come from outside the Vall d’Albaida region, especially from La Cosa, La Ribera Alta, València and its metropolitan area.

The suppression of the late afternoon service has affected these journeys.

This was the chief complaint of the meeting held on the 2 December by the Principal Mª Vicenta Mestre, the Mayor Jorge Rodríguez and the Manager for Cercanías (Commuter) of RENFE in València, Juan Carlos Fulgencio. The meeting was also attended by Managers of RENFE, Felipe Gil and Juan Carlos Gil; the Councillor for Education in Ontinyent, Óscar Borrell; and the university’s Vice-Principal, Justo Herrera.

The RENFE representatives have committed to consider the possibility of bringing back the late afternoon service ‘which is of the upmost importance since it offers us the chance of adjusting the beginning and the ending of the classes in the morning and in the evening’, pointed out the Vice-Principal, Justo Herrera.

They also reported that ADIF had adjudicated the project to renew the track of the stations between Xàtiva and Ontinyent, which involves a section of almost over 38km long, with 22 level crossings, 7 bridges and 7 tunnels. This action, included in the Suburban Railway Plan of the Valencian Community, has been allocated for more than 685,000 euros.

Both the Mayor of Ontinyent and the Principal of the Universitat have highlighted the spirit of collaboration and RENFE’s willingness. ‘It is important to work jointly in order to provide a better public service to the citizens, committing to the development of the environment and sustainability, with quality transport’, noted the Principal, Mª Vicenta Mestre.