DECEMBER 2021

Executive Summary:
Navigating Rural: Place Based
Transit Solutions for Rural Canada
ABOUT THE PROJECT

KEY FINDINGS

Transit and mobility are fundamental to rural community
resilience. However, despite the importance of transit
and the increase in available options, rural communities
can struggle to initiate and maintain sustainable transit
services. While there is some understanding of rural barriers,
the utility of this information is hampered by the lack of
understanding of how barriers are influenced by placebased differences across rural communities. The lack of
understanding of place-based influences on rural transit
systems is a critical challenge to informed decision making.

Rural Transit Literature

The goal of this project was to use place as a lens to identify,
synthesize, and assess existing rural transit literature to
identify rural barriers and understand how barriers vary by
place. The objectives were:
1) Compile a database of existing rural transit and mobility
literature, identifying gaps within our knowledge;
2) Create a typology of barriers impacting rural communities;
3) Explore existing transit support programs to understand
gaps and challenges;
4) Identify and explore innovative rural solutions;
5) Clearly identify the gaps within our knowledge base, data,
and existing support programs; and
6) Conduct a place-based analysis to understanding how
barriers are influenced by the economic, socio-cultural,
and environmental dimensions of place.

• Overarching themes: treating rural as a singular or uniform
concept; uneven regional knowledge and understanding;
understanding who is (and is not) served; challenges
of rural transit; feasibility and rationale of rural transit;
growing transit opportunities; and identified transit
solutions.
• Gaps: little peer reviewed research – particularly on
development of rural transit systems; little understanding
or differentiation between places; dominance of examples
from certain regions (British Columbia, Ontario) and
community types (large, urban adjacent); minimal
representation of remote communities.
Barriers to Rural Transit
There are seven categories of barriers to sustainable rural
transit systems, each with multiple specific barriers:
- Demographic factors and ridership
- Socio-cultural aspects of transit
- Natural and built environment
- Local cost of operation and potential
sources of revenue
- Local governance
- Local economic structure
- External funding
Barriers differ by place, but the extent of this is unknown
due to gaps in the literature

Existing Support Programs

Influence of Place

There are six categories of gaps and challenges related to
rural access to existing transit support programs:

The influence of place can be seen on three levels:

- Challenges with access to information
surrounding programs
- The extent to which programs account
for unique rural considerations
- Exclusionary criteria
- Expenses that are deemed to be eligible
under the funding framework
- Consideration for the human resource
capacity of the funding recipient
- Consideration for the financial resource
capacity of the funding recipient
Innovative Rural Examples
• A publicly accessible web map of existing innovative
rural examples can be found at: https://selkirk.
maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.
html?id=17c858b73a014fbfa55d712141847a73.
• Most examples are from urban-adjacent communities,
and are often larger communities. There are very few
examples identified from remote communities.
• The most common type of innovation related to changes
and improvements within organizational methods.
• Most of the examples can be found in southern Ontario
or British Columbia, demonstrating the influence of
larger population centres, as well as the impact of
collaboration between multiple communities.
• The examples demonstrate a contrast between smaller,
volunteer run systems that are innovative, but also
highly precarious; and larger, government run systems
that are more stable, but less innovative.

1) Macro Rural Trends apply to all rural areas,
limited influence of place beyond separating rural
characteristics from urban ones. For example, low
population density and long distances.
2) Meso Rural Trends apply over large areas based on
a common place-based characteristic. For example,
commuter patterns in urban adjacent communities or
the characteristics of specific demographic groups.
3) Micro Rural Trends apply to specific places based on
unique or near unique place-based characteristics.
For example, specific economic structure – single
industry, seasonality, unique demographic conditions,
remoteness.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
For Rural Communities and Regions
• Recognize what unique place-based barriers exist locally.
• Recognize and leverage existing assets and resources.
• Recognize unique local characteristics and needs.
• Establish a transit service that makes the most sense
based on the above. For many rural communities this
means something other than a traditional fixed-route
system.
For Policies and Programs
• Recognize that policies and programs based on the
existing knowledge base are limited and unable to
account for the diversity of rural contexts.
• Recognize that the dominance of specific regions,
community types, and transit system types leaves out
experiences, considerations, and opportunities relevant
to other types of rural communities.
• Applying a rural lens (rural considerations) can help
in development of program and policy, but should
recognize the impact of data and information gaps.
• Flexibility is required in rural transportation policies
and program to ensure diverse rural transit types are
supported, both within a community and between
communities.

Across the Board
• Change perceptions of existing or potential users,
making transit a viable and socially desirable option.
• Recognize the full benefits of transit, going beyond the
simple cost to operate and return on investment to the
inclusion of the impact to measures of wellbeing and
social, economic, and environmental co-benefits.
• Enabling sustainable rural transit requires changes to
support and increase factors of success. This includes
the perspectives of users and decision makers, but also
in supporting programs and policy. To do so requires a
better understanding of the diversity of rural and the
influence of place.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact Information
Dr. Sarah-Patricia Breen,
Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development
Selkirk College
sbreen@selkirk.ca