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.

This digest summarizes key findings of research performed under NCHRP Project 20-65, Task 42, Rural Public Transportation Strategies for Responding to the Livable and Sustainable Communities Initiative, by ICF International. For the study, ICF conducted a nationwide survey of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and their rural livability activities; conducted follow-up interviews about grants from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities (PSC); and created a primer highlighting strategies that state DOTs, transit operators, and their partners can use to help rural organizations applying for discretionary grant programs. The strategies discussed in the primer are: (1) Building awareness of PSC resources and livability in rural communities; (2) Providing programmatic and financial support; (3) Creating statewide or regional partnerships; and (4) Encouraging transit coordination at the regional level.