When it comes to the infrastructure we rely on to get to and from work, school, health appointments, or run errands - we are lacking.

Whether you sit in traffic, drive on gravel roads, wind through hilly terrain, or walk or bike alongside speedy traffic, we've all experienced hazardous conditions in our travels. Ohio’s infrastructure challenges are especially large and impact everyone, but rural communities face unique barriers when accessing transportation. We must prioritize human mobility over automobility, in order to build a system that truly works for all Ohioans no matter where they live.

The Need

To highlight this need, lets start with a study in 2015. The Ohio Department of Transportation completed a statewide transit needs study to assess Ohio’s existing infrastructure and forecast future needs. At the time, Ohio ranked 14th in national transit ridership, with over 114 million riders, was the 7th most populous state, and yet the state’s transit systems faced stark funding disparities.

The study revealed that while 96% of transit dollars, $770 million, were spent on urban networks, rural systems received only a fraction of that support at $38 million annually across 34 rural agencies, despite serving over 2 million trips per year.

This is just among the rural counties with existing service; in 2015, 27 counties did not have any public transit service (16 counties still lack service as of 2022). Moreover, county and regional boundaries created barriers where service abruptly stopped, leaving communities disconnected. With an estimated demand of 250 million trips in 2025, the study underscored the necessity of expanded services, vehicle replacements, and coordinated regional transit planning to prevent existing gaps from worsening.

This is especially important as rural communities experience rising job opportunities and housing development. As more investment happens in those sectors, it's critical to invest in transportation infrastructure today to not just to meet present needs, a current $127 million funding gap, but to ensure long-term success.

Safety

Beyond economic and logistical concerns, rural transportation accessibility has direct implications for safety. Rural communities, facing disproportionately high accident rates, can benefit from solutions that reduce vehicle dependency. While 20% of Americans reside in rural settings, 32% of total vehicle miles traveled and 41% of traffic fatalities occur in rural areas.

Reducing vehicle miles traveled and the number of individual automobile trips taken will make rural communities safer.

Finding ways to shrink distances between transit riders and transit stops would help improve reliability, frequency, and safety by reducing vehicle miles traveled by individuals and the distance between riders of rural transit systems. Park and ride arrangements, which are already a common solution to shorten distances, could help bring rural transit to more communities and resemble higher density stops in urban settings.

Leveraging park and rides alongside common interstate routes, county roads, and other high-volume throughways could further improve access and concentration of riders, allowing increased capacity and frequency of transit vehicles.

Import Replacement

A concept called import replacement refers to bringing services or products that are normally produced or provided away from a particular community closer in, decreasing the need for travel to reach these services. This can include anything from dentists and opticians, to barbers or farmers markets, even car mechanics and home improvement businesses. Rather than drive 40 minutes to the nearest dentist, a community could facilitate a once-a-week “pop-up dental office” where reliable care is provided in a rural setting. Import replacement doesn’t directly increase mobility, but by increasing access to services closer to home, it decreases the reliance on medium and long-distance travel. 

While import replacement reduces reliance on travel, its success hinges on overcoming systemic challenges like funding limitations, infrastructure constraints, and geographic barriers. Nearly a third of rural transportation professionals cited these main obstacles in a 2017 survey as the reason current programs are lacking and why expansion is unsustainable. The ideas outlined above are already being deployed by local agencies, but more resources could mean systemic fixes to rural challenges rather than bandages.

Strategic partnerships between transit agencies that serve rural, suburban, and urban areas are essential for pooling resources, reducing redundancies, and creating more sustainable long-term solutions. Many rural communities are seeing increased job and housing growth without the necessary infrastructure to meet transportation needs, investing now in those needs will not only benefit communities today but help prepare for the future. 

Passenger Rail

Expanding Ohio’s passenger rail service would be an important instigator to rural transit investment. Connecting communities like Hamilton, Oxford, Crestline, or Lima to large cities around the state would have cascading effects of development. There would be an increased demand to connect to rail stations resulting in more rural to urban bus routes, more park and rides, less vehicle miles travelled and more connectivity.

In 2015, ODOT identified the need for doubling statewide transit funding, facilitating regional collaboration, and blending human services and transportation needs in rural communities. This need persists today and while rural counties are stepping up to meet the demand, the state can and should do more to live up to its 2015 expectations. 

Until rail expansion and other transit investments become reality in the Buckeye state, rural transit professionals will continue to use creative and innovative methods to make resources last and deliver valuable services to their communities. We have the choice to make their jobs more impactful, and our rural communities more connected. Let's create a transit system that elevates the quality of life for all Ohioans.

About All Aboard Ohio 

All Aboard Ohio is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for enhanced public transportation and passenger rail services throughout Ohio. With decades of advocacy, the organization works diligently to connect communities, spur economic development, and promote clean, efficient transportation solutions that elevate the quality of life for all Ohioans.