This status report reports the findings of a nationwide study of transit systems funded under Section 18 of the Federal Transit Act. The year-long project was funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through its Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP) and carried out by the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA). Its principal purposes were: 1) To identify the current population being served by public transit in rural areas, and the characteristics of the services provided; 2) To identify the number and characteristics of local transit agencies providing services in rural areas; and, 3) To assess the unserved needs and populations in rural areas of the United States.

This book examines the problem of rural poverty from a transit perspective: lack of public transit in rural areas results in unemployment and underemployment and lower quality of health care leading to depression, alcoholism, and related social problems. One solution to the lack of rural transit is shared ride taxicabs and vans. The book describes existing rural transit ridesharing and proposes improvements thereto. This book is for rural community organizers.