It gives students 30 per cent off the cost of travelcards – and without it costs of getting around via individual fares can easily double.

If you don’t spend a lot of time in London but know how preposterously expensive it is to get from A to B in the capital in comparison to pretty much every other major city in Europe, you’ll understand the problem.

Back in early September when Transport for London (TfL) announced that it had been hit by a cyber attack taking many of its Oyster card operations offline, there was mild panic – but some optimism that the problem would be fixed in time for Welcome Weeks.

But as terms began, updates from TfL were pretty sporadic.

And what’s become clear since is that the problem is big – potentially British Library cyber-attack big – and now may not be resolved “until Christmas”.

At first, TfL’s response to the question “well what about refunds” was that it “may” offer them once systems are up. Under pressure from London TravelWatch, that’s been upgraded to a “will” – but there’s a catch.

TfL is telling affected students (and others who are entitled to concessionary fares/passes) who can’t now afford a full-price travelcard upfront that they’ll need to take a “note” of their full-price journeys in order to claim.

I doubt there’s many students that know that, or have been – partly because they might assume that their journey history is being held by TfL.

The problem is that that journey history is only 8 weeks’ worth – and today TfL haven’t so far confirmed for us a) whether that 8 weeks’ worth will be accessible by the time its systems are up and running, and b) whether it holds, and if so will make available, longer journey histories.

The press seems to have been told that the problem may well not be resolved until Christmas – and even if students get their 8 weeks’ worth of journey history by then, that won’t be the full term for them.

In an ideal world, of course, any student getting a Student Oyster photocard once the systems are up will just be fully automatically refunded relevant travelcard costs incurred this term. But it may well not be as simple as that. And anyway – without the discount, even weekly or monthly travelcards may simply be beyond the means of many students.

In another ideal world, TfL would have an emergency arrangement with universities to verify student status some other way. No sign of that.

Maybe universities would be lending students any money they need for the additional cost – it’s an extreme example, but a Zone 1 to Zone 9 annual adult travelcard is £4,452 – the 30 per cent discount in that case would be £1,336.

But that also sounds like a tall order to get up and running, and I can see now how university X might be able to get its act together, but Nelson Wilson College of Business, IT and Profit (franchised out from a provider whose headspace is decidedly not in London) would struggle.

In another ideal world, if TfL won’t verify an Oyster photocard, it could depend on the process used by the Train Operating Companies – which verifies the 16-25 Railcard on the basis of age or ID proof from a university.

They could then purchase the old way – at Oyster Ticket Stops, Tube stations, Visitor Centres and some National Rail stations. God forbid that different bits of our public transport system might talk to each other, or coordinate in a crisis.

I suspect the problem there would be TfL worrying that some holders of the 16-25 Railcard are not full-time students – but that really ought to be a loss it takes given the fiasco.

In an even more ideal world, this country wouldn’t be charging students to travel on public transport at all. We’re already in a position where time spent commuting between term-time address and campus has an impact on outcomes.

In one study in 2019 the likelihood of continuation dropped by 0.63% for every 10 additional minutes travelled for students at one university, and at another the likelihood of progressing after the first attempt at assessment diminished by 1.5% for each 10 minutes of commuting.

In that scenario given what else we know about the costs of commuting both the capital (and everywhere else if England’s £2 bus fare cap goes in the Budget) at the very least there should be a national concession scheme – as is the case in most other European countries.

Even the existence of the Student Oyster discount is a historical anomaly – fought for by the now defunct University of London Union. Quite how Andy Burnham has got away with not having an equivalent in Manchester is beyond me.

In an era where students are necessarily coming to campus less often, it’s also somewhat dated. Students really need that 30 per cent off individual fares as well as travelcards.

What this does all do though is remind us that most local authorities – at least in England – will shortly be given the opportunity to franchise buses.

Dedicated travel to education strategies will be a must – and concessionary fare arrangements for students pretty vital. I doubt they’ll end up on the face of the legislation – universities and SUs would be wise to start fighting for them now.