ABeleven is on Willowbank Road, a seven-minute walk from Holburn Junction at the west end of Union Street. That junction is the reason the location works: four First Aberdeen services run from it straight down Holburn Street to Robert Gordon University's Garthdee campus, where the bus stops on campus rather than near it.
Most people living here study at RGU, so that is where this guide starts. The University of Aberdeen, North East Scotland College and SRUC follow, then the things worth knowing about getting around Aberdeen generally — including the one that saves the most money, which is that the bus is free if you are 21 or under. Check rooms and availability
Two sets of numbers appear below. Homes for Students publishes travel times for this building, and Google Maps gives its own for a weekday morning. Where they differ, both are here rather than the flattering one.
| Destination | Time | How |
|---|---|---|
| Holburn Junction | 7 min | Walk |
| Union Street, west end | 7 min | Walk |
| Aberdeen railway station | 17 min | Walk, or 7 min by bike |
| North East Scotland College, City Campus | 25 min | Walk, or 7 min by bike |
| RGU Garthdee | 20–23 min | Bus 1, 1A, 2 or 2S |
| University of Aberdeen, King's College | 29–34 min | Bus along Union Street and King Street |
Getting to Robert Gordon University
By bus. Walk to Holburn Junction, seven minutes from the door, and take First Aberdeen service 1, 1A, 2 or 2S. All four run to Garthdee: the live stop information for Holburn Junction lists service 1 as Robert Gordon University to Wallacebrae Road, 1A as Robert Gordon University to School Drive, 2S as Robert Gordon University to Castle Street, and 2 as Inchbrae Road opposite RGU to Ashwood.
RGU's own transport page names services 1 and 2 as running "between the City Centre and the Garthdee Campus on a regular basis", and confirms there is "a bus stop right on campus". Service 2 terminates opposite the campus rather than on it, which is a street crossing rather than a walk.
Homes for Students publishes twenty minutes door to door. Google Maps gives twenty-three for a weekday morning, counting the walk to the stop at both ends. Treat it as twenty to twenty-five and you will not be caught out.
By bike. Homes for Students publishes twelve minutes; Google Maps gives eighteen for the same route, down Holburn Street and over the River Dee. RGU has bike parking across the campus, a mix of unsheltered, sheltered and secure spaces with lockers in some locations, and the university asks you to email transport@rgu.ac.uk for access to the secure parking. There is bike storage at ABeleven too, included and behind a locked door.
On foot. Forty-seven minutes by Google Maps. It is a pleasant enough walk along the Dee in good weather, and almost nobody does it in February.
For parents: there is a bus stop on the campus itself and four services running to it, so the door-to-door journey is one bus and no changes, even on a dark winter morning.
Getting to the University of Aberdeen
King's College and Old Aberdeen. Services along Union Street and King Street run past the university; the University's own travel pages are the place to check which, because the numbers change with the timetable. Homes for Students publishes twenty-nine minutes by bus and thirteen by bike. Google Maps agrees on the bike and gives thirty-four for the bus.
Thirteen minutes on a bike against half an hour on a bus is the widest gap of any journey from this building, and it is worth knowing before you decide you need the bus at all.
Foresterhill, where medicine, dentistry and health sciences are taught, is reached from Guild Street by the bus station. Check the University's travel pages for the current services.
Getting to North East Scotland College and SRUC
North East Scotland College's Aberdeen City Campus on Gallowgate is the one campus in the city you can genuinely walk to from here: twenty-five minutes on foot, or about seven by bike, measured on Google Maps. Homes for Students publishes no time for it.
SRUC's Aberdeen campus is at Craibstone, on the north-west edge of the city near Bucksburn. SRUC runs its own student coach to Craibstone on weekdays; check SRUC's travel pages for the current pick-up points before you rely on it.
Getting around Aberdeen
The bus is free if you are 21 or under
Scotland's Under 22s Free Bus Travel Scheme gives free travel on almost every bus in the country to anyone aged 5 to 21 who lives in Scotland. For most people moving here to study, that is every journey in this guide, at no cost, for as long as you are 21.
Two things to get right. You need a National Entitlement Card, which you apply for at getyournec.scot — a university matriculation card is not the same thing and will not work on the bus. And the scheme is for people living in Scotland; Transport Scotland's condition is residence for most of the year, at least six months, so if you have moved here for a full academic year it is worth applying with your term-time address.
If you are 22 or over, First Aberdeen and Stagecoach both sell student and young-person tickets. Their own pages carry the current fares.
The station, the airport and everything else
Aberdeen railway station is seventeen minutes' walk, or seven by bike, with Union Square and the bus station beside it. The Stagecoach Jet 727 runs between the airport and the city centre; with luggage, a taxi from the terminal is the easier arrival.
Union Street's west end is the same seven-minute walk as Holburn Junction, because they are the same place. The shops, the bars and the cinema run east from there.
A note on the numbers
Every time on this page is either published by Homes for Students for this building or measured on Google Maps for a weekday morning, and each is labelled where they disagree. Timetables change: First Aberdeen's service updates page carries diversions, and Holburn Street has been closed for roadworks before now, which moves services 1, 1A, 2 and 2S onto Anderson Drive.