Episode 14

Hidden Transit Heroes Revealed: How Rural Transit Serves Unseen Communities

When we think about public transit we often think about subways or buses travelling through bustling cities, we don't often think of small towns in the midst of woods and fields. But the reality is there are thousands of rural transit agencies in North America serving people and places miles and miles away from each other. In this episode, host Paul Comfort talks with with Wendy Weedon, Deputy CEO of the Brazos Transit District in Texas, and Eddie VanStein, the Steuben County Mobility Manager in Upstate New York, to discuss the often overlooked topic of rural transportation. Wendy and Eddie talk about the unique transportation issues faced by rural communities, including the necessity for collaboration, breaking down silos, and getting funding for their programs.

They highlight how essential transportation services are to rural communities, serving a diverse range of needs like medical appointments, groceries and social connections. Wendy talks about the ongoing challenges they face with funding, fleet maintenance, and staff retention. Issues that resonate with transit agencies large and small. Eddie's job is to help the six different agencies in a county nearly the size of Rhode Island, coordinate and collaborate.

But Eddie shares his real motivator to become involved in the sector--a tearful call from his grandmother who was out of food and no way to get to the store 20 miles away. He knew he had to do something and started a rideshare program during the pandemic to just get people to where they needed to go.

The most crucial part of their message is raising awareness of the challenges rural agencies face. And how, unlike big city agencies, people in rural communities don't have the option to walk, take a taxi, or call a neighbor to drive them. Often public transit is the only way people can get around.

Next week we go from small towns to the biggest North American transit operation you may not have heard of with Eve Wiggins, Director of Mississauga Transit (MiWay), for a look at an agency with over 500 buses that grew ridership 27% last year and is at 109% of 2019 ridership numbers. Learn the secret sauce that powers MiWay's success.

If you have a question or comment, email us at info@transitunplugged.com.

Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo and these fine folks:

Paul Comfort, host and producer

Julie Gates, executive producer

Tris Hussey, editor and writer

Tatyana Mechkarova, social media

0:00 Transit is an essential lifeblood in rural communities

00:25 Guest Introductions and backgrounds

03:36 The Importance of Transit in Rural Areas

10:26 Challenges in Rural Transportation

14:21 Looking Ahead: The Future of Rural Transit

22:58 Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged

Transcript
Eddie VanStine:

I went out for a walk one night.

Eddie VanStine:

And, I got a call from my grandmother who lives 18 miles outside the nearest town.

Eddie VanStine:

And she's by herself.

Eddie VanStine:

And she was crying.

Eddie VanStine:

And I said, what's wrong with grandma?

Eddie VanStine:

She goes, I forgot to stop at the store when my buddy brought me home.

Eddie VanStine:

I'm hungry, I don't have anything to eat.

Paul Comfort:

This is Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

I'm Paul Comfort.

Paul Comfort:

Excited today to be talking to two of my friends who are active in rural

Paul Comfort:

transportation, which isn't a topic we talk about too often on the show.

Paul Comfort:

And I have to give it to Eddie Van Stein, my friend from Steuben County

Paul Comfort:

Mobility Management Director in upstate New York for suggesting the idea.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie, thanks for the idea.

Paul Comfort:

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort:

Paul, great to be here.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie is an up and coming leader in our industry and rural transit, and

Paul Comfort:

we also have on the show Wendy Weedon.

Paul Comfort:

Wendy is Deputy CEO and General Manager of Brazos Transit District in Texas.

Paul Comfort:

Thanks for being with us.

Paul Comfort:

I'm glad to be here.

Paul Comfort:

Where in Texas are you located, Wendy?

Wendy Weedon:

So we're located in Bryan, Texas, which is Brazos County, and we

Wendy Weedon:

serve 21 counties throughout the state.

Paul Comfort:

And tell us a little bit about your transit system,

Paul Comfort:

like how many vehicles, how many drivers, that kind of stuff.

Paul Comfort:

What do you, what services do you offer?

Wendy Weedon:

we started in 1974, we cover 21 counties, we have between 110

Wendy Weedon:

to 120 employees at all times, we have, um, fixed route service, demand response

Wendy Weedon:

service, paratransit, um, a circulator route, and we have around 80 vehicles.

Wendy Weedon:

And, we do have one area that just went from small urban to

Wendy Weedon:

large urban, but the rest of our entire service area is all rural.

Paul Comfort:

And how long have you been around as an agency?

Wendy Weedon:

This next year will be our 50th year.

Eddie VanStine:

Congratulations.

Eddie VanStine:

Yeah.

Eddie VanStine:

That's exciting.

Eddie VanStine:

It is

Paul Comfort:

very exciting.

Paul Comfort:

All right.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie, tell us about the system that you help oversee.

Eddie VanStine:

Which one, Paul?

Eddie VanStine:

We've got, we've got many.

Eddie VanStine:

We're very unique here in upstate New York.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about it.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Eddie VanStine:

So, First, before I start with that a little bit, this is

Eddie VanStine:

why, you're hearing the new, the new trend of the mobility management, kind

Eddie VanStine:

of, step in a little bit more to help my kind of situation in Upstate New York

Eddie VanStine:

where you have six different transit authorities in one county, all trying

Eddie VanStine:

to serve that county the best they can.

Eddie VanStine:

Obviously, without coordination, without collaboration, you can get a little

Eddie VanStine:

messed up very quickly, you know?

Eddie VanStine:

So, in comes Mobility Management, and what we do is we try to make sure that

Eddie VanStine:

all of the authorities in our county, in our general area, are being routed

Eddie VanStine:

and utilized to the best advantage.

Eddie VanStine:

So, for instance, we have the cities of Corning and Hornell.

Eddie VanStine:

Both of those are the hubs, main hubs, for our main bus services.

Eddie VanStine:

But we have a huge county, it's almost the size of Rhode Island.

Eddie VanStine:

We have huge, what's called, transportation deserts, where

Eddie VanStine:

those fixed bus routes do not go.

Eddie VanStine:

In come your Volunteer Driver Programs.

Eddie VanStine:

So we have a whole mix, Paul, of systems there we really have to juggle to make

Eddie VanStine:

sure our community is taken care of.

Paul Comfort:

I think both of you may know, but I started my

Paul Comfort:

career in rural transportation and still live in rural America.

Paul Comfort:

Um, and a lot of the shows on a lot of our episodes on Transit Unplugged

Paul Comfort:

over the last six years or seven years, we've focused on larger cities.

Paul Comfort:

So it's nice to, once in a while take a step back and take a look

Paul Comfort:

at what's happening in other areas of, uh, kind of other geographies.

Paul Comfort:

So let's talk about rural transit itself just for a moment.

Paul Comfort:

I recall back early in my career in the early 90s, we started a public bus system

Paul Comfort:

here in my county called County Ride.

Paul Comfort:

And I was, um, I was taken aback by how many people did not have a

Paul Comfort:

car or were too elderly or disabled to, to drive one if they had one.

Paul Comfort:

And they really were stuck in their house.

Paul Comfort:

They couldn't get anywhere.

Paul Comfort:

But our little bus coming through was their lifeline.

Paul Comfort:

Does that ring a bell for you, Wendy?

Wendy Weedon:

It's every day here.

Wendy Weedon:

That is our life.

Wendy Weedon:

Every day.

Wendy Weedon:

for many of our passengers, we're the only face they get to see for days on end.

Paul Comfort:

And so the role that rural transit plays in people's lives

Paul Comfort:

may actually be even more significant than it is in urban areas where

Paul Comfort:

there's lots of options for mobility.

Paul Comfort:

You could actually walk somewhere like where I live now.

Paul Comfort:

You can't walk to the grocery store.

Paul Comfort:

You can't walk anywhere.

Paul Comfort:

you know, like looking right out my window, I'm looking into a cornfield and,

Paul Comfort:

uh, To get to somewhere, it's a 10 minute drive, and you couldn't walk in the cold

Paul Comfort:

weather we're in today, so, Eddie, what's the role of transit in upstate New York?

Paul Comfort:

Is it similar in rural areas that you serve?

Eddie VanStine:

You nailed it right on the head, exactly

Eddie VanStine:

what both of you were saying.

Eddie VanStine:

Just in a different aspect, we can't necessarily afford to lose our buses

Eddie VanStine:

off the fixed bus route services because of, number one, we, right now we can't

Eddie VanStine:

necessarily afford it, and number two, um, we don't have the manpower.

Eddie VanStine:

So, we've got to put our manpower where, you know , the main needs are.

Eddie VanStine:

Again, I'm going to repeat myself, in right now come our

Eddie VanStine:

volunteer driver programs.

Eddie VanStine:

If we didn't have our volunteer driver programs to go out and get the aging in

Eddie VanStine:

place, or your loved ones that are all by themselves and you've got brother

Eddie VanStine:

and sister across the county or the state or the country, they can't come

Eddie VanStine:

and visit you, you're absolutely right.

Eddie VanStine:

Those volunteer drivers might be the only person they see at all for a month.

Eddie VanStine:

So that itself, it's it's the same thing, but

Eddie VanStine:

it's Very, very, very, very crucial that we understand that if we don't

Eddie VanStine:

have these volunteer drivers, we're in trouble here in rural America.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, and the other thing I thought I remember back and I've

Paul Comfort:

managed lots of different size systems.

Paul Comfort:

I started out with a really small system in the rural area.

Paul Comfort:

You know, with a dozen drivers and then at another parts of my career,

Paul Comfort:

I've managed midsize agencies, but still in rural and suburban areas

Paul Comfort:

where there may be 100 or 200 buses.

Paul Comfort:

But I noticed that in the, uh, in, especially in.

Paul Comfort:

Smaller size agencies as you guys operate, the need for the service,

Paul Comfort:

specialized services, like getting people to dialysis, you know, is key, right?

Paul Comfort:

This stuff is, is, uh, life, you know, they need it to stay alive as

Paul Comfort:

well as just maybe the only person they see or the only way into town.

Paul Comfort:

Wendy, tell us about the role that Brazos Transit District plays

Paul Comfort:

in the lives of people in your multiple counties that you serve.

Wendy Weedon:

So, you're right.

Wendy Weedon:

Dialysis is a, it's one of the number one reasons that people

Wendy Weedon:

utilize our service on the regular.

Wendy Weedon:

usually three days a week, and that's consistent.

Wendy Weedon:

being public transit, we don't constitute what they can or cannot book trips for.

Wendy Weedon:

Right.

Wendy Weedon:

Dialysis is extremely important.

Wendy Weedon:

It's to keep them alive, literally.

Wendy Weedon:

But there's other aspects to people just going to the grocery store, going

Wendy Weedon:

to medical appointments and social gatherings and that those social

Wendy Weedon:

gatherings are sometimes just as important as those, medical appointments.

Wendy Weedon:

They need that.

Wendy Weedon:

They don't have any social interaction it just helps.

Wendy Weedon:

Their livelihood overall.

Wendy Weedon:

But yeah, you're right.

Wendy Weedon:

We have a lot of people who utilize our services, you know, their families might

Wendy Weedon:

not be able to transport them anymore.

Wendy Weedon:

They've transitioned to a mobility device of some sort and they don't have a way

Wendy Weedon:

to transport them or they don't have a way period or anyone to transport them.

Wendy Weedon:

We have a wide variety of people who use it for all types.

Wendy Weedon:

we have people who go to work, school.

Wendy Weedon:

Medical, grocery, social, it doesn't matter, and we struggle to shove

Wendy Weedon:

them all in there as much as we can.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie, um, I know that you're working not only there in your

Paul Comfort:

county, but, but working regionally and across the state of New York.

Paul Comfort:

What are some of your big initiatives, locally, regionally, and even

Paul Comfort:

nationally for rural mobility?

Eddie VanStine:

Yeah, sure, Paul.

Eddie VanStine:

So I'll start locally.

Eddie VanStine:

Wendy, I want to give you a little bit.

Eddie VanStine:

of an insight for what you just said, because I'm going

Eddie VanStine:

through the same exact thing.

Eddie VanStine:

I had, I got a call from one of the local senior centers, um,

Eddie VanStine:

last week, about the same issue.

Eddie VanStine:

I went down there and met with the director.

Eddie VanStine:

the issue is, right now, the funding streams out there, Don't allow for

Eddie VanStine:

the mental health funding for us to give them money to be able to get on

Eddie VanStine:

the bus or whatever to go and do that.

Eddie VanStine:

So it was very hard finding the necessities of.

Eddie VanStine:

Someone that just wanted to get out of their house because they're stuck

Eddie VanStine:

there all week to get a peace of mind.

Eddie VanStine:

You know, it, it, it really bothered me that I, it took me so

Eddie VanStine:

long to be able to figure it out.

Eddie VanStine:

So I, I wanted to say on a local level.

Eddie VanStine:

That and making sure our transportation deserts are being taken care of.

Eddie VanStine:

That's that's my initiative.

Eddie VanStine:

So figuring out something else other than the volunteer driver programs.

Eddie VanStine:

They're great.

Eddie VanStine:

They are going to stick around, but I believe the way we are right

Eddie VanStine:

now that they're going to dwindle.

Eddie VanStine:

So we need to find other ways and other means.

Eddie VanStine:

Next on a state level.

Eddie VanStine:

I am sit on the New York State Association for Mobility Management

Eddie VanStine:

as a board of directors, where we have initiatives of making sure that

Eddie VanStine:

we are collaborating with all of our.

Eddie VanStine:

National technical grantors that give us all the information to make sure that all

Eddie VanStine:

of our mobility and transit professionals in the state of New York are getting

Eddie VanStine:

the necessary tools that they need.

Eddie VanStine:

To get done what they have to do for their contracts and things,

Eddie VanStine:

because let's face it, in the city, everything's right in front of you.

Eddie VanStine:

In upstate New York here, you might have to drive six hours to take a test.

Eddie VanStine:

that test might only take you five minutes that you can't do online.

Eddie VanStine:

You have to come in person.

Eddie VanStine:

On a national level, this is why I'm here right now.

Eddie VanStine:

You know, I'm not here making noise.

Eddie VanStine:

We're here discussing the actual facts.

Eddie VanStine:

getting myself out there as Paul's allowed me to just like this and talking about it.

Eddie VanStine:

It's, it's obviously a, not only a national problem,

Eddie VanStine:

but it's a global problem.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, let's talk about that just a little bit.

Paul Comfort:

So, here in the United States and Canada, I'm aware of 195 major

Paul Comfort:

transit systems with over 100 buses.

Paul Comfort:

So they're considered the larger systems, but there are hundreds and even thousands

Paul Comfort:

of smaller systems, such as the ones both of you had up across here, that oftentimes

Paul Comfort:

don't get a lot of attention, uh, and they aren't at a head, headlining the news.

Paul Comfort:

but.

Paul Comfort:

lot of the challenges are similar.

Paul Comfort:

Wendy, we were talking in the green room about some of the challenges

Paul Comfort:

that you face there in Texas.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about some of the challenges you're facing.

Paul Comfort:

We, we understand now the role of, uh, public transportation and human

Paul Comfort:

service transportation in rural areas.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, but what are some of the challenges you're facing there?

Wendy Weedon:

So, we're no different than most of our sister agencies and,

Wendy Weedon:

you know, of course there's funding, of course there's, um, now there's lack

Wendy Weedon:

of fleet, the time to order a vehicle and get it in, if you can afford it.

Wendy Weedon:

Like Eddie said, you know, you can't afford anything.

Wendy Weedon:

If you can afford it, you're looking at a minimum of 24 months to get in a vehicle.

Wendy Weedon:

70 percent of our fleet is past its useful life.

Wendy Weedon:

Fortunately, we have a phenomenal maintenance crew,

Wendy Weedon:

and they just keep them going.

Wendy Weedon:

And we run them until they're, they just won't run anymore.

Wendy Weedon:

But, you also have This big struggle and it just seems to be

Wendy Weedon:

the gap is widening on finding and retaining staff to work for you.

Wendy Weedon:

if you do have the funding, everybody does the same.

Wendy Weedon:

They do everything they can to keep the funding on the street in the terms of

Wendy Weedon:

wheels rolling to provide as much service.

Wendy Weedon:

So, a lot of times staff.

Wendy Weedon:

These are the ones that get neglected to a little bit.

Wendy Weedon:

You don't have, you don't get the increase in funding to enrich your staff more,

Wendy Weedon:

help retain them, show them that this industry and everything that we do is,

Wendy Weedon:

it's an amazing industry and it is a, it's not just a job, it is a career

Wendy Weedon:

and you're changing lives every day.

Wendy Weedon:

Those are our struggles, some of them we could go on, but another thing is

Wendy Weedon:

convincing people that public transit is a big deal, and it does so much more than

Wendy Weedon:

drive around the town and move people, it's a huge, vital mechanism that every

Wendy Weedon:

community needs, people often don't understand that until they come to the

Wendy Weedon:

point to where they themselves need it or their family member needs it, and it's

Wendy Weedon:

hard to translate until they get to that point of personally seeing a connection.

Wendy Weedon:

so those are a lot of our struggles.

Wendy Weedon:

We have more, but.

Wendy Weedon:

that's what we mainly consistently fight.

Paul Comfort:

You mentioned, something, Wendy, which I, I remember well,

Paul Comfort:

especially when I was working in a smaller system, was the, um, the way

Paul Comfort:

I felt every night when I came home.

Paul Comfort:

I was interacting directly with passengers who I knew were making

Paul Comfort:

a difference in their life.

Paul Comfort:

And it, it, um, it warmed my heart.

Paul Comfort:

I don't know how else to say it.

Paul Comfort:

You know, you felt satisfied and fulfilled that you were making

Paul Comfort:

a difference in their life.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, What made you, Eddie, want to get involved in mobility management?

Eddie VanStine:

Actually it was COVID.

Eddie VanStine:

COVID happened and everything shut down.

Eddie VanStine:

And I, I went out for a walk one night.

Eddie VanStine:

And, I got a call from my grandmother who lives 18 miles outside the nearest town.

Eddie VanStine:

And she's by herself.

Eddie VanStine:

And she was crying.

Eddie VanStine:

And I said, what's wrong with grandma?

Eddie VanStine:

She goes, I forgot to stop at the store when my buddy brought me home.

Eddie VanStine:

I'm hungry, I don't have anything to eat.

Eddie VanStine:

she was crying simply because, first of all, she, she forgot

Eddie VanStine:

that she had to go to the store.

Eddie VanStine:

She didn't, and she didn't, she was too worried about taking up the

Eddie VanStine:

other person's time, that she didn't even get her food to come back.

Eddie VanStine:

So just that situation and myself, learning about that

Eddie VanStine:

myself, it really upset me.

Eddie VanStine:

So I took it upon myself, um, I did some research.

Eddie VanStine:

And out of my, um, little, little garage, I was able to, um, I

Eddie VanStine:

did something about it, Paul.

Eddie VanStine:

I started my own little LLC ride share company called Finger Lakes Rides, and

Eddie VanStine:

it ended up catering to eight different counties, um, 30 to 50 drivers at a time.

Eddie VanStine:

When everything shut down, we stood up.

Eddie VanStine:

It's not around anymore, but, it really, really set that tone for me to

Eddie VanStine:

go that Full throttle, but you know.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, that's good.

Paul Comfort:

Thanks for throwing in my, uh, title of my book.

Paul Comfort:

I appreciate it.

Paul Comfort:

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort:

Full throttle, yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So, uh, Wendy, let's talk about that going in, now that we're into 2024, as

Paul Comfort:

folks are listening to this, what do you see as, uh, what's on the horizon

Paul Comfort:

for rural transportation, in 2024?

Wendy Weedon:

So a lot of our, you know, the transit world, COVID,

Wendy Weedon:

again, everything comes back.

Wendy Weedon:

Covid altered the route of the transit world to a degree.

Wendy Weedon:

A lot.

Wendy Weedon:

There's a lot of micro transit now.

Wendy Weedon:

The focus is not, you know, so much fixed route.

Wendy Weedon:

for us.

Wendy Weedon:

I think we just are our service need for in demand response and paratransit,

Wendy Weedon:

which is primarily what we offer in the, the really rural areas.

Wendy Weedon:

the need just grew people, all kinds of reasons, financial

Wendy Weedon:

reasons being one of them.

Wendy Weedon:

They're to the point where they are transportation deprived for one reason

Wendy Weedon:

or another, whether they've aged out of driving, don't feel comfortable

Wendy Weedon:

driving, a lot of mental health issues, they take medications that prohibit,

Wendy Weedon:

but our need, our demand has tripled.

Wendy Weedon:

so we are trying to find a way to expand in to the underserved areas more, if

Wendy Weedon:

you can find the funding, that's great.

Wendy Weedon:

We can often sometimes find the funding, but then we struggle with the match.

Wendy Weedon:

So match is a huge thing.

Wendy Weedon:

and I get it.

Wendy Weedon:

I understand the need for it, but it.

Wendy Weedon:

It also, hog ties us, we have this whole pot of money here, but we

Wendy Weedon:

can't touch it because we don't have the funding, the match to match it.

Wendy Weedon:

personally, we have a lot of projects on the horizon, you know, but, our

Wendy Weedon:

number one goal is always service driven and myself and my staff.

Wendy Weedon:

And our whole team here, we are always sacrificing what's in the better good of

Wendy Weedon:

ourselves for putting more service on the street so that, you know, people like his

Wendy Weedon:

grandma don't have to worry about that and they don't have to interrupt their staff.

Wendy Weedon:

They can have their own freedom to live their lives and not feel like such

Wendy Weedon:

a burden to their families or their friends and just also keep on going.

Wendy Weedon:

we have a lot of communities that are so rural.

Wendy Weedon:

They're, they're literally dying out.

Wendy Weedon:

Like the, the towns are decreasing.

Wendy Weedon:

They're not increasing.

Wendy Weedon:

we service I think 13, over 13,000 square miles.

Wendy Weedon:

It's, it's a big footprint, but so many people have nothing.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, yeah, the, the match issue you mentioned, uh, normally larger

Paul Comfort:

transit agencies maybe don't have that issue, but just to kind of frame that,

Paul Comfort:

um, so you're, you're serving rural areas or serving small counties, as Wendy said,

Paul Comfort:

some of these counties may have 10, 000 people, 15, 000 people, small budgets.

Paul Comfort:

They don't have extra money to put into transportation, and so when a federal

Paul Comfort:

or state grant opportunity comes up, it could be a 75 percent grant, but

Paul Comfort:

they need a 25 percent match, and they just can't come up with that money.

Paul Comfort:

Wendy, I remember back in my 20s, We had the same situation happen.

Paul Comfort:

I wanted to start a weekend shopper shuttle.

Paul Comfort:

I called it.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, we had some outlet stores, et cetera, and I wanted to run some service and I

Paul Comfort:

was able to get a state grant to pay for it, but I could not find the local match.

Paul Comfort:

So I asked the county commissioners.

Paul Comfort:

They said, Paul, we have no extra money to give you.

Paul Comfort:

Um, and I said, well, can I go out and raise the match myself?

Paul Comfort:

And they said, yeah, sure.

Paul Comfort:

And so I went out and knocked on doors and knocked on 50 bit more than 50.

Paul Comfort:

But I got 50 businesses to each donate anywhere from, you know, 250 to 5, 000

Paul Comfort:

and, uh, and over a course of a period of time, I was able to raise up enough

Paul Comfort:

money, uh, as a match, which they then donated to the county and the county

Paul Comfort:

promised and used that money to match the The state dollars and the federal

Paul Comfort:

dollars we got from the grant back then, it was called section 18 grants.

Paul Comfort:

Um, and, uh, and we use that money to run the shore shopper

Paul Comfort:

shuttle for, for a while.

Paul Comfort:

I don't remember how long it went, but we had to raise the money ourselves.

Paul Comfort:

So sometimes you gotta be creative, maybe not a bake sale, but

Paul Comfort:

there's other ways to raise money.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and, and you have a win.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie, tell us about your biggest win from this year.

Eddie VanStine:

My biggest win?

Eddie VanStine:

Well, my biggest win probably is number one, understanding that the

Eddie VanStine:

only way that rural communities like mine are ever, ever going to

Eddie VanStine:

evolve

Eddie VanStine:

is by collaboration and breaking down those silos.

Eddie VanStine:

You know, that is, that is huge.

Eddie VanStine:

It's ultimately huge.

Eddie VanStine:

And number two, just as important.

Eddie VanStine:

Knowledge of service and letting know the people that live in more urban areas

Eddie VanStine:

that have a little bit more control over funding and things like that, that we are

Eddie VanStine:

here and we need just as much attention than the cities and urban areas do.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, a big part of, what I found in rural areas, I was the

Paul Comfort:

president of the State Transit Association in Maryland called TAM, Transportation

Paul Comfort:

Association of Maryland for a few years, and was real active with, co chair of the

Paul Comfort:

State Medical Assistance Transportation Task Force back in the 90s, and what I

Paul Comfort:

saw is what you talked about breaking down those silos, Eddie, there were a lot of

Paul Comfort:

services that got transportation dollars, and that sometimes they overlapped each

Paul Comfort:

other, so for instance, I ran a senior center shuttle, and, And there was an

Paul Comfort:

adult daycare center that had offices in the same building as our senior center.

Paul Comfort:

They had services there.

Paul Comfort:

And they had their vans, and I had my vans.

Paul Comfort:

And we ran out down the same streets, picked up people on opposite sides, and

Paul Comfort:

brought them back to the same building.

Paul Comfort:

And I remember thinking how silly that was, and why couldn't we coordinate?

Paul Comfort:

And the further I got into it, it was insurance regulations that would

Paul Comfort:

not allow us, for the Department of Aging, to pick up their clients.

Paul Comfort:

or vice versa.

Paul Comfort:

It's those kind of barriers, I think, that rural and suburban

Paul Comfort:

areas continue to break down.

Paul Comfort:

Wendy, uh, thank you for the, for sharing with us.

Paul Comfort:

Are there any other final thoughts you want to share as we close out,

Paul Comfort:

kind of taking a look at the topics that surround rural transportation?

Wendy Weedon:

I love to educate people on what public transit truly is, not

Wendy Weedon:

what they think it is, and what it means for the people that utilize it.

Wendy Weedon:

I don't think people always fully stop to grasp that, It helps people be financially

Wendy Weedon:

independent and keeps them off of welfare programs and keeps them alive and, um,

Wendy Weedon:

keeps children going to school sometimes.

Wendy Weedon:

there's so much more to it.

Wendy Weedon:

And I think once people start learning and just start looking into it a little bit

Wendy Weedon:

more, they, it changes their perspective and that goes for users as well.

Wendy Weedon:

It's, It's a lot of things.

Wendy Weedon:

It's not just public transit.

Wendy Weedon:

It's not just for, um, indigent or low class or medical needs.

Wendy Weedon:

It's, it's everything.

Paul Comfort:

Eddie, any final thoughts from you?

Eddie VanStine:

I'll just say that, of course, we all have our own specific

Eddie VanStine:

situations in everywhere of the country.

Eddie VanStine:

But I will say that, not just nationally, but, but on a global basis now we we

Eddie VanStine:

are facing a huge epidemic and I will say that's mental health and that is

Eddie VanStine:

falling upon everything and we need to remember that we need to fix ourselves

Eddie VanStine:

first before we can fix everything else and that's where it starts and

Eddie VanStine:

then again breaking down those silos and collaboration is key Easy as that.

Paul Comfort:

Very good.

Paul Comfort:

Well, to wrap up, I want to thank, uh, my friend, Scott, who's head of CTAA,

Paul Comfort:

the Community Transportation Association of America, for, uh, suggesting

Paul Comfort:

you, Wendy, as a guest on the show.

Paul Comfort:

And thank you, Eddie, for helping organize this, uh, great look at what's happening,

Paul Comfort:

kind of in some places that sometimes get forgotten in all the hubbub of the

Paul Comfort:

latest high speed rail and the latest, uh, big transit news that a big part of

Paul Comfort:

our country, what they oftentimes call the Flyover country in the, not in the

Paul Comfort:

coast, you know, and, and even though Eddie, you and I are on the coast,

Paul Comfort:

but a lot of the country, is providing public transportation in multiple ways.

Paul Comfort:

They're, they're blending funding streams when it comes from, uh,

Paul Comfort:

medical assistance, transportation, whether it's coming from human service,

Paul Comfort:

transportation, or 5311 funds, and all these different sources of funds,

Paul Comfort:

putting together and putting them under.

Paul Comfort:

county and city transportation programs that are run oftentimes by people

Paul Comfort:

who are underpaid, underappreciated, but whose value, is dramatic in the

Paul Comfort:

lives of the people they serve, and they may not be serving hundreds

Paul Comfort:

of thousands of people a day.

Paul Comfort:

Maybe they're only serving hundreds Three or four hundred people a day,

Paul Comfort:

but for those people, it is a lifeline, uh, to get to the services they need.

Paul Comfort:

And Wendy and Eddie, I think you've been able to describe that in very

Paul Comfort:

great detail today for our listeners.

Paul Comfort:

Thanks again for the work you do.

Paul Comfort:

We wish you the best as you continue in this year of, uh, making a

Paul Comfort:

difference in other people's lives.

Paul Comfort:

Thank you.

Eddie VanStine:

Thank you so much, Paul.

Tris Hussey:

Hi, this is Tris Hussey editor of the transit unplugged podcast.

Tris Hussey:

Thank you for listening to this week's episode with our special guests.

Tris Hussey:

Eddie VanStien and Wendy Weedon.

Tris Hussey:

Coming up next week on the show, we go from the small towns to the big cities.

Tris Hussey:

With Eve Wiggins, director of transit at Mississauga transit

Tris Hussey:

in Mississauga, Ontario.

Tris Hussey:

Where we learn about her secret sauce for increasing ridership 27% year over year.

Tris Hussey:

And at 109% of ridership since 2019.

Tris Hussey:

If you want to stay up to date with everything going on at Transit Unplugged,

Tris Hussey:

make sure you subscribe to our newsletter.

Tris Hussey:

You can subscribe@transitunplugged.com.

Tris Hussey:

Transit unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo.

Tris Hussey:

At Modaxo, we're passionate about moving the world's people.

Tris Hussey:

And at Transit Unplugged.

Tris Hussey:

We're passionate about telling those stories.

Tris Hussey:

So until next week, ride safe and ride happy.

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Transit Unplugged
Leading podcast on public transit hosted by Paul Comfort, SVP Modaxo.

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