The Importance of Rural Transit

In a piece for Transportation for America published on Transit Equity Day, Mehr Mukhtar calls for more resources for overlooked rural communities that often lack public transit options. Mukhtar notes that rural areas “perceived as areas that do not need access to transit due to the sprawling nature of the communities and assumed access to private vehicles.”

But that’s not true for many rural residents. “In reality, more than one million households in rural areas do not have access to a car. In fact, the majority of counties with zero-car households are in rural communities, highlighting the brazen need to invest in public transit.”

According to Mukhtar, “There are a lot of affordable, attainable solutions to encourage active and multimodal transportation in rural America. Implementing Complete Streets, more effective and multimodal-oriented land-use approaches, and strategic transit planning would all result in more mobility options for residents, as well as significant benefits, including healthier and more economically prosperous places.”

Rural areas can also be a primary beneficiary of on-demand microtransit, which can more flexibly serve areas with low populations and/or where fixed-route transit is impractical or too costly.

Ultimately, Mukhtar calls for more transit investment in overlooked rural communities. “By fostering equitable access to transportation options in rural communities, we can build more resilient areas where everyone can thrive.”