Thanks to the more the 1,200 students and 300 employees who participated in our Transportation Survey last month! Here’s what we’ve found about how our classmates and colleagues get to campus:
Students:
From last year there’s been another 5% decrease in the trips students drive alone to campus— bringing student drive alone trips to 46% — students driving alone are now a minority! Bus ridership has increased, as well as walking and ride share, incrementally. Way to make use of your resources, students! How does it feel to beat the gas and parking prices?
We can compare travel modes between students who take classes during the day and those who take classes only at night. Students who only take classes in the evening are most likely to drive alone, which is not surprising because parking is free and transit is less frequent. But even so, a reasonably impressive 21% of students take the bus at night!
The average student commute is 33 minutes long; lower for both carpoolers and those who drive alone. But 46 minutes on the bus isn’t exorbitantly longer– and students who take the bus are able to study for those minutes rather than focusing on the road. Students who share the ride on average travel slightly greater distances than those who drive alone, perhaps because there is more gas to be saved on a longer commute! Overall, notice how comparable these methods of travel are, and how evenly they are distributed between distances that students live from campus. Those who live farther from campus are only slightly less likely to use transit than those who live nearby.
There is an interesting trend observable between the different lengths of time that students have attended Bellevue College. Those who are in their first quarter are most likely to use alternative transportation, and those who have been students at BC for more than four quarters are the most likely to drive themselves.
Employees:
Employees drive alone to campus 68% of the time. Not quite on par with the students, but still a decent decrease from the turn of the decade and up slightly from last year. About 10% of days are carpooled, a slight decrease, and transit usage is still in an upward trend, though less than last year, at 15%. In total, bikes account for 3% of employee trips to campus, reasonably ahead of the students!
The survey showed 74% of BC students have a car. The fact that this is 20% less than the number of employees who own cars probably has something to do with students’ higher usage of alternative transportation. But 10% of students with cars choose to take the bus as their primary transportation instead, which is almost exactly as the percentage of employees who make the same choice.
Students showed the most interest in more two-day per week schedules as a way to encourage them to drive alone less frequently. Close behind this would be the ability to take more classes online. Looks like students who drive themselves aren’t really interested in taking the bus or learning about alternative options, but would rather just come to campus less.
The survey showed 14% of students said relocated to attend Bellevue College, quite a few for a commuter school. Perhaps this will grow with plans to add student housing in the years to come.
Thanks as well to everyone who gave feedback: while we’ve striven to keep the survey short and simple, we realize that commutes aren’t always simple, nor are our reasons for choosing them. Our goal is not to guilt people who drive alone, or force those member of our community into inefficient commutes that are a hassle. Rather we’d like to help prevent the feeling of being stuck with a commute that doesn’t work well. At the same time, we do also strive to encourage students and staff to know their many options and consider the social, economic and environmental impacts in your commute decisions.
We’re all going to the same destination – a community of thousands of students and staff. What do you think can be done to make your commute easier? Let us know at transportation@bellevuecollege.edu
Last Updated March 10, 2014