SURTC Staff to Participate in National Rural Transit Conference

Small Urban and Rural Transit Center staff will be busy during the 19th National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation being held October 24-27, 2010 in Burlington, Vermont.

Dr. Jill Hough, director of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center, is serving as chair of the conference that covers planning and design; policy, funding and finance; rural transportation in today's operating environment; technology; and special issues.

Jeremy Mattson will present a paper on the mobility of older adults and people with disabilities in North Dakota. Del Peterson will moderate a session on commuter programs and present a paper on transit and residential choice. David Ripplinger will present papers on technology use by rural transit agencies and uses of Rural National Transit Database (Rural NTD) data as well as moderate the session on Rural NTD.

Rural Transit Technology Course to be Held in Conjunction with NRITS Conference

Implementing Rural Transit Technology, a joint course of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center and the National Transit Institute (NTI), will be held August 1-2 in Huntington, West Virginia, in conjunction with the National Rural ITS (NRITS) Conference. The course is geared toward transit professionals, state DOT office staff, and regional planners involved in planning and implementing technology-based systems for rural transit operations.

A specialized transit track that includes transit-specific sessions, a human services transportation workshop, in addition to the Implementing Rural Transit Technology course will be part of this year's NRITS Conference. Registration for participation in the transit track can be made online.

More information on the Implementing Rural Transit Technology course is available on the NTI website.

Rural Transit Technology Course to be Held in Alaska and Virginia

The Small Urban & Rural Transit Center in partnership with the National Transit Institute is presenting the course Implementing Rural Transit Technology May 10-11 in Anchorage, AK, and June 9-10 in Charlottesville, VA.

The course presents a structured approach for planning, implementing, and evaluating rural transit projects to help ensure that agency needs and expectations are met.

Rural Transit Technology Course to be Held in Alaska and Virginia

Implementing Rural Transit Technology, a joint course of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center and the National Transit Institute (NTI), will be held May 10-11 in Anchorage, Alaska, and June 9-10 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The course is geared toward transit professionals, state DOT office staff, and regional planners involved in planning and implementing technology-based systems for rural transit operations.

More information on the course and online registration is available on the NTI website.

Tool for Rural Transit Agency Peer Comparison Developed

The Small Urban & Rural Transit Center recently released a report that classifies rural and small urban transit agencies.  Using data from the Rural National Transit Database, each subrecipient of  Section 5311 funding that reported adequate information was classified by type of service, vehicle-miles, vehicle hours, and fleet size.   Rural and small urban transit agencies can use this information to compare their to performance with that of their peers.  Findings from the report, entitled Classifying Rural and Small Urban Transit Agencies, can also be used for other advanced analysis.

Questions on the report and its use in peer comparison should be directed to David Ripplinger, author of the report, who can be reached by phone at 701-231-5265 or by email at david.ripplinger@ndsu.edu.

Rural Transit Technology Course to be Held in Sacramento

SURTC and the National Transit Institute are hosting the course Implementing Rural Transit Technology September 29-30 in Sacramento, CA.