Whatcom County has 7 public school districts (Bellingham, Meridian, Mount Baker, Ferndale, Nooksack Valley, Blaine, and Lynden) and a wide range of private schools with various religious affiliations and wide range of educational instruction methodologies. In addition, there are a variety of higher education options in the county with traditional 4 year colleges with graduate school to technical and community college.

The K thru 12 enrollment in the county is about 28,000 students. About 40% of the students use a school bus to travel between home and school and about 35% carpool. The average distance is about 7 miles which typically take about 10 minutes to reach the final destination.

The college enrollment in the county is about 20,000 full time equivalent students. Almost 20% use a bike to make there trip between home and college. However since all of the student are of driving age there are over 50% that drive alone. The distance and time of travel is slightly higher compared to students from K thru 12.

If you want additional information regarding travel behavior in the county then refer to the North Sound Household Travel Survey.

Are parents of school age children considering other modes of travel such as biking or walking?