Enhancing Transit Service in Rural Areas and Native American Tribal Communities: Potential Mechanisms to Improve Funding Service

摘要

Primary funding for rural transit comes from federal and state Departments of Transportation (DOTs). However, through numerous surveys, rural transit providers have cited financial constraints as a major limitation to providing adequate desired transit services, meaning that these traditional DOT funds are not sufficient for funding rural transit. Consequently, transit planners and providers must pursue additional funding beyond these traditional programs before they can meet and satisfy the transit demand. To that end, the primary objective of this study was to identify and document current non-DOT (i.e., non-traditional) funding programs that rural transit providers and planners could pursue and acquire to close that funding gap and enable them to meet the transit demand.