Rural Transit in Oregon: Current and Future Needs

Principal Investigators: 

Jennifer Dill, Ph.D.

Margaret Neal, Ph.D., Professor of Community Health, Director of the Institute on Aging

Graduate Research Assistants: Ray Delahanty, Talia Jacobson, Darin Lund

For: Association of Oregon Counties

On behalf of: Oregon Department of Transportation

Final Report (completed January 2010)

The purpose of the research reported was to identify the current status and needs for general public transportation in Oregon’s rural areas, as well as opportunities and barriers (e.g., funding, governance issues, and leadership) to expanding services over a 20 year period.

Oregon is a largely rural state. This lack of density poses problems for the provision of public transit, whether through fixed route or demand response service. People living in the rural areas and who lack cars and access to public transportation are at a strong disadvantage. With no access to these transit resources, they may be limited to relying on friends, family, or associates for travel. This reliance may severely limit the flexibility of travel and limit those individuals’ independence. When transit is not available, older adults and people with disabilities, in particular, experience more restrictions on their ability to travel and must rely more heavily on informal networks or formal supportive services to meet their needs. Rural public transit also plays a vital role for agricultural workers.

The lack of transit options in rural areas, therefore, leaves many rural citizens at a tremendous economic as well as social disadvantage.

Findings:

About 22% of the rural population is served only by demand response service. Only about 7% of the rural population is served by fixed route transit at a level of service (LOS) of 4 or 5, the levels which include weekend service. Providers that have weekend service are also more likely to have higher frequency service during weekdays, which will increase ridership.

Oregon’s rural transit providers are highly dependent upon local sources of operating funds, somewhat more so than rural operators in most other states. Statewide, about half of the rural transit service provided to the general public in Oregon is generated locally, either through fares (about 10%) or other local sources (about 40%).

Future Needs

• If service were to be provided at a minimum of fixed route LOS 4 (6‐7 days a week, hourly headways or better) in areas with a density of at least three units per acre, an additional 57,800 rural residents would be served (3.7% of Oregon’s rural population).

• If service were to be provided for areas with at least one unit per acre, an additional 83,900 rural residents were be served (5.3% of the total). This service might be demand response or extensions of existing, nearby fixed route services.
  

• Providing demand response service everywhere that does not currently have service (demand response or fixed route) would require providing service to an additional 862,600 people beyond those identified above (54.6% of the total).

Only about 57,800 rural Oregonians (3.7% of the rural population) live in an area of reasonable density that might support a higher quality of fixed route transit than currently exists.

The analysis shows that there may be a gap in needs of 50-75% currently, and that this gap would increase to 54-68% in the year 2030, compared with the baseline.

Improved rural transit service could enhance the quality of life for Oregon’s rural residents and contribute to the state’s economic well-being by facilitating travel to jobs and shops, access to medical services, volunteering, and other forms of participation in the community. The research reported here identifies the current status and needs for general public transportation in Oregon’s rural areas, as well as opportunities and barriers (e.g., funding, governance issues, and leadership) to expanding services over a 20 year period.