BACKGROUND

In rural areas, public transportation costs often exceed revenues, and the financial outcome exclusive of economic benefits is difficult to quantify. A core challenge is a rural transit provider’s service spans large geographic spaces with spatially fragmented populations and land uses. This challenge causes high operating costs for rural public transit providers that operate with limited resources and information access. While existing studies analyze the benefits of rural transit, a suitable comprehensive methodology is inadequate to quantify the full range of the benefits based on data availability. For this reason, public agencies that supply transit service in rural areas need to make a better case for public funding to establish and sustain services for users. 

Better public transit access can help promote opportunities for all populations. Rural transit agencies and policymakers need to better understand transit inseucrity issues and incorporate them into the economic analyses when gauging the benefits that transit provides to rural communities. For example, the benefits may include reduced foregone trips, access to health care, mobility for persons with disabilities, social connectedness, and improved labor and workforce access. The economies of scale that are evident for urban transit may not apply to rural communities. Instead, the economic impacts manifest when quality transit services provide access to health care, work, education, shopping, and other necessary life connections. 

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project is to develop a toolkit that identifies and quantifies the benefits of rural public transit. The results of this project should be able to be replicated by rural public transit professionals, including transit managers, planners, and other transit professionals, to evaluate the economic benefits of rural public transit.

The toolkit should include:

• Current and emerging practices in quantifying and assigning monetary values to the benefits and impacts associated with rural transit.
• New and improved methods for assessing the broad benefits and impacts of rural public transit with consideration of mobility and other economic considerations important to rural areas.
• Case studies of benefit analyses that build upon longitudinal information.
• Typology of beneficiaries, including but not limited to youth and elderly populations, persons with disabilities, and low-income households.
• Typology of benefits and associated monetary values differentiated by beneficiary type.
• Benefits to the community, such as economic viability and population retention.
• Applications to different transit modes (as defined by TCRP Synthesis 76) related to mobility management.

RESEARCH PLAN

The research plan will describe appropriate deliverables that include, but are not limited to, the following (which also represent key project milestones):

• Amplified research plan that responds to comments provided by the project panel at the contractor selection meeting. At a minimum, the research plan should describe the contractor’s approach to:
  • Identifying at least three rural transit agencies to conduct a focus group review of the benefit methodology developed by the consultant.
  • Conducting one or more trial applications of the toolkit with a rural transit agency.
  • Conducting a scan to identify funding sources used for rural transit.
• Monthly and quarterly progress reports detailing activities by task, upcoming task activities, and issue(s).
• Interim report that includes the analyses and results of completed tasks, an update of the remaining tasks, and a detailed outline of the final research product(s).
• Panel meeting after submission of the interim report. The panel meeting will take place in Washington, DC, after the expenditure of about 40 to 50 percent of the project budget.
• Final deliverables to include a draft report, final report, and a toolkit that provides a template for rural transit providers.
• Technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” (see Special Note K).
• Webinar that presents the research findings and conclusions.