Advocates of the nation’s rural transit system hope new legislation introduced in U.S. Congress this month would provide the needed funding to keep the system afloat.
U.S. Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Investments in Rural Transit Act, S. 4468, earlier this month, which would increase federal contributions for operating assistance in rural areas with high transit dependency.
While the Federal Transit Administration provides grants to support rural transit organizations, it can be difficult for some rural communities to match those federal dollars to qualify for assistance, the lawmakers said.
“High-quality, reliable public transit systems are important for Minnesotans who count on them to get to work, school, the doctor, and more,” Smith said in a written statement. “This legislation will support rural public transit in communities that need it most.”
The bill, if enacted, would increase the federal share to 80 percent for operating assistance in certain areas with high transit dependency. In order to qualify, the transit project must serve a county that is an “area of persistent poverty” (designed by the Census as a county in which at least 20 percent of the population has lived in poverty during the most recent 30-year period), or the project must meet other specific requirements, such as benefit a county where at least 25 percent of the population is over the age of 65.
The measure has drawn support from the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), National League of Cities (NLC), Association of Minnesota Counties, League of Minnesota Cities, Minnesota Public Transit Association and the Minnesota Transportation Alliance.
Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, said transit systems in rural America are lifelines for those who use them.
“We hear stories all the time of how important these transit systems are for people to be able to get to work, get to doctors, get to school. It allows them to stay where they are and still have jobs. Some of the people we hear from say they would have to move if they didn’t have transit systems,” Donahoe told Transportation Today. “So, obviously, it’s important that these systems remain in place.”
Transit services provide key transportation to millions of Minnesotans, she said. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, transit services across the state saw nearly 12 million boardings in 2018. Although that number is down from its record high of 12.2 million boardings in 2015, officials say that is more due to greater efficiency in the system that prevented riders in urban areas from having to use multiple buses in order to get where they wanted to go.
The bill is critical for transit systems as they struggle to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donahoe said. Like transit systems in larger cities, rural transit systems have seen declines in revenue as people stay home to avoid exposure to the coronavirus or have no school or job to go to.
“More rural transit systems don’t have the same ridership as transit systems in other areas – riders in those areas may be more likely to be disabled, or to be older people, who are much more hesitant to go out in these times,” she said. “And certain facilities have contracts with local transit systems, like colleges contracting to get students from their homes to classes and meat-packing plants contracting to get workers to their jobs. It’s not just the daily fares that generate revenue for these systems.”
That’s why federal funding for rural transit systems is so important, she said, not just for transit systems, but for the communities they serve.
“When the CARES money runs out, because it will eventually run out, bills like these are important to the survival of the system, but also in terms of the survival of the communities they exist in, to the extent that these communities are already struggling financially,” she said. “Losing public transit systems would further damage them as residents would have to move out of those areas.”