[Senate Hearing 117-367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]











                                                        S. Hrg. 117-367


 RURAL TRANSIT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
           HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

                                 of the

                              COMMITTEE ON
                   BANKING,HOUSING,AND URBAN AFFAIRS
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                                   ON

 EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF RURAL TRANSIT AND ISSUES THAT SHAPE THE LIVES 
                   OF PEOPLE LIVING IN RURAL AMERICA

                               __________

                              JUNE 8, 2021

                               __________

  Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs





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                Available at: https: //www.govinfo.gov /

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                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
48-618 PDF	          WASHINGTON : 2023

























            COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS

                     SHERROD BROWN, Ohio, Chairman

JACK REED, Rhode Island              PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey          RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
JON TESTER, Montana                  MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia             TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts      MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland           THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada       JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  JERRY MORAN, Kansas
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia             KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
                                     STEVE DAINES, Montana

                     Laura Swanson, Staff Director

                 Brad Grantz, Republican Staff Director

                      Cameron Ricker, Chief Clerk

                      Shelvin Simmons, IT Director

                    Charles J. Moffat, Hearing Clerk

                                 ______

   Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development

                      TINA SMITH, Minnesota, Chair

          MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota, Ranking Republican Member

JACK REED, Rhode Island              RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey          MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
JON TESTER, Montana                  BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada       CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland           JERRY MORAN, Kansas
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia             STEVE DAINES, Montana

                Tim Everett, Subcommittee Staff Director

Caroline Hunsicker, Senior Policy Advisor for Housing, Transportation, 
                           and Native Affairs

          Andrew Rothe, Republican Subcommittee Staff Director

                                  (ii)



















                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                         TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021

                                                                   Page

Opening statement of Chair Smith.................................     1

Opening statements, comments, or prepared statements of:
    Senator Rounds...............................................     2
    Chairman Brown...............................................     3

                               WITNESSES

Brandon Nurmi, Assistant Director, Arrowhead Transit, Arrowhead 
  Economic Opportunity Agency, Virginia, Minnesota...............     5
    Prepared statement...........................................    22
    Responses to written questions of:
        Senator Crapo............................................    30
        Senator Daines...........................................    30
Kendra McGeady, Director of Transit, Pelivan Transit, Big Cabin, 
  Oklahoma.......................................................     7
    Prepared statement...........................................    23
    Responses to written questions of:
        Senator Crapo............................................    31
        Senator Daines...........................................    32
Barbara Cline, Executive Director, Prairie Hills Transit, Prairie 
  Hills Transit, Spearfish, South Dakota.........................     8
    Prepared statement...........................................    26
    Responses to written questions of:
        Senator Crapo............................................    32
        Senator Daines...........................................    33

                                 (iii)

 
 RURAL TRANSIT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021

                               U.S. Senate,
  Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,
    Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community 
                                                Development
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met at 2:30 p.m., remotely via Webex, Hon. 
Tina Smith, Chair of the Subcommittee, presiding.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIR TINA SMITH

    Chair Smith. Good afternoon. I call the Subcommittee of 
Housing, Transportation, and Community Development to order. 
For the information of the Senators, there is a series of votes 
that starts at about 3 p.m. So I am going to plan on declaring 
a brief recess right at 3, which should be after the opening 
statements, so that we can go vote. And then we will resume, 
and we will aim to complete the questioning of the witnesses by 
around 3:45 or so, which should allow us to be finished by the 
end of the second vote. But I just wanted everyone to know that 
we will set it up that way. Thank you very much.
    I want to thank Senator Rounds for working with me today on 
this bipartisan hearing focusing on rural transit, and for our 
strong relationship on issues that shape the lives of people 
living in rural America, transportation among them.
    Two years ago, Senator Rounds and I teamed with Senator 
Fischer from Nebraska and Senator Baldwin from Wisconsin, to 
create the World Economy Working Group, and the purpose of this 
working group has been to highlight the great strengths in 
rural communities, and the lessons that we can learn from rural 
leaders about how the Federal Government can be a good partner 
and a better partner.
    Small towns and rural places are creative, entrepreneurial, 
diverse, wonderful places to live and raise a family, and rural 
places produce our food and energy and are hubs of 
manufacturing and small business, education, health care, arts, 
and culture. We all need rural communities to be successful, 
and that means, just like in the suburbs and in cities, 
transportation has to work. If you live in northeast Minnesota 
or the Black Hills of South Dakota or any other of the vast 
rural places in America, you are used to traveling long 
distances to do what you need to do, to get to work or to the 
doctor, to buy groceries, or to fill prescriptions. And for 
transportation to work, there needs to be viable, efficient, 
well-functioning transit systems.
    ``Wait,'' you say, if you live in the city, especially, 
``transit is for cities and it won't work in rural places. 
People are too spread out. Everyone drives. There's no need for 
transit when you live in the country.''
    Well, today we are going to hear about how inaccurate this 
perception is, and how vital transit is to rural America, and 
how important it is that we provide transit options that work 
in rural communities. In fact, many people living in rural 
America are highly reliant on transit. Folks living in rural 
places are more likely to be older and maybe don't drive 
anymore, but they still need to get to the doctor. Working 
families in rural places may struggle to afford a car and gas, 
but they still need to get to work and to school. Without 
transit, the economy, health care, education--none of it works.
    Intercity bus service connects people to nearby towns and 
regional centers. That connects people to jobs and opportunity, 
and it fuels those regional economies. New investment in a 
transition to a clean economy and transportation, including 
electric vehicles and low-carbon renewables like ethanol and 
biodiesel, they shouldn't be left out of rural places.
    The fact is rural transit providers are full of great ideas 
for how to meet the needs of their communities when it comes to 
mobility. Rural and small transit systems are leading the way, 
innovating with on-demand service, specialized routes, routes 
that connect people to specific destinations, and today we are 
going to have a chance to learn about this.
    As we listen to the panel of rural transit leaders today, I 
ask you to keep in mind the veteran who needs to get to a VA 
clinic, the person who is trying to get back on their feet by 
completing job training, or a senior who is looking for their 
weekly fresh produce delivery. Each of these need a reliable, 
affordable transit system.
    So it is my hope today that your testimony and our 
conversation will help to inform this Committee as we work to 
write the transit title for the upcoming service transportation 
bill. The transit title has historically been a bipartisan area 
of agreement, and I know that Chair Brown and Ranking Member 
Toomey are working hard to try to reach a bipartisan agreement 
once again this year.
    So it has been a pleasure to work with Senator Rounds in 
planning this hearing. I will now turn to Senator Rounds for 
his opening statement, and then I will turn to Senator Brown, 
our Chair of Banking, Housing for his remarks.
    Thank you, Senator Rounds.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE ROUNDS

    Senator Rounds. Thank you, Chair Smith. Look, let me just 
say I really do appreciate the bipartisan way in which we have 
tried to build a rural America together, and so I do thank you 
for putting together the hearing today and your cooperation 
with us in moving forward.
    I would also like to thank our witnesses for taking the 
time to attend today's hearing. And I would especially like to 
thank Ms. Barbara Cline. She is from Prairie Hills Transit in 
Spearfish, South Dakota, in the beautiful Black Hills. I really 
do appreciate her willingness to testify, and I look forward to 
hearing from all of the rest of our witnesses as well.
    The topic of rural transit is an important issue that has 
been uniquely highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the 
past year, approximately 68 percent of rural transit systems 
were forced to cut services that were already operating on slim 
margins. Moving past the pandemic, it will be imperative to get 
these rural transit systems operating in a way that really 
improves upon the prepandemic norms.
    As we look at how to put rural transit on a path forward, 
it is important we acknowledge the funding rural programs 
received from every one of the COVID relief packages. Just as 
an example, the Rural Area Formula Program, Section 5311, 
received approximately $3 billion in COVID relief funding over 
the past year. This funding undoubtedly assisted non-urban 
communities to restructure transit systems that may have taken 
a hit during the pandemic. I look forward to seeing how 
communities utilized these additional funds to not only move 
past the pandemic but to also begin addressing the issues from 
before the pandemic.
    The rural nature of South Dakota provides us with a unique 
perspective on the struggles of small communities, that they 
have when it comes to public transit. That is why we have 
introduced the Investments in Rural Transit Act, along with my 
colleague, Senator Smith, Chair Smith, and Senator Baldwin. 
This legislation includes necessary increase of the Federal 
share of rural transit assistance for transit projects in high-
need areas. Rural communities simply cannot meet the local 
matching requirements to effectively invest in public transit 
that these communities desperately need.
    I have met with several different rural transit authorities 
across South Dakota, and an issue they conveyed to me was the 
lack of consistency in Federal funding. We need to help our 
rural communities by providing equal opportunities to rural 
funding as well as encouraging more consistent funding by 
increasing the amount of formula funds as compared to 
discretionary funds.
    Again, we welcome all of you here today, and I look forward 
to hearing from our witnesses on how this Subcommittee can be 
of further assistance to rural transit authorities across the 
country.
    Madam Chair, thank you.
    Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Rounds, and before I 
introduce the witnesses I am glad to welcome Chair Brown to our 
Subcommittee hearing, and I understand he would like to make a 
brief opening statement.

          OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN SHERROD BROWN

    Chairman Brown. I got the word ``brief,'' so thank you, 
Madam Chair. And I appreciate the cooperation with Chair Smith 
and Ranking Member Rounds. I know this is your second hearing. 
You did one on Indian housing. I appreciate how you are 
stepping up and using the Subcommittee process, which is so 
very important for all of us. And I would say to Mr. Nurmi and 
Ms. Cline, you can be proud of your home State Senators as they 
have come together on this kind of issue.
    I remember some years ago a hearing we did in full 
Committee, and I remember Senator Rounds was particularly 
engaged and taught a lot of us about rural transit and how 
important it is. And as Tina Smith said, when we say ``public 
transportation'' we just do not mean Minneapolis and Cleveland. 
This Committee understands that public transportation plays a 
critical role in pretty much every community, in rural areas 
and small towns and midsized cities and old industrial towns, 
on the coasts and in the heartland, that Senator Cortez Masto 
and Senator Smith and Senator Rounds and I represent.
    About 1 million rural households do not have a car, and the 
seniors, students, veterans, and Americans with disabilities 
that use public transit in places like Lima, Ohio, and Athens, 
Ohio, need reliable service. The pandemic was the great 
revealer. It has made rural transit ever more essential, with 
agencies throughout my State of Ohio and the country providing 
not only transportation but also meals and groceries, fresh 
food, as Chair Smith said, prescriptions, and access to 
vaccines. I am impressed especially with the safety record of 
rural transit services. Our transit vans and busses travel long 
distances on isolated roads, but they provide very safe 
service, as we learned in one of Senator Crapo's hearings 
earlier.
    I hope our witnesses will talk about what they do to keep 
up that safety record. I hope also witnesses will talk about 
coordinating Federal programs that support transportation 
services. When FDA funding can be coordinated with Medicaid and 
VA service, riders get better transportation, but that is not 
the case everywhere and it is up to this Subcommittee and the 
full Committee to help make that happen.
    I will work with Ranking Member Toomey and the Members of 
this Committee to advance a service transportation bill with a 
robust transit title, as Chair Smith suggested, and we will 
tackle other infrastructure investment we need to create 
economic growth in all communities, in all of our States.
    Madam Chair, thanks for giving me a couple of minutes.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Chair Brown. I am now going 
to introduce our witnesses. I will introduce all three 
witnesses and then turn to each to make your opening 
statements.
    First, Brandon Nurmi, my fellow Minnesotan, who is the 
Assistant Director of Arrowhead Transit, which is headquartered 
in Virginia, Minnesota. Arrowhead Transit serves a 10-county 
area in northeastern Minnesota.
    Kendra McGeady is the Director of Transportation for 
Pelivan Transit in Big Cabin, Oklahoma. She leads the 
Northeastern Tribal Transit Consortium of Oklahoma, and her 
transit system was named the Rural Transit System of the Year 
in 2019 by the Community Transportation Association of America.
    Barbara Cline is the Executive Director of Prairie Hills 
Transit in Spearfish, South Dakota. She is also the chair of 
the board of the Community Transportation Association of 
America. She testified before the full Committee in 2013, and I 
am very glad that Senator Rounds has invited her back again 
today.
    And thank you so much to all of our witnesses for joining 
us.
    I want to just say briefly, as we start, before you begin 
your opening statements here are a few reminders. Once you 
start speaking there will be a slight delay before you are 
displayed on the screen. To minimize background noise, we ask 
that you click the mute button until it is your turn to speak 
or ask questions.
    You all should have one box on your screens labeled the 
Clock, which will show how much time is remaining. For 
witnesses, you will have 5 minutes for your opening statements, 
and your full written statement will be made part of the 
record. For all Senators, the 5-minute clock applies also to 
your questions, and when you have 30 seconds remaining you will 
hear that telltale bell ring, reminding you that your time is 
almost expired, and it will ring again when you are out of 
time.
    And if there is a technology issue, I will just skip over 
to the next witness or Senator, and we will come back to you. 
And to simplify any speaking order issues, we will just go by 
order of seniority.
    So thank you so much. I will now turn to Mr. Nurmi for your 
opening statement. Welcome.

   STATEMENT OF BRANDON NURMI, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ARROWHEAD 
   TRANSIT, ARROWHEAD ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AGENCY, VIRGINIA, 
                           MINNESOTA

    Mr. Nurmi. Thank you, Chair Smith. Thank you, Chair Brown, 
Ranking Member Rounds, and the distinguished Members of the 
Committee. My name is Brandon Nurmi. I am an Assistant Director 
for Arrowhead Transit.
    Arrowhead Transit is the transportation department for a 
larger Community Action Program located in northeastern 
Minnesota named Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency or AEOA. 
Our transportation program began in 1974, as a program for 
senior and disabled transportation under an Area Agency on 
Aging grant, and has expanded over the last 47 years to a full 
rural transit, covering 24,470 square miles across 10 counties. 
This is about the same size as the State of West Virginia. We 
operate 184 routes of varying frequency, including 19 different 
Dial-A-Ride service areas, utilizing 127 buses and over 150 
employees including dispatchers, mechanics, and administrative 
staff.
    By providing safe, affordable, and reliable transportation 
to our rural communities many of our passengers have access to 
services that they may not have otherwise had. Our aging 
population, disabled community, and low-income households have 
additional transportation options for accessing things like 
medical appointments, employment, shopping, and social events 
where transportation is regularly cited as a major barrier.
    Arrowhead Transit has been working hard with Minnesota's 
Office of Transit and Active Transportation, OTAT, to identify 
and address any transportation needs in our area, and are 
involved with two of our Regional Transportation Coordinating 
Councils to collaborate with other transportation providers and 
community partners to try and explore new ways to bridge the 
transportation gaps that still exist in the rural and deep 
rural areas of the State. OTAT has also been working with all 
the State's transportation providers to start building 
connections between the different systems, in hopes of 
eventually connecting all Minnesotans to the transportation 
currently available in other areas.
    Arrowhead Transit was awarded a grant under the FTA's 
Innovative Mobility Integration program to work on developing a 
rural transportation program utilizing local transportation 
options and volunteer drivers to provide first and last mile 
access to existing transportation services for people outside 
the transit service areas, utilizing technology for trip 
planning and integrated payment for the whole trip. It is our 
hope that, if successful, we would be able to utilize this 
program in additional rural areas across the State.
    During the COVID pandemic, Arrowhead Transit, again with 
the support of OTAT, was able to provide free rides to COVID 
testing sites, provide additional transportation to support 
pop-up sites, and offer free vaccine transportation inside our 
service areas. We also partnered with Scenic Rivers Health to 
offer cost free vaccine transportation options to deep rural 
areas around their Eveleth clinic with appointment blocks 
reserved just for passengers that wanted to utilize the 
service.
    AEOA's largest community contribution during the pandemic 
came from food and meal delivery. AEOA received nearly weekly 
shipments of fresh produce, proteins, and dairy products from 
May of 2020 through May of 2021, through the Coronavirus Food 
Assistance Program, funded by the USDA. Over that time period 
we served over 95,000 individuals in 35,499 household, with 
over 2.1 million pounds of food, by collaborating with over 80 
community partners across our service area. We were able to 
accomplish a large portion of this by utilizing the transit 
buses for food delivery to multiple rural distributionsites 
being run by other programs and agencies. To date, Arrowhead 
Transit buses delivered 37,805 boxes, school lunch meals, food 
shelf deliveries, and 1-day and 7-day shelf-stable meal kits 
during the Peacetime Emergency.
    The overall theme in all of our efforts is working toward 
providing access to transportation in as many areas as we can--
access to services, access to employment, access to social 
events, access to transportation. One of the largest barriers 
we face in rural transportation is the ability to provide 
access to rural and deep rural areas that would not meet 
classic passenger metrics used to evaluate the value of a 
route. We have tried to address this by offering routes based 
on a minimum passenger basis. If we have X number of passengers 
that request to use the route on the books, then we will send 
it. While this provides the basic access to the route, it 
requires passengers to recruit their own riders to ensure that 
the route meets the minimum passenger requirement and removes 
the ``reliability'' of the transportation.
    If you know the route is always going, then you can 
schedule appointments or plan your trip based on the route's 
availability. Allotting greater weight to a route that provides 
access without having to worry as much about the classic metric 
of passengers per hour would be one way that rural transit 
providers could address these gaps. I believe that sometimes 
the need for a route is not necessarily that there will be a 
lot of people that will be riding it.
    To close out, I would like to share a story about a couple 
in the Ely, Minnesota, that experienced their own issue with 
transportation gap coverage. I will skim through it because it 
is kind of a long story. But the basics is that her and her 
husband were located outside of our service area. She was in a 
wheelchair. They were unable to access any transportation, even 
private carriers, and we were able to help them.
    Thank you very much.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much. I will now turn to Ms. 
Kendra McGeady.

   STATEMENT OF KENDRA McGEADY, DIRECTOR OF TRANSIT, PELIVAN 
                  TRANSIT, BIG CABIN, OKLAHOMA

    Ms. McGeady. Thank you. Subcommittee Chair Smith, Chairman 
Brown, Ranking Member Rounds, and Members of the Senate Banking 
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community 
Development, I am Kendra McGeady, Director of Pelivan of 
Transit and the Northeast Travel Transit Consortium, located in 
Oklahoma. I am thankful to have the opportunity today to 
discuss rural and tribal transit, the challenges we face, and 
the potential for opportunities to assist in better meeting the 
needs of our riders.
    Pelivan Transit is a department of Grand Gateway Economic 
Development Association, and has been in operation for 35 
years. We offer on-demand and demand response services to a 
population of over 257,000, covering 7 counties and 4,466 
square miles. Our 61-vehicle fleet includes minivans, commutes, 
and cutaways. Of those vehicles, almost half are past their 
useful life. Our mechanics are well trained and do an excellent 
job of maintaining our fleet.
    Our operation includes a full-service maintenance facility 
and one call/one click mobility management center from which 
all operations are dispatched. We travel approximately 882,000 
revenue miles a year, completing 149,000 trips to health care, 
social service, employment, education, shopping, and other life 
necessity appointments.
    The past year of operations have been far different than 
anything we have seen before, with no shortage of challenges. 
Without the assistance of the $2.8 million in CARES Act fund 
that we received, we would not have survived the pandemic and 
its crushing loss of ridership, contractual service, and local 
match.
    CARES Act funds and the zero-match requirement were 
lifesaving, allowing us to maintain effective, reliable 
services for those 100 percent transit-dependent individuals 
who continued to need transportation, as well as retain staff 
and continue maintenance operations. In addition, it enabled us 
to quickly pivot from people mover to homebound meal delivery 
service for senior citizens. In the past 15 months, Pelivan has 
delivered more than 8,000 meals to homebound seniors. The 
funding also allowed us to transport individuals to and from 
vaccine clinics, providing just over 1,800 trips for vaccine in 
recent months.
    During the pandemic, we saw our ridership by 68 percent, 
and since our State's reopening we have seen a steady increase, 
and are currently down by 27 percent systemwide.
    As a rural provider we encounter obstacles daily, due to a 
lack of adequate funding, diminished staff, aging fleet, 
failing infrastructure, insufficient broadband, and the 
increasingly elusive local match required of all 5311 
operators. The upcoming reauthorization of the FAST Act will 
provide an opportunity to develop solutions to many of these 
challenges. Adjusting our ability to sell vehicles after their 
useful life would allow 5311 and 5310 recipients to sell 
capital assets at market value and provide the opportunity to 
increase local match and reinvest in our systems.
    In a postpandemic world, securing match has become a bigger 
challenge, and communities face revenue shortfalls as a result 
of economic slumps associated with COVID. I very much 
appreciate the leadership of Senators Smith and Rounds with 
their cosponsored Investments in Rural Transit Act of 2021, 
which seeks to increase local share flexibility for systems 
like Pelivan.
    In an effort to manage some of these issues, Pelivan has 
implemented successful and innovative partnerships with our 
fellow transit agencies and private companies to provide more 
accessible and equitable transportation to the residents of 
Oklahoma. They include veteran-specific programs that have 
provided 72,000 discounted trips to veterans across a 29-county 
region, and a regional, on-demand, afterhours ADA service, 
providing flexible transit to a 22,000-square-mile area, or 
one-third of the State of Oklahoma. Both projects were funded 
through USDOT competitive grant programs.
    Set-aside competitive and discretionary grant opportunities 
for 5311 properties would provide a much-needed avenue for 
small systems to fund the implementation of smart technologies 
and make the move toward low- and no-emission fleets.
    Rural transit operations like Pelivan are not simply 
scaled-down versions of transit operations in major cities, and 
should not be viewed as such. The geography and demographics in 
rural America have forced many rural operations to think 
regionally, as employment, health care, retail, and educational 
opportunities take a similar approach. The result of this is 
increasing miles for every trip.
    Located in the heart of Indian Country, Pelivan Transit 
provides transit services to the Cherokee Nation and operates 
the Northeast Tribal Transit Consortium for the nine tribes of 
Ottawa County. Tribal ridership in a normal fiscal year is just 
over 47,000 completed trips. Commuter routes have been 
established in both operations, providing transportation to and 
from Native-owned and operated places of employment and medical 
facilities.
    Innovative in their approach to service, the Cherokee 
Nation is currently expanding transit into currently unserved 
communities, utilizing on-demand technology, and has introduced 
electronic vehicles into their fleet.
    It is our hope that today we can convey to you our 
experiences, both good and bad, and share ideas of how we might 
form a more efficient, equitable public transit system for 
individuals residing in Rural America. Thank you.
    Senator Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. McGeady. And I will 
turn now to Barbara Cline.

 STATEMENT OF BARBARA CLINE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRAIRIE HILLS 
                TRANSIT, SPEARFISH, SOUTH DAKOTA

    Ms. Cline. Subcommittee Chair Smith, Ranking Subcommittee 
Member Rounds, and Members of the Subcommittee and full 
Committee, thank you for inviting me today to discuss the 
opportunities and challenges of connecting communities in rural 
States like South Dakota. My name is Barb Cline, and I am here 
today representing both Prairie Hills Transit in Spearfish, 
South Dakota, as its Executive Director of 31 years, and the 
Community Transportation Association of America as its Board 
President.
    Prairie Hills Transit serves a 16,500-square-mile service 
area bordering Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming. It grew 
from an operation that started with a single van in 1989, to 
one today comprised of over 50 vehicles that are primarily cars 
and cutaway buses, has 65 employees operating in 9 South Dakota 
counties, and serving two Native American reservations. We have 
added 7 communities to our service through coordination and 
consolidation.
    In Spearfish, we operate out of a full-service, intermodal 
transportation facility that serves as the Jefferson Lines 
intercity bus depot, operate a one-call center, house a full 
maintenance shop, have administrative offices, and offer a 
licensed childcare center.
    We believe that mobility is a basic right for all 
Americans, one that requires stable, predictable Federal 
investments, paired with support from State, county, and local 
governments, as well as private sector partnerships.
    Nothing is more important to the future mobility of rural 
and small urban America than Congress reauthorizing service 
transportation legislation, on time and with the resources 
these communities rely on.
    Rural communities depend on the support of Federal programs 
to a greater degree than their larger urban counterparts, as 
State investments are often inconsistent and local resources 
are strained. Without dedicated and increased operating funding 
for Section 5311, our passengers will be the hardest hit, 
arriving late to work, or not at all, and missing life-
sustaining medical appointments.
    The basic independence of many rural residents will be 
threatened if increased local share flexibility for rural 
transportation operators is not considered. This is something I 
know Senators Smith and Rounds have committed to. Demand for 
rural and small urban transit is growing, and why funding 
formula programs is vital.
    A prime example of the need for increased Federal 
investment is in the bus and bus facility capital program. By 
housing our vehicles in garages, we protect them from the 
extreme weather conditions. We have 7 garages in our 15 
communities, and need more.
    Prairie Hills Transit has secured funding for two large 
technology applications. One is a smartphone app that allows 
patrons to book trips, and the other will aloe implementation 
of an AI-based, smart dispatch to provide micro transit 
service. Each requires a 20 percent local cash investment.
    Health care trips are inundating transit operations. We 
partner with hospitals, veterans clinics, 24-hour care 
facilities, dialysis centers, and more for some of South 
Dakota's most vulnerable populations. A 40-mile, one-way, life-
sustaining dialysis trip, or assisting local hospitals with 
patient discharge, sometimes to another State, is just part of 
what we do every day.
    Medicaid NEMT is an important component in our service. 
Right-sizing regulations and considering both size and budget 
of smaller operations is essential. From a safety standpoint, 
let us get back to providing trips and requiring less 
reporting.
    None of us can place a value on the trips that rural 
transportation performs every day, but those of us working in 
transit teams just like mine know they are priceless. A 
resident who hasn't left their home in months gets to a 
scheduled medical appointment, a child with Down syndrome gives 
a smile that would melt your heart to their driver every day, 
and the driver who drops off a lanyard with a tooth in it to a 
child after their shift is done so the tooth fairy can come, 
those are what of faces of rural transportation looks like, and 
that is exactly when the challenges you speak of become the 
opportunities to provide vital connections.
    In closing, it has been an honor to testify before the 
Senate Banking Committee today, and I am most grateful for that 
opportunity. I would be happy to take any questions when that 
time arrives. Thank you.
    Senator Smith. Thank you so much to all of our witnesses 
today, and I am sure that there will be many questions for you.
    The 3 p.m. vote is just about to start, and so I am going 
to recess for 5 minutes so that the Senators can go vote, and 
then we will come right back with questions. So that is our 
plan.
    The Subcommittee stands in recess.
    [Recess.]
    Chair Smith. The Subcommittee will now resume and begin 
questions. Thank you, everyone, for bearing with us while we 
take care of our Senate votes here. And I am going to start 
with the first questions, and this is a question that I would 
like to ask to the whole panel.
    A survey conducted by the Community Transportation Alliance 
of America showed that over two-thirds of rural transit systems 
reported cutting service in the past 10 months. We heard from 
all of you about some of the challenges that you have 
experienced due to the pandemic. At the same time, a quarter of 
rural transit systems that were surveyed also reported adding 
new services during the pandemic, to help with meal deliveries, 
prescription deliveries, and access to vaccine appointments.
    So it strikes me that while certainly this year has been so 
devastating to so many Americans, at the same time we have seen 
really important leaps forward in innovation, and trying new 
things, and figuring things out in different ways. And as we 
all talked about going back to normal, or getting back to 
normal, I am quite interested in the things that we have 
learned that we do not want to lose as we move forward.
    So let me ask the panel, each of you, tell us a little bit 
about what lessons you have learned from COVID, you and your 
system have learned from COVID, and what are the things that 
you started doing that worked, that we need to figure out how 
to support you and continuing?
    Maybe I'll start with Ms. Cline.
    Ms. Cline. Thank you. I think one of the most important 
things that we gained from this, our system didn't ever 
discontinue any services. We operated so people could get where 
they needed to go. But it was very apparent immediately that we 
needed to begin a whole new stringent set of cleaning standards 
and training standards. And so those are some of the first 
things that we did, and we have learned that, boy, that was a 
really good idea. Maybe we should have been doing this from the 
beginning.
    We brought in a team of health care professionals to our 
facility. They rode with drivers, they looked at our facility, 
and they gave us recommendations. And so for us that was a 
whole new set of how can we do things better, how can we 
improve it, and how can we continue to keep our drivers and our 
passengers safe. And I think, as we know, we may not be done 
with this crisis, so we want to be prepared to be ready for 
that.
    Chair Smith. Thank you very much. Ms. McGeady?
    Ms. McGeady. Yes. Thank you. I think one of the main things 
that we learned is that we are very resilient as providers, for 
sure, and I have to echo what Barb said. We did not suspend 
services. At Pelivan Transit we are very fortunate that we did 
not have to do that. We were able to continue operating.
    But I think that the cleanliness aspect of things has been 
something that we learned that we will continue to take with 
us, as Barb said. Our State DOT was very kind to us in allowing 
us to order up to $6 million for the PPE from the State 
contract that ODOT funded, which was amazing for all of us. And 
again, I think that moving forward our disinfecting process and 
the cleanliness process is going to continue to maintain where 
it is. It is now part of maintenance. It is just a different 
avenue.
    Another thing that we did at Pelivan Transit, this was pre-
COVID, though. We had implemented an account-based payment 
system, and saw registered users increase by almost 4,000 
throughout COVID-19. I think less cash interaction and the 
ability to just load your account was well received throughout 
COVID-19.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much. Mr. Nurmi, thank you. I am 
so impressed by the work that all of you, including Arrowhead 
Transit, have done to adapt to this env and figure out what to 
do, and be resilient, as we just heard. Tell us a little bit 
about what you learned.
    Mr. Nurmi. Thank you. First, to echo what both Barb and 
Kendra said, the cleaning protocols that we were able to put in 
place and the protections that we could put in place for our 
passengers and for our drivers was definitely a lesson that we 
are going to continue carry forward into the future.
    One of the really big things that we were able to learn 
during COVID was all the different community partners that we 
have in the area and all the different services that we could 
do with all of these different partners. I think the biggest 
thing we took out of there was all of these new relationships 
that we can continue to use and carry forward for more 
programs.
    We did have a small time, probably 3 months, where some of 
our services did get discontinued, but not very many of them. 
For the most part we stayed fully operational through all of 
COVID as well.
    So yeah, we are also looking much more closely at 
contactless payment systems. It is another one of those 
benefits that we got to learn about during the COVID crisis.
    Chair Smith. That is great. And while I am waiting for 
Senator Rounds--I don't think Senator Rounds is back yet from 
the floor; his camera is not on--let me just ask you, as a 
follow-up to all of your testimony, one of the things that we 
did in the CARES Act is that we provided $25 billion in transit 
relief at a 100 percent Federal share, so no local match 
requirement for either capital or operating expenses. Several 
of you mentioned this in your testimony.
    Anything you want to add or anything more you want to say 
about the importance of that 100 percent Federal contribution 
and how that has allowed you to do the things that you wanted 
to do during this tough time?
    Ms. Cline. Well, one of the things that we did was we 
immediately implemented an administrative leave policy, if you 
will. So our biggest fear was for individuals that didn't have 
work, that didn't have hours to work, that they would not be 
able to take care of their families, you know, make house 
payments, those kinds of things. We wanted to make sure that 
they were taken care of. We also wanted to make sure that they 
came back to us when the time was right, when we were ready to 
pull the plug and say OK, everybody is back full-time hours. We 
wanted to make sure that they had been paid through the whole 
pandemic, so that they were willing and able, benefits were 
paid, all those kinds of things, that they were taken care of.
    That was one of the biggest things. But, of course, to keep 
us whole so we could continue operations, even at a much-
reduced level, sometimes your overhead costs--well, always your 
overhead costs--are there, whether you are putting service on 
the street 8 hours a day or 2 hours a day. So those were a 
couple of the primary things that were important to us.
    Chair Smith. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    If Senator Rounds is ready I will turn it over to him.
    Senator Rounds. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it, 
and I think this is going to work just fine the way that we are 
doing it. We got in early. I think you were the first vote on 
the Democrat side, and I was the first vote on the Republican 
side, so at least we are setting a good example in here.
    Ms. Cline, I would like to just thank you for taking the 
time out of your day to join us all the way from Spearfish. I 
want to begin by referencing the investments in the Rural 
Transit Act that we have introduced, along with my colleagues, 
Senator Smith and Senator Baldwin. Our bill will increase 
Federal share for operating assistance in areas with high 
transit dependency if it is an area of persistent poverty, has 
a population where at least 25 percent of the residents are 
retirement age, has health care shortages, or has low 
population density.
    My question, I guess, is in your experience, could you 
explain why it would be necessary for extremely rural 
communities, like those that I just referenced, to receive 
additional Federal funding for their transit systems?
    Ms. Cline. Absolutely. As you know, many of the 15 
communities that I provide service to and through are very low 
density. They are very small communities. They are very high 
senior populations. Most of them are not affluent retirees. 
Medical needs are extremely high for them, and they do not have 
clinics or hospitals in a close proximity.
    So what we are seeing is that they want to remain aging in 
place. They want to have the dignity of living in their own 
homes for as long as they can, which, of course, drives up the 
number of trips that we make, the expenses for the vehicles, 
all of those kinds of things.
    So for rural--and I am even going to call it frontier, 
because a lot of these frontier--if they do not have public 
transportation, people would be forced to move to other 
communities, which will result in even more small South Dakota 
communities becoming ghost towns. So we feel very strong that 
it is important to get those people to dialysis, to radiation, 
to all those medical trips, in particular, sometimes even 
grocery stores or shopping needs. They just do not have them in 
the communities that they live in.
    Senator Rounds. I appreciate that, but I also want to talk 
about another segment of our population that sometimes, I 
guess, I consider to be underserved as well. That is 
individuals that are living with a disability. And they would 
love to be able to get to a place where they can be a part of a 
working community. They want to be actively involved. They want 
to be part of an economy. And they are not necessarily able to 
drive. Can you talk a little bit about that segment of the 
population that you serve as well?
    Ms. Cline. I can, and we are seeing more and more 
individuals just like you are speaking about. Some of them are 
even starting with the high school-aged students who live in 
small communities, Mom and Dad do not have the ability to get 
them into a larger school system, but, you know these are the 
individuals of our future. And if we can get them using public 
transportation at that age, we can keep those people as riders 
on our bus, and we can continue to build on that ridership to 
help them feel and be part of the economy. They can help drive 
the economy.
    As you probably know, most of our vehicles are either lift 
or ramped equipped, so we are able to get those individuals to 
where they need. A large percentage of our riders are through 
adjustment training centers, sheltered workshops, and so those 
individuals are using our vehicles as well. Part of the driving 
force is we would really like to be able to get them into more 
individual employment settings where jobs are offered. They are 
not always offered in the community that they live in.
    Senator Rounds. Thank you. Madam Chair, thank you very 
much. I appreciate that. And once again, Mrs. Cline, thank you 
for taking the time to participate with us today.
    Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Rounds. I will turn next to 
Senator Cortez Masto.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking 
Member, and to all of the panelists. I so appreciate the 
conversation today.
    I am from Nevada, and in Nevada there is a need for 
investments that balance our rapid population growth and our 
important tourism industry. But we also have very unique nature 
of larger, vast differences, very sparse populations and 
communities that have local financial limitations, given the 
level of public lands that surround them.
    Mr. Nurmi, like you I have mining communities who need 
transit support in rural parts of my State. I have--let me just 
give you an example. There is a rural transportation director 
in Elko County who is over 200 miles from large cities, so 
their operation is having to serve as the focal provider for a 
large county and region, which includes mining operations. They 
also serve as the coordinator or facilitator for the whole 
region, I think, Ms. Cline, like you talked about in your 
experiences.
    One additional specific challenge that I see in our rural 
communities, and I hear it all the time, is in inner-city 
transportation opportunities. How do we get folks not only 
around town but from town to town, or to essential services 
like the VA? These rural communities I am talking about are 
along our Interstate 80 corridor. The AMTRAK service is too 
infrequent for our needs, and bus operators have pulled out of 
this stretch of the I-80 corridor.
    Elko is one of the places that I am thinking about with my 
bipartisan More DOT Grants Act, and that is to level the 
playing field for Federal grant funding to help counties and 
communities like those in Nevada who have more than 50 percent 
of their land managed by the Federal Government, and less than 
100,000 population. Every community deserves quality transit 
and transportation services that build connections to their 
opportunities and provides essential mobility.
    My question for the panelists, and this is what I hear in 
my communities as well, I'm curious how you address this, or if 
you would, please, for me. Would you agree that fundamentally 
we need flexibility in how local communities can use Federal 
transit dollars to allow for their individual States' unique 
rural needs, which may be different than rural communities in 
other parts of the country? And maybe, Mr. Nurmi, let me start 
with you.
    Mr. Nurmi. Thank you. Yeah, actually I would agree with the 
need for flexibility for funding. So the way that we structure 
our transit system is we have 10 separate counties, but each 
county is operated as its own individual entity, and then we 
work on connecting those counties together. So each county has 
its own transit advisory committee, and then we address the 
needs of each one of those individual counties through the 
management and the administrative staff in those areas.
    One county, while we do have an overall service design in 
which the way that we deliver services for the most part, we 
always try and make sure that the needs of the individual 
communities are the needs that we are addressing. So I would 
definitely agree that flexibility for exactly what is needed 
for those particular areas is a vital part of what we can do to 
most help the community members that we serve.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you. And Ms. Cline, 
flexibility. How has that, or would that help you as well, in 
unique needs that you see?
    Ms. Cline. For many of our communities we have very lengthy 
trips, regional trips if you will, between medical locations 
for folks. Our major specialty corridor for doctors is in Rapid 
City, which is 50 miles just from Spearfish. From all the other 
communities it can be 100 to 150 miles. So some of the 
flexibility that we have there would be very helpful in how 
those trips are determined.
    We do some vanpools, for instance, with our National Guard. 
They have vehicles located at different garages and use those 
to get to a single location. So they are utilizing resources 
that we have, we are training their drivers, those kinds of 
things.
    So I think it is creativity, how we can work making other 
partners aware of what we are able to do, and being willing to 
be part of that opportunity to make change.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you. I know my time is running 
out. Madam Chair, I do not want to leave Ms. McGeady out if she 
has any comments to this as well that she would like to share.
    Ms. McGeady. Thank you. I think that this is a good point 
to make about regional coordination. One of the things that we 
do here at Pelivan Transit is we have created a regional on-
demand transportation system that includes providers from four 
different agencies crossing county lines, and this enables us 
to--a few years ago we saw several of our local community 
hospitals close in Oklahoma, and that really prompted a need 
for regional coordination as medical facilities moved out of 
our small communities and into the metro area.
    So I think that this is a good spot for regional 
coordination amongst different transit providers and social 
services agencies, hospitals, and things like that, to help 
meet the needs of these long-distance trips.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you so much. Thank you to all 
the panelists.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Senator Cortez Masto. And I 
am very glad--let me just double check. We alternated between 
Democrats and Republicans. I am not sure if we have any--if 
Senator Scott is on. If not, I will go to Senator Warnock, who 
has joined us. Greetings, Senator Warnock.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you so much, Chair Smith. Public 
transportation, whether in Taylor County, Georgia, or New York 
City, connects people to their jobs, their schools, families, 
grocery stores, health care, and so much more. Georgia's 80 
rural transit systems serve 95 counties out of our 159 
counties, and are a lifeline for many low-income and elderly 
residents, as well as veterans who live in real areas. These 
transit operators, like the three of you testifying today, do 
their best to serve their communities and get people where they 
need to do. But limited service, 5 days a week, is not enough 
for many families in rural areas without a car or 
transportation options.
    This question is for all of you or any of you. Is the 
Federal Government providing enough funding for rural transit?
    Ms. Cline. Well, I don't mean to keep going first but I 
know the timeclock is clicking. I don't believe there is enough 
Federal investment if transit systems are willing and able to 
expand into those additional days of service. Most of us 
operate within the budgets that we have. We do just as much as 
we can with what we have. But usually it is drawn short with 
expanding in the smaller communities, in particular, for those 
additional days of service.
    Veterans, what I would like to say is we have a highly 
rural transportation grant geared specifically to counties in 
South Dakota that are highly rural, and we are able to provide 
transportation for those veterans without a cost to them. We 
are very happy with that, very proud of what we do. But we have 
been able to expand that into Memorandums of Agreement with six 
different agencies in Wyoming, so they are also able to help 
our veterans.
    But your original question, I think, was more the expansion 
to the Saturday-Sunday service. Bigger communities can probably 
do that in rural communities. Smaller communities are 
challenged just to find enough staff to operate Monday through 
Friday, and sometimes it is only 3 days a week or 2 days a 
week.
    Senator Warnock. Let me shift, unless someone else wants to 
address that question. Let me shift to another topic. I know 
that there is not just one type of cost when it comes to 
running a transit agency. There are capital costs like buses, 
operating costs like salaries, fuel, planning costs. Are we 
providing right now the right mix of funding and making that 
funding accessible, and what would it mean for you to have more 
access to more operating funds, if that is what you think we 
need, especially if we lowered the non-Federal match?
    Ms. McGeady. Senator, I will take that, if that is all 
right. I think that flexibility in operating would be a game-
changer for rural transit systems. Moving to an 80-20 match 
would be incredibly helpful, and I think that some of the 
things that we have done with our PICK Transportation project 
here is utilizing funds to increase hours of service, back to 
your former question, and we have seen great adoption with 
that. But I think that flexibility in funding is incredibly 
important. I know that it used to be even an 85-15 match, and 
if we could see that I think the ability to expand and invest 
and reinvigorate our systems and keep up with changing times 
and technologies and move forward into the green age, 
flexibility is going to be key to that.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you so much. I thank you for your 
response. Rural areas deserve public transit as well, and while 
there are fewer people there is often more ground to cover, and 
we have got to make sure that people are connected. And I often 
say physical mobility is connected to social mobility, economic 
mobility, and so we have got to provide more funding and we 
have got to lower the barrier, which is why I support Chair 
Smith's and Ranking Member Rounds' Investment in Rural Transit 
Act, and I hope we can borrow a page from that as we 
reauthorize service transportation programs. Thank you so much.
    Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Warnock. Let me just--I 
think that Senator Ossoff is joining us. Fantastic. Senator 
Ossoff, your timing is impeccable, and I will turn to you next, 
unless we have--I want to double check we don't have a 
Republican who is waiting to ask. Very good. I think not. Go 
ahead, Senator Ossoff. Thank you.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank 
you to our panelists for joining us today to discuss this 
important issue and opportunities to invest in rural transit. I 
would like to direct my first question please to Ms. McGeady. 
Ms. McGeady, as you know, today 100 transit agencies and 
municipal governments are using on-demand public transit in at 
least 35 States, and increasingly these agencies are turning to 
microtransit services to improve the customer experience, 
eliminating the multiday, reserve-in-advance requirements, 
reducing wait times, and improving service with app-driven 
customer feedback.
    In Georgia, for example, the cities of Gainesville and 
Valdosta have leveraged microtransit technologies, often 
through public-private partnerships, to improve service to 
their communities. In Gainesville, they are expanding their 
service now, and the Director of Transit in Gainesville has 
described microtransit as a game-changer. In Valdosta, Georgia, 
since the launch of their Valdosta On Demand service in April, 
they are already seeing daily ridership numbers as high as 300 
per day. And I understand that you have worked, in your 
official capacity, Ms. McGeady, with a Georgia-based company, 
Routematch, in Oklahoma.
    So my question for you, please, is, in what ways have 
microtransit partnerships improved rural transit in your State 
and across the country, and what lessons do you think we can 
apply in Georgia and elsewhere as we build this infrastructure 
legislation in the Senate?
    Ms. McGeady. Well, thank you, Senator. I think that 
microtransit can meet the needs of systems of all sizes and 
States. For example, rural and Tribal facilities, we do an 
advanced booking environment, as you know, and this provides a 
more spontaneous travel option for individuals and meets the 
immediate needs of ridership.
    Oftentimes I like to liken it to a mother who is transit 
dependent who has a child with a fever or is injured, and they 
have an immediate need that needs to be met. They do not have 
time to book a trip 3 days in advance to get to urgent care, or 
even to get a carton of milk, if they are trying to make dinner 
and they need that. So I think that it provides a much-needed, 
immediate response to ridership needs.
    Advanced booking environments do not do that. With a 3-day 
limitation and limited resources, and particularly after COVID-
19 we have seen these things fall short in many areas. Our 
system, PICK Transportation, which is what we formed with our 
partner, Uber, already we have created a regional, on-demand 
transportation system with this on-demand technology, and I 
have seen systems--we are rural and Tribal providers, and one 
of the things that I think happens is that directors get 
oftentimes afraid of moving forward in technology due to rider 
adoption and driver adoption. You have to be considerate of the 
fact that so many of these people are pen and paper. But I have 
watched these transit systems jump from pen and paper to on-
demand during COVID-19, and it has been amazing.
    The immediate need, though, I think, is what microtransit 
really serves, and not only in rural systems but in urban 
systems as well. It can meet the first and last mile challenge 
on a statewide level.
    So all of these things, I believe, can be duplicated in 
other areas, creating regional partnerships, finding partners 
with technology providers, and again, I just think that it 
provides a more flexible, spontaneous system for individuals 
who do not have time to take off work. It costs money to take 
off work to get to where you need to go, and that is why I also 
believe in afterhours flexible service. But I think that 
microtransit, the most important thing that they do is provide 
spontaneity and immediate need for ridership.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ms. McGeady.
    Mr. Nurmi, it is, of course, well understood that in order 
to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions we need to 
transition rapidly to lower-emission and no-emission vehicles. 
Urban transit systems in Macon, Georgia and Chatham County, 
Georgia, are already making strides toward electrification. The 
University of Georgia, in fact, also boasts the largest 
electric fleet of vehicles of any public university in the 
country. And we want to achieve the same results and 
opportunities for rural transit and microtransit.
    Can you please reflect on your experience electrifying the 
Dial-A-Ride service in you Minnesota, and how we might benefit 
from your experience and apply those lessons in Georgia?
    Mr. Nurmi. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So we have recently 
gotten a grant through the Minnesota Department of 
Transportation for clean energy. What that is going to do is it 
is allowing us to purchase two Class 400 electric buses so that 
we can test them in the extreme north climate area and get a 
good feel for exactly how we can apply those inside a 
controlled Dial-A-Ride service area.
    It is our hope that if it is successful and we are able to 
tackle those challenges that we will be moving our entire Dial-
A-Ride fleet over to electric buses by 2040.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Nurmi. Thank you, Madam 
Chair.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much, and we will turn now to 
Senator Lummis.
    Senator Lummis. I don't think so. OK, am I on?
    Chair Smith. You are on. You are good.
    Senator Lummis. Thanks so much, Chairman Smith and Ranking 
Member Rounds. I really appreciate you doing this hearing. It 
is an important subject, so we can highlight the transit needs 
for rural America in addition to urban America.
    You know, transit is almost always thought of as an urban 
issue, but small bus operations and on-demand transit 
operations play key roles in connecting low-income citizens in 
rural communities too. And so I want to focus my questions 
today on making sure Congress does not lose sight of how 
transit can work in rural areas as we work on an infrastructure 
bill.
    So I would like to ask any of the witnesses, I have heard 
that Bus Formula program may not be providing the type of 
support that rural areas need. Not only has this program been 
deprioritized by Congress, compared to other FTA programs, but 
I have heard that the level of support being provided to rural 
areas is insufficient to meet the needs of the transit agencies 
that operate in rural areas.
    So what have your experiences been with the Bus Formula 
program?
    Mr. Nurmi. Hi. This is Brandon. I will take that one. So 
our experiences with the Bus Formula program have actually been 
that most of our rural transit agencies have an aging fleet, so 
the amount of buses that are available statewide, under the 
current funding, are not meeting the needs of even the existing 
fleets that we have, let alone any expansions into further 
routes for any of our rural transit systems here.
    We have that recent Federal grant, which Minnesota was a 
beneficiary of, which has definitely helped to get us caught 
back up, but that is just one-time burst funding and is not 
sustainable over the long term.
    So, in short, I would say that Bus Formula grant has to be 
rethought or reinvested in so that our transit systems do not 
become aging rattletraps, so to speak, of unsafe 
transportation.
    Senator Lummis. So is the rural set-aside for the 
competitive bus grants adequate, and how impactful would it be 
if Congress required a higher percentage of competitive grants 
being set aside for rural areas in this program?
    Mr. Nurmi. I want to be careful what I say here. It would 
be outstanding if we were able to set aside more money for 
buses. That said, it would be not beneficial if it was at the 
expense of other programs. So it is just as important that we 
invest in technology and operations in the other parts of rural 
transportation. So I would definitely say more investment in 
vans and in buses and in the opportunities for those would be 
beneficial, but not at the cost of other portions of the 
transit needs.
    Senator Lummis. So similar to the Bus Formula program, 
Congress has also deprioritized the Rural Area Formula program. 
Can any of you talk about why this program is important in your 
daily operations?
    Ms. Cline. Senator Lummis, I am Barb Cline from your 
neighboring South Dakota. For us, absolutely. Additional 
funding, even a lower match so people could update fleets and 
so forth, would be very beneficial. For the six agencies that 
we are working with in Wyoming, I know that they are dealing 
with fleet sizes that need to be updated, and, in fact, we have 
a Memorandum of Agreement with them where they are providing 
veteran transportation free of charge through a Federal grant 
that are a sub-recipient of.
    So more is better. Less match would be great.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you, Ms. Cline. Would you support 
Congress prioritizing the Rural Area Formula program in this 
reauthorization, giving you the resources your organizations 
need? I know you got resources during the COVID pandemic, but 
after COVID resources are gone, the challenges that you all 
face running a transit agency in a rural area will still 
remain. So how do you respond to that?
    Ms. Cline. Higher is better. You know the more funding that 
we can get, we can do some of the things that Senator Warnock 
was talking about--expanding yours, expanding days of service. 
You know, people cannot do everything they need to do Monday 
through Friday, so I believe that you would have full support 
in rural transportation, and increasing that would be very 
appreciated.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you so much. I want to thank the 
witnesses and the leadership of the Committee, and I yield 
back.
    Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Senator Lummis.
    Senator Rounds, I want to just turn to you. We have, I 
think--oh, I see Senator Tester. I am not sure if Senator 
Tester has a question?
    [No response.]
    Chair Smith. Not sure. Well, Senator Rounds, let me turn to 
you. Do you have any additional questions for our witnesses 
today?
    Senator Rounds. Madam Chair, thank you. I really 
appreciated the participation of all of our Members, and I know 
that we are in the middle of five more votes yet. And so at 
this point I just thank everyone there for my closing comments, 
and I will leave it up to you as to how much further you want 
to go with this. But I just appreciate everybody's 
participation this afternoon.
    Chair Smith. Thank you. Thank you so much, Senator Rounds. 
I will wrap up in just a minute.
    I just want to follow up with one additional question, 
which I am going to direct to Ms. McGeady, because I want to 
just ask you about the Tribal Transit Program before we wrap 
up. I know that Tribes in Minnesota have valued this program. 
They have used this to purchase buses and renovate maintenance 
facilities and provide medical transportation and so forth. Of 
course, this benefits not only Tribes but also communities 
surrounding Tribes. Could you just talk briefly about your 
experience with this and how tribally operated transit supports 
Tribal members and the community around Tribal nations?
    Ms. McGeady. Absolutely. Thank you, Senator. Tribal 
operations are very unique, as you know. One of the reasons 
that I think that we provide them their direct funding is that 
we respect and recognize their sovereignty. But again, very 
unique, oftentimes compared to small systems because they are 
small, nimble fleets, much like ours. But the services that 
they provide are different than what we do as a public transit 
provider. Their ridership fees are different. They go to 
different medical facilities. They often work in tribally owned 
and operated places of business. Again, they go to medical 
facilities which are owned and operated by the Tribe.
    So I think that they meet a need within their nation in a 
way that only they can. However, they also provide an enhanced 
system to the public transit system, as all of their operations 
are open to the public. Therefore, they meet the needs of 
general public riders who reside within the nations that they 
serve. So I think that they are vital to public transit in our 
great nation here.
    Chair Smith. Thank you. Thank you so much.
    Well, I want to close now by just thanking all of our 
panelists for your excellent testimony. I think that you have 
collectively made a strong case for the value of rural transit. 
You have helped to shift that perception that transit only 
works and is only relevant in the cities, when, of course, that 
is so clearly not the case.
    I think you have also shown the innovation and creativity 
that you have deployed, not just during the COVID pandemic but 
throughout all of your experience running small, regional 
transit systems and rural transit systems. Though I have to 
say, some of you are running transit systems in areas that are 
as big as, or bigger than some States, so it seems like a 
misnomer to call them small.
    I also heard, loud and clear, as I suspect Senator Rounds 
did, the importance of investment in this area, and not taking 
investment from one area to fund another, but to have a 
balanced investment portfolio. And I am grateful also for the 
support I think we have heard, Senator Rounds, for our bill, 
the Investments in Rural Transit Act, and how important that 
100 percent Federal contribution is to really allow rural 
transit systems to operate and do the work that they need to 
do.
    So I am very grateful for all of you. Thank you so much to 
all of the Senators who participated today, most especially my 
Ranking Member, Senator Rounds. For Senators who wish to submit 
questions for the record, those questions are due 1 week from 
today, which will be Tuesday, June 15th. For our witnesses, you 
will have 45 days to respond to any questions for the record. 
And thank you again.
    With that this hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 3:51 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
    [Prepared statements and responses to written questions 
supplied for the record follow:]
                  PREPARED STATEMENT OF BRANDON NURMI
 Assistant Director, Arrowhead Transit, Arrowhead Economic Opportunity 
                      Agency, Virginia, Minnesota
                              June 8, 2021
    Thank you, Chairwoman Smith, Ranking Member staff, and 
distinguished Members of the Committee.
    My name is Brandon Nurmi, I am an Assistant Director for Arrowhead 
Transit. Arrowhead Transit is the transportation department for a 
larger Community Action Program located in northeastern Minnesota named 
Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency or AEOA. Our transportation 
program began in 1974 as a program for senior and disabled 
transportation under an Area Agency on Aging grant and has expanded 
over the last 47 years to a full rural public transit agency covering 
24,470 square miles across 10 counties. This is about the same size as 
the State of West Virginia. We operate 184 routes of varying frequency 
including 19 different Dial-A-Ride service areas utilizing 127 buses 
and over 150 employees including dispatchers, mechanics, and 
administrative staff.
    By providing safe, affordable, and reliable transportation to our 
rural communities many of our passengers have access to services that 
they may not have otherwise had. Our aging population, disabled 
community, and low-income households have additional transportation 
options for accessing things like, medical appointments, employment, 
shopping, and social events where transportation is regularly cited as 
a major barrier.
    Arrowhead Transit has been working hard with Minnesota's Office of 
Transit and Active Transportation (OTAT) to identify and address any 
transportation needs in our area and are involved with two of our 
Regional Transportation Coordinating Councils (RTCCs) to collaborate 
with other transportation providers and community partners to explore 
new ways to bridge the transportation gaps that still exist in the 
rural and deep rural areas of the State. OTAT has also been working 
with all the State's transportation providers to start building 
connections between the different systems, in hope of eventually 
connecting all Minnesotans to the transportation currently available in 
other areas.
    Arrowhead Transit was also awarded a grant under the FTA's 
Innovative Mobility Integration program (IMI) to work on developing a 
rural transportation program utilizing local transportation options and 
volunteer drivers to provide first and last mile access to existing 
transportation services for people outside the transit service areas 
utilizing technology for trip planning and integrated payment for the 
whole trip. It is our hope that, if successful, we would be able to 
utilize this program in additional rural areas across the State.
    During the COVID pandemic, Arrowhead Transit, with the support of 
OTAT, was able to provide free rides to COVID testing sites, provide 
additional transportation to support pop up sites, and offer free 
vaccine transportation inside our service areas. We also partnered with 
Scenic Rivers Health to offer cost free vaccine transportation options 
to deep rural areas around their Eveleth clinic with appointment blocks 
reserved just for passengers that wanted to utilize the service.
    AEOA's largest community contribution during the pandemic came from 
food and meal delivery. AEOA received nearly weekly shipments of fresh 
produce, proteins, and dairy products from May of 2020 through May of 
2021 through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Over that time 
period we served 95,165 individuals in 35,499 household with over 2.1 
million pounds of food by collaborating with over 80 community partners 
across our service area. We were able to accomplish a large portion of 
this by utilizing the transit buses for food delivery to multiple rural 
distribution sites being run by other programs and agencies. To date, 
Arrowhead Transit buses delivered 37,805 boxes, school lunch meals, 
food shelf deliveries, and 1-day and 7-day shelf stable meal kits 
during the Peacetime Emergency.
    The overall theme in all of our efforts is working towards 
providing access to transportation in as many areas as we can. Access 
to services, access to employment, access to social events, access to 
transportation. One of the largest barriers we face in rural 
transportation is the ability to provide access to rural and deep rural 
areas that would not meet classic passenger metrics used to evaluate 
the value of a route. We have tried to address this by offering routes 
based on a minimum passenger basis. If we have x number of passengers 
that request to use the route on the books, then we will send it. While 
this provides the basic access to the route, it requires passengers to 
recruit their own riders to ensure that the route meets the minimum 
passenger requirement and removes the ``reliability'' of the 
transportation. If you know the route is always going, then you can 
schedule appointments or plan your trip based on the route's 
availability. Allotting greater weight to a route that provides access 
without having to worry as much about the classic metric of passengers 
per hour would be one way that rural transit providers could address 
these gaps. I believe that sometimes the need for a route is not 
necessarily that there will be a lot of people that will be riding it.
    To close out, I would like to share a story about a couple in the 
Ely, Minnesota, that experienced their own issue with transportation 
gap coverage. We operate a Dial-A-Ride in Ely Monday through Friday 
with specific boundaries. I had multiple phone conversations with the 
wife that was trying to arrange transportation for her disabled husband 
to attend his annual medical appointments. Their home was outside our 
service area so we normally would not be able to provide transportation 
for them, but the issue she was facing was that the private carriers 
also could not provide the transportation they needed due to the trip 
to the clinic not being cost effective for the private carriers due to 
the distance they would have to travel to pick them up and the relative 
shortness of the trip. Identifying transportation options for her 
husband was more complicated for her because he required the use of a 
wheelchair for his mobility. This meant that there were only a few 
services that had the ability to accommodate their transportation 
needs. After several conversations with her, she was able to arrange 
for his doctor's appointments to be scheduled on one day, and we 
diverted our bus to pick them up and bring them home after his 
appointments, which is a service we now provide to them annually. 
Unfortunately, most of these types of requests cannot be resolved in 
this way. In many situations people are forced to move from their homes 
to allow access transit services or pay much higher rates for 
specialized transportation from private companies.
    This is just one example where improved access could help those in 
rural and deep rural areas, especially those with special 
transportation needs, and a greater emphasis on access to 
transportation or specialized routes designed just to improve access to 
transportation would be immensely helpful for filling some of the gaps 
in rural transportation.
                                 ______
                                 
                  PREPARED STATEMENT OF KENDRA MCGEADY
       Director of Transit, Pelivan Transit, Big Cabin, Oklahoma
                              June 8, 2021
    Subcommittee Chair Smith, Ranking Member Rounds, and Members of the 
Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community 
Development, good afternoon. My name is Kendra McGeady and I am the 
Director of Transit for Pelivan Transit and the Northeastern Tribal 
Transit Consortium located in northeast Oklahoma. I am thankful to have 
the opportunity to discuss rural and tribal transit, the challenges we 
face and our opportunities to assist in better meeting the needs of our 
riders.
    Pelivan Transit has been in operation for 35 years. We provide on-
demand and demand response transit services to seven counties, covering 
4,466 square miles with a fleet of 61 vehicles, including minivans, 
commutes, and cutaway with seating for 4 to 12 passengers. Of those 
vehicles, more than half are past their useful life but are mechanics 
do an excellent job of maintaining our fleet and keeping them on the 
road. We serve a population of more than 257,000. Our operation is 
housed in Big Cabin, and includes a full service maintenance facility 
and one call/one click mobility management center from which we 
dispatch all of our operations. We travel approximately 882,000 revenue 
miles a year, completing 149,000 trips to health care, social service, 
employment, education, shopping, and other life necessity appointments 
for our most vulnerable populations including elderly and disabled 
persons.
    As a rural transit provider, we encounter obstacles daily due to a 
lack of adequate funding, diminished staff, aging fleets, as well as 
infrastructure issues such as under maintained roadways and 
insufficient broadband. The most difficult obstacle remains securing 
local match, which is required of all 5311 operators.
    The upcoming reauthorization of the FAST Act will provide an 
opportunity to develop solutions to many of the challenges we 
experience. Adjusting our ability to sell vehicles after their useful 
life would allow Section 5311 and 5310 recipients to sell capital 
assets at market value and provide the opportunity to increase local 
match money and reinvest in our systems. Local match has always been an 
issue and in a postpandemic world has become an even bigger challenge 
as communities face revenue shortfalls as a result of economic slumps 
associated with COVID. I very much appreciate the leadership of 
Senators Smith and Rounds with their cosponsored Investments in Rural 
Transit Act of 2021, which seeks to increase local share flexibility 
for systems like Pelivan.
    In an effort to manage some of the above issues, we implemented 
successful and innovative partnerships with our fellow transit agencies 
to provide more accessible and equitable transportation to the 
residents of Oklahoma including veteran-specific programs and a 
regional on-demand afterhours ADA service funded through USDOT 
competitive grant programs.
    The competitive grants offered by the DOT are vital to rural and 
small city operators who wish to offer mobility options to the 
communities they serve but are often out of reach due to larger, better 
financed operations being included in the same applicant pool.
    Rural transit operators like Pelivan are not simply scaled down 
versions of transit operations in major cities. The geography and 
demographics in rural America have forced many rural operations to 
think regionally as employment, health care, retail, and educational 
opportunities take a similar approach. The result of this is increasing 
miles for every trip, hence the need for safe, reliable capital to 
transport.
    Rural providers follow strict safety protocols as regulated by 
Federal requirements and our State DOT's which enforce maintaining a 
state of good repair for all capital assets. National safety records of 
rural providers, demonstrate these measures are effective. The 
Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), of which I am a 
board member, regularly collects data that confirms the effectiveness 
of these measures.
    Located in the heart of Indian Country, Pelivan Transit provides 
contracted transit services to the Cherokee Nation, and Northeast 
Tribal Transit Consortium consisting of the nine tribes of Ottawa 
County. Tribal ridership in a normal fiscal year is just over 47,000 
completed trips serving a population of over 196,000. Commuter routes 
have been established providing transportation to and from native-owned 
and operated places of employment and medical facilities.
    We hope that we can convey to you today our experiences, both good 
and bad, and share ideas of how we might form a more efficient, 
equitable public transit system for individuals residing in rural 
America. I thank each of you again for the opportunity and for your 
interest in the current state and future of rural and tribal transit.
Rural Transit and the COVID-19 Pandemic
    The past year of operations have been far different than anything 
we have seen before, with no shortage of challenges. Without the 
assistance of the $2.8 million in CARES Act funds we would not have 
survived the pandemic and its crushing loss of ridership, contractual 
services and local match. CARES Act funds and the zero match 
requirement were lifesaving, allowing us to maintain effective, 
reliable services for those 100 percent transit dependent individuals 
who continued to need transportation. The ability to move operational 
and administrative dollars around freely without the usual restrictions 
ensured the survival of hundreds of systems across the Nation. During 
the pandemic, we saw our ridership drop by 68 percent. Today, as our 
State's reopening is well underway, we have seen a steady increase in 
our ridership due to the essential nature of our trips.
    Continued flexibility in funding would hugely benefit rural 
operators. While we understand that 100 percent reimbursable funding on 
a yearly basis may be out of reach, there are ways to ease these 
chronic operational burdens. For example, agencies often struggle to 
meet the 50 percent match required for operational expenditures. 
Lowering the match ratio to the same 20 percent required for capital 
expenditures could make a life-saving difference to smaller transit 
agencies.
    Of the $2.8 million in CARES Act funds received by Pelivan, we have 
utilized just under half maintaining operations and salaries over the 
past year. Rural transit operators have had to be thoughtful in their 
evaluation of how to best stretch the dollars to reduce the local match 
requirement. As the COVID pandemic has put unforeseen fiscal stress on 
the communities we serve, rural providers understand that an increase 
in contractual funding with our communities is unlikely in the next 3 
years. Thus we have to very carefully decide the best use of our 
multiple funding streams as move toward a still uncertain future.
    At Pelivan, we have chosen to alternate between CARES Act and our 
normal Section 5311 reimbursements on a quarterly basis. This will 
allow us to reduce our yearly local match obligation by 50 percent 
while we allow our communities enough time to recover, thus enabling us 
to survive on the local match we collect at the prepandemic level. This 
process will allow us the time to plan and invest in our sustainable 
futures and find ways in which to efficiently meet the urgent needs of 
our riders. The implementation of innovative services and technologies 
during the next 3 years will assist our community's commitment to 
providing the local match we rely on and boost the transit services we 
provide making them more flexible and attractive to communities.
Partnerships Are Vital
    The relationship between rural and tribal providers and the 
communities we serve runs far deeper than many realize.
    Rural systems work closely with critical care treatment providers 
often beginning pick-ups as early as 3:30 a.m., hours before our 
official service hours begin. Dialysis clinics work closely with 
providers to craft schedules for patients. For an average rural system, 
State Medicaid programs can count for up to 50 percent of all completed 
trips and provide up to 90 percent of their local match.
    We form critical partnerships with local and metro hospitals 
providing small, underserved communities with access to the metro areas 
and the treatment offered.
    With service areas spanning thousands of miles, lack of adequate 
funding and a need for innovative services, Pelivan has spent the past 
few years forming meaningful, regional partnerships with our bordering 
transit agencies in an effort to better meet the needs of our riders.
    For example, the Veterans Ride Connect project is a consortium of 
six rural and tribal providers who partnered to 10 years ago to secure 
funding to establish a one call/one click mobility center to book trips 
through a central location to provide veteran trips across 29 counties 
covering 23,000 square miles. Veterans, together with senior citizens, 
developmentally disabled and those living below the poverty line, are 
considered our most vulnerable demographics. We determined that working 
regionally was the solution to this problem. With pooled resources, the 
providers successfully applied for over one million dollars in grants 
to secure the scheduling software needed to establish the call center. 
Since 2016, the VRC has successfully completed 72,000 discounted trips 
to veterans in need of nonemergency, critical care and nutritional 
needs. The next step for the VRC is incorporate mental health services 
into the allowable trips.
    Since 2019, Jack C. Montgomery Veterans Hospital has paid for 
$27,000 worth of nonemergency medical trips as part of the project.
    In an effort to offer more accessible, inclusive and spontaneous 
service, we created the PICK Transportation project which launched last 
week. Four providers focused on a collective need--in this case more 
flexibility in scheduling and additional service hours--and pooled our 
resources and applied for a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant 
through the USDOT. Amongst competition from larger systems, we were 
delighted to hear that we had been fully funded receiving $1.5 million 
in Federal investment to implement the Nation's first regional on-
demand rural on-demand transportation system.
    While innovative and forward thinking, this project was a necessity 
as securing the local match from rural systems on a project this size 
is far more challenging than that for major city systems, our 
competition for many of the Federal grant opportunities.
    The competitive grants offered by the DOT are vital to rural and 
small city operators who wish to offer mobility options to the 
communities they serve but are often times out of reach due to larger, 
better financed, better staffed operations being included in the same 
applicant pool. The PICK grant took myself and our team more than a 
year to write as we have no staff dedicated to seeking out and making 
application for competitive and discretionary grants. As transit 
directors, this responsibility falls on us--in addition to operating 
our daily systems.
    Working together with our global technology partner, Routematch by 
UBER, PICK Transportation created an afterhours, on-demand transit 
system that operates in a 22,000 square mile area, covering 21 rural 
communities across eastern Oklahoma. The 41 vehicle fleet is fully 
compliant with American with Disabilities Act, and is the only curb-to-
curb, afterhours rural public transit system in the Nation offering 
service to nonambulatory persons. This project effectively offers 
individuals with ambulatory needs the time flexible ability to travel 
to and from their homes. They no longer need to schedule all of their 
medical appointments, trips to the grocery store or social outings 3 
days in advance or before last call at 3:30 p.m. The on-demand system 
allows for more personal control over the scheduling of their own life 
needs and fosters self-confidence and dignity among a vulnerable 
population.
    The PICK project in just a week's time has already secured 
partnerships with local hospitals to meet afterhours discharge need, 
flexibility in MRI and CSCAN scheduling and allowing for family and 
friends to visit patients without taking time off work.
    These projects are good examples of coordination, and are scalable 
to fit the needs of both larger and smaller service areas. Innovative 
partnerships and services can easily be born in rural and tribal 
transit and spread throughout larger systems. Innovative services do 
not need to be owned by large systems.
    In additional to the above mentioned partnerships, we also work 
closely with farmer's markets, health fairs and nutritional programs 
that help support healthy individuals.
The Day-to-Day Rural Transit Reality
    Employment routes are a large piece of the Pelivan operation. 
Partnering with Grand Lake Mental Health, we transport individuals who 
utilize the services to and from appointments including counseling, 
medical, and nutrition providing an estimated 70,000 trips per year to 
this project. Since COVID struck, this operation has been suspended 
causing a significant loss in contractual revenue for Pelivan. Without 
the assistance of the CARES Act funds, our very existence would thus 
have been threatened.
    Pelivan Transit partners with Home of Hope, Inc., a nonprofit that 
provides services to adults with disabilities, transporting 72 clients 
to and from jobs through employment routes established in three 
communities. Since it's implementation, more than 37 adults with 
disabilities have been able to secure and maintain gainful employment. 
After more than a year on hiatus I am proud to say these routes resumed 
operations last week.
    Rural providers are often part of the corrections reintegration 
process, as well. Pelivan partners with the Oklahoma Department of 
Corrections transporting medium security inmates who have achieved 
trustee status to and from their places of employment prior to their 
release. Currently we transport nearly 200 inmates to and from 
employment 5 days a week.
    In an economy desperate to rebuild, rural providers can be 
instrumental in transporting a rural workforce to urban employment 
opportunities.
    The same is true for tribal or 5311c operations. We understand the 
need for reliable transportation for tribal citizens, in particular 
tribal elders, many of whom are hindered by poverty and in dire need of 
transport to quality of life appointments, whether it be critical care 
treatment or an unexpected trip to the grocery store so often out of 
reach for certain demographics.
    As a transit provider for the Cherokee Nation, we have created 
commuter routes which run through four communities, three times a day, 
connecting with partnering transit agencies who also serve the Cherokee 
Nation dropping off at tribally owned medical facilities and places of 
employment. Once again the regional approach taken by the tribal 
providers in our area has created an affordable, reliable, and safe 
option for those in need of transportation.
    The Northeast Oklahoma Tribal Transit Consortium includes Eastern 
Shawnee, Miami, Modoc, Ottawa, Peoria, Quapaw, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, 
and Wyandotte Tribes of Oklahoma. It is a driving economic engine in 
northeast Oklahoma, and is fully integrated into the rural operation.
    The challenges that face rural tribal transit operators are 
different than that of 5311s.
    With less restrictive requirements for direct recipients, all 
Federal dollars are 100 percent reimbursable. However, there is no 
avenue for capital replacement or enhancement specific to 5311c 
operations such as is available to 5311 and 5307 agencies. A designated 
capital pool grant program for tribal operations would elevate the 
depletion of Federal dollars that must be used for capital needs. 
Equitable access to FTA funding programs would assist in providing 
safe, reliable transit to tribal citizens.
    In closing, I hope that I have conveyed to you today the essential 
nature of rural and tribal transit. I thank you again for the 
opportunity and for your interest in the work we do to provide a better 
quality of life to those we serve.
                                 ______
                                 
                  PREPARED STATEMENT OF BARBARA CLINE
   Executive Director, Prairie Hills Transit, Prairie Hills Transit, 
                        Spearfish, South Dakota
                              June 8, 2021
    Subcommittee Chair Smith, Ranking Subcommittee Member Rounds, and 
Members of the Subcommittee and full Committee, My name is Barb Cline 
and I have been the Executive Director of Prairie Hills Transit for all 
of its 31 years. Prairie Hills Transit began service using the old 
green van in the back parking lot as a half-day transportation service 
for older adults in the Spearfish community.
    I would like to sincerely thank you for supporting community and 
public transit in rural America, and for holding this important 
hearing. The challenges of providing transportation in rural and small-
urban communities are unique and we rely on the support of this 
Subcommittee to assist us in this important mission.
    Today, Prairie Hills Transit operates in a 16,500 square-mile area 
of western South Dakota bordering the States of Nebraska, North Dakota, 
and Wyoming. Using 50 vehicles, our staff of 65 provide public 
transportation that includes nonemergency medical transportation in 
nine counties and 15 small communities that vary is size from rural to 
frontier. Comparatively our ridership fell from 125,294 in 2019 to 
67,333 in 2020. Our operation is funded through Section 5311 and relies 
heavily on city, county, and the State for local share. I would urge 
you to look closely at local share flexibility for rural transit 
systems--something I know Senators Smith and Rounds have committed to 
with their cosponsored Investments in Rural Transit Act of 2021.
    An important factor for any rural transit system is adequate 
capital investment. When the useful life and age of our vehicles 
require replacement we are consistently looking at our inventory to 
make certain that our data is ready to apply for Capital and 
Discretionary awards. Approximately 72 percent of revenue vehicles are 
in a State of Good Repair.
    In addition to vehicles, rural transit systems like mine need to 
house their vehicles in garages that help protect them from the extreme 
weather conditions we are subjected to in South Dakota. With our 
expansive service area, we need six buildings that allow us a place to 
clean and store our fleet, with most having a small office area and 
restroom for our drivers. Our main multimodel facility in Spearfish 
serves as a Jefferson Lines intercity bus depot, serves as our primary 
one-call center, houses a full maintenance shop, administration offices 
and offers a licensed childcare center for 41 children.
    More than anything else, systems like Prairie Hills Transit need 
predictable, sustainable, and increased growth in the FTA Section 5311 
funding in the reauthorization of the FAST Act. The ability and 
flexibility to continue using these Section 5339 funds for capital 
assistance is also imperative. For Prairie Hills Transit our ability to 
use Section 5310 dollars for maintenance and repairs has been of 
significant value and cost savings. Because we have our own mechanic 
and shop we have been able to stretch the dollars we receive even 
further.
    Rural transit systems are all unique, and operate quite differently 
from the traditional public transit operations in our Nation's biggest 
cities. Collectively, we make sure people get to work, to the doctor, 
to childcare, school, dialysis, or even home after being discharged 
from the hospital. This morning I met with the largest regional 
hospital in Western South Dakota to discuss Prairie Hills Transit's 
role in creating successful health care outcomes. At noon, my team met 
to discuss the vital role our drivers and vehicles play in making sure 
veterans living in highly rural counties have access to their health 
care appointments that are sometimes several hundred miles away. This 
afternoon I'll drive 200 miles to meet with an advisory committee who 
wants to begin new service in their community.
    My testimony draws on the significant experience I have in leading 
Prairie Hills Transit, and as the President of the Community 
Transportation Association of America's (CTAA) Board of Directors, 
which provides training, certification, resources and advocates on 
behalf of rural and tribal transit agencies across the Nation. I speak 
today not only for myself and other transit professionals, but most 
importantly for our communities and the residents who rely on our 
services who without us would have no voice. I speak for the dialysis 
patients who remain independent and in their homes because of our 
services. I speak for the mom who was able to get a higher paying job 
to support her family but had no way to get her children from daycare 
to school in the morning or from school to daycare in the afternoon 
without public transportation. I speak for the woman who travels over 
50 miles one way to see her husband of 65 years in a nursing home 
because she can no longer care for him in their home and transportation 
makes that possible.
    I provide my testimony today on the unique challenges of rural 
transit with regard to access to capital, system development in very 
small rural communities, vast distances traveled, and the difficulties 
of leveraging consistent financial support to develop and maintain 
vital transportation services. For many people, rural transit is not a 
choice but rather an inevitable decision made because they have no 
other means to get where they need to go. I'm here because without 
passionate advocacy built on years of experience, public transit in our 
rural areas could easily become lost or pushed aside because it just 
wasn't big enough to worry about.
    This is the third time I have had the privilege of testifying 
before this Committee and I hope each time I've left a footprint of who 
and what public transit means to our rural communities. To help rural 
transit providers continue to innovate and provide services that meet 
the needs of our communities, I'd like to offer five top policy 
priorities for your consideration.

    Increased Section 5339 bus and bus facility investment, 
        with specific set-asides for rural public transit operations, 
        to allow these agencies to replace aging vehicle fleets, tap 
        new zero-emission vehicle technology and build needed transit 
        facilities.

    Increased local share flexibility for rural transit 
        operators

    Right-sized regulations that take into account the size and 
        budgets of smaller operators.

    Consistent growth in Section 5311 funding throughout the 
        life of the FAST Act's successor.

    Consideration for rural transit systems in all of the new 
        programs under review to improve transit efficiency, target 
        services for areas of persistent poverty, provide technical 
        assistance and coordinate public transit with health care.

    From my system's beginning--operating a van 4 hours per day--we 
have become one of the foremost rural systems in the Nation. We 
realized early that transportation most certainly was going to continue 
to grow and that we always wanted to stay a project ahead of doing the 
same thing we'd always done. Our initial funding was for senior 
transportation but it quickly grew to serve the general public because 
of the need and demand. Other communities, local elected officials and 
economic development groups in our expansive service area realized that 
we provide safe, efficient service and wanted to use it. That's the 
basis of the coordinated model that has served so many rural public 
transit systems well.
    To continue to grow and adapt our service at Prairie Hills Transit, 
we have applied for and won many grants to improve our technology, 
equipment safety, and improve local partnerships. For smaller rural 
systems this is often very challenging because of time required to 
develop it, the significant technical knowledge required to complete 
and apply for it and the small staff putting it together between their 
other duties.
    Prairie hills Transit has been a subrecipient of a HRTG (Highly 
Rural Transportation Grant) for several years operating in highly rural 
counties of South Dakota together with our partners at River Cities 
Transit in our State capital of Pierre. Our service provides cost-free 
transportation for Veterans to medical appointments from their homes to 
the appointment location. We have also pursued Memorandum of Agreements 
with six Wyoming agencies to offer their veterans the same opportunity. 
For transit agencies in both States, as well as our veterans, this is 
an amazing service and also allows additional funding from other 
resources to help support public transportation systems providing the 
service.
    Ten years ago, we were approached by Regional Health (now Monument 
Health) with a request to contract with them to provide discharge 
transportation for them from Rapid City to the patient's destination. 
This agreement expanded upon already existing contracts with the 
majority of their other hospitals, nursing homes, assisted livings, and 
medical clinics. This operation has really served to expand health care 
connectivity in much of western South Dakota. Additionally, it has 
served as a way to provide additional services for the many other 
independent hospital and varied health care entities needing 
transportation for residents/patients.
    The past 15 months with the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged rural 
transit operators. Prairie Hills Transit was grateful to receive $2.2 
million from the CARES Act, which we've used to keep our operations 
running and employees paid. We did not let go of a single employee 
during the pandemic, which is really helping us as demand for transit 
ramps back up (we're up to more than 80 percent of pre-COVID levels).
    Prairie Hills Transit, under the guidance of our partners as the 
South Dakota Department of Transportation, has consistently 
consolidated existing transportation systems from communities needing 
additional support. We continue to network with smaller communities as 
service needs are defined and we are able to financially support the 
service. For example, most recently we assumed existing transportation 
in Lemmon, have contracted with the Bennett County Hospital and Nursing 
Home in Martin, and are working toward revitalized service in Edgemont. 
For both Martin and Edgemont, we have applied for grants to help 
through both RTAP and AARP. While we know how to stretch a shoestring 
transit budget, we also know that increased Section 5311 investment 
will be the best way we can truly guarantee continue support to these 
communities who have significant elderly and minority populations. 
Again, it's important to note that even if Section 5311 funds are 
available the local share needed in these smaller communities can be 
very difficult to raise.
    In closing I'd like to take the dollars and cents out of this 
testimony and bring it back to the people--your constituents. Transit 
systems in rural America take challenges and turn them into 
opportunities because we see the value of mobility every single day. It 
might be a medical appointment for a resident who hasn't left her home 
in weeks, it might be the dazzling smile a youngster with Down syndrome 
gives the driver that picks them up for school each day, or it could be 
a driver dropping a lanyard for the tooth fairy off to the child's home 
after his shift is over because he knows how important it is to that 
child (and the tooth fairy). None of us can place a value on these 
trips that public transportation performs every day, but those of us 
who sit in my seat know they are priceless each and every day.
        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CRAPO
                       FROM BRANDON NURMI

Q.1. Do you agree that support for transit in rural States and 
areas is an essential part of the transit portion of surface 
transportation reauthorization, and that we need more 
investment in our rural transit systems?

A.1. I would absolutely agree with that assessment. Public 
transit is a staple for low income, senior, and disabled 
communities to allow access to employment, medical 
appointments, and community inclusion as well as providing the 
bridge between rural communities and the essential services 
that may only be available in urbanized areas.
    Arrowhead Transit currently has a service area that covers 
24,470 sq. miles or 28.1 percent of Minnesota. Of this area we 
are only able to provide consistent service (which I would 
define as service that is reliably available between 1 and 7 
days a week) to approximately 10 percent of that area. Further 
expansion of transportation services will require a greater 
investment in all areas of public transit including 
infrastructure (facilities, maintenance, and rolling stock/
vehicles) technology (dispatching software, communications that 
work in deep rural areas, electronic payment options, etc.) and 
additional service options (new routes). Current services 
provided are already stretched as far out as they can be while 
also maintaining a reasonable level of availability to as many 
passengers as can be accommodated.
    Rural Transit is the backbone for most sustainable 
transportation solutions in any rural area, just as urban 
transit is the backbone for transportation solutions in 
urbanized areas and will need increased investment to support 
new innovative transportation solutions and services, and to 
provide transportation options to the millions of unserved and 
underserved rural community members across the country.
                                ------                                


        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR DAINES
                       FROM BRANDON NURMI

Q.1. Efficient and effective transit programs are critical in 
rural States like Montana--and it's not just subways like 
people see in big cities. Busses and vans are a lifeline for 
folks without cars to get to and from work or for seniors and 
the disabled to get to doctors' appointments or to pharmacies 
to get lifesaving medications.
    Do you agree that an efficient and effective but fiscally 
responsible Federal transit program is critical for rural 
States and communities?

A.1. I would absolutely agree that efficient and effective 
transportation programs are crucial at both the Federal and 
State levels to provide transportation access for as many 
people as possible to the services that so many need, and to 
support community inclusion for those without reliable means of 
transportation. While I believe that all public programs should 
have a high level of fiscal responsibility, I also believe that 
the process should not become more important than the product.

Q.2. One thing I hear constantly when talking with various 
groups is the onerous regulatory and reporting requirements 
from FTA. In some cases, this has resulted in additional staff 
being needed just to deal with meeting these requirement. This 
is obviously burdensome for a rural community that may not have 
the resources needed to bring on additional staff.
    Do you agree that surface transportation reauthorization 
should reduce complexities and onerous requirements so that 
communities are better able to put these dollars to work?

A.2. To touch for a second on the initial question in 
combination with this one, we absolutely need a process to 
ensure that public funds are properly allocated and that all 
contracts involve a fair and equitable process for selection, 
but the application of these processes to every tiny aspect of 
transit operation has massively prioritized the process of 
spending public dollars over the delivery of the public 
services these dollars were meant to provide. The onerous 
practice of procurement and contract development are working 
counter to the intended desire to ensure fiscally responsible 
decision making by requiring a significant increase of fixed 
costs that are associated with the need for specialized 
personnel to navigate the multiple steps required just to order 
(as an example) a tire balancing machine for our maintenance 
department. These requirements increase the overall cost of 
that machine to the Federal Government by a significant margin 
and can be exponentially applied to all purchases, services, 
assets, and overhead cost that will spend >$10,000 over the 
course of an entire contract period. Just this year, Arrowhead 
Transit made the decision to hire a Procurement Specialist 
because the amount of employee hours allocated to the 
procurement process had begun impacting the other duties of our 
AP/AR staff. More hours were spent on procurement then was 
spent on payroll, even with procurement duties split between 
three different employee positions.
    These requirements are especially onerous for smaller rural 
transit systems that do not have the funding, staff, or time to 
perform these endless tasks for so many of their essential 
operational needs. It can put these systems in a position of 
delaying needed expenditures that may even directly impact 
their delivery of services or run the risk of being sanctioned 
for not following procurement procedures and possibly put their 
funding at risk.
                                ------                                


        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CRAPO
                      FROM KENDRA MCGEADY

Q.1. Do you agree that support for transit in rural States and 
areas is an essential part of the transit portion of surface 
transportation reauthorization, and that we need more 
investment in our rural transit systems?

A.1. Yes. Additional support to rural transit systems will 
enable us to provide the quality of life service that we 
currently do, while also allowing us to expand our systems and 
meet the constantly growing need for longer distance trips. As 
our population ages and more senior citizens migrate to rural 
areas, the additional funding is vital in providing access to 
health care facilities and other essential services often 
located hundreds of miles away.
                                ------                                


        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR DAINES
                      FROM KENDRA MCGEADY

Q.1. Efficient and effective transit programs are critical in 
rural States like Montana--and it's not just subways like 
people see in big cities. Busses and vans are a lifeline for 
folks without cars to get to and from work or for seniors and 
the disabled to get to doctors' appointments or to pharmacies 
to get lifesaving medications.
    Do you agree that an efficient and effective but fiscally 
responsible Federal transit program is critical for rural 
States and communities?

A.1. Yes. Rural transit systems are a lifeline to many in the 
communities we serve. We are typically the sole provider of 
transportation. Set aside grant programs specific for capital 
needs for rural providers would allow rural systems to compete 
on a level playing field for replacement of vehicles and 
expansion of service opportunities that would allow us to 
continue to provide these quality of life trips. With health 
care taking a more regional approach in many States, trips to 
and from facilities can be great distances. Health care trips 
often account for up to 50 percent of all trips provided in 
rural systems. Efficient Federal programs that provide the 
necessary funding to ensure that we can offer these trips and 
other services are now more vital than ever. Additional funding 
will allow for investment in capital to provide safe, reliable 
trips and technology to create more efficient systems for 
providers.

Q.2. One thing I hear constantly when talking with various 
groups is the onerous regulatory and reporting requirements 
from FTA. In some cases, this has resulted in additional staff 
being needed just to deal with meeting these requirement. This 
is obviously burdensome for a rural community that may not have 
the resources needed to bring on additional staff.
    Do you agree that surface transportation reauthorization 
should reduce complexities and onerous requirements so that 
communities are better able to put these dollars to work?

A.2. Yes. The regulatory burden for the relative risk requires 
disproportionate oversight for the amount of funding systems 
receive. With limited staff, the added requirements pull 
resources from already underfunded operations. Programs should 
be administered in the least burdensome and most flexible way.
                                ------                                


        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR CRAPO
                       FROM BARBARA CLINE

Q.1. Do you agree that support for transit in rural States and 
areas is an essential part of the transit portion of surface 
transportation reauthorization, and that we need more 
investment in our rural transit systems?

A.1. I wholeheartedly agree that transit support in rural 
States and areas is essential to the transit portion of 
reauthorization because of the vital role available and 
accessible transportation plays in retention of the vulnerable 
population in these States. Additional investment in these 
rural transit systems, and the commitment to support 
transportation at the financial level needed, would show 
quantification of services as they increase and equality of 
wage and benefit packages that would better balance our ability 
to attract and retain a trained workforce.
                                ------                                


        RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR DAINES
                       FROM BARBARA CLINE

Q.1. Efficient and effective transit programs are critical in 
rural States like Montana--and it's not just subways like 
people see in big cities. Busses and vans are a lifeline for 
folks without cars to get to and from work or for seniors and 
the disabled to get to doctors' appointments or to pharmacies 
to get lifesaving medications.

A.1. I couldn't agree with you more. Having been the founding 
director of Prairie Hills Transit 31 years ago, I see and 
understand the challenges you have mentioned. Additionally we 
recognize the problem a working parent may have in getting 
their children to and from school, the veteran who lives in a 
highly rural county and needs medical transportation. We find 
the health care community has significant challenges with 
dialysis trips for patients, discharges from hospitals for 
individuals without vehicles, or even follow up appointments 
from hospital stays. Access to care is vital, arguably more so 
in small rural areas.

Q.2. Do you agree that an efficient and effective but fiscally 
responsible Federal transit program is critical for rural 
States and communities?

A.2. I do agree that a fiscally responsible Federal transit 
program is a number one priority. In rural States and small 
communities, we know that employees often serve in 
multiposition jobs. In fact in South Dakota, many of the 
transit systems like Prairie Hills Transit have coordinated and 
consolidated in order to maintain a higher level of 
administration and oversight of Local, State and Federal 
compliance. Often times the shoestring approach of stretching 
our dollars too far can be problematic and challenging.

Q.3. One thing I hear constantly when talking with various 
groups is the onerous regulatory and reporting requirements 
from FTA. In some cases, this has resulted in additional staff 
being needed just to deal with meeting these requirement. This 
is obviously burdensome for a rural community that may not have 
the resources needed to bring on additional staff.

A.3. The regulatory and reporting requirements have continued 
to increase for both transportation systems and for the 
Department of Transportation. Many times the one size fits all 
approach is used and one size never fits all. There is a 
difference between regulation and oversight. Too often in rural 
States, systems find themselves overwhelmed and overregulated, 
to the level of frustration that too much time and information 
doesn't always produce a result that seems prudent.

Q.4. Do you agree that surface transportation reauthorization 
should reduce complexities and onerous requirements so that 
communities are better able to put these dollars to work?

A.4. I definitely think that transportation systems would 
totally agree that putting our dollars back into providing 
service is why we're all here. Sitting behind a desk and 
pushing paper isn't giving our riders additional services they 
could all use. It doesn't add hours of service, days of service 
or even an extra day of trips to the specialty doctors 50 miles 
away.