Public transit in rural Southern Oregon and Northern California plays a critical role in connecting residents to jobs, health care and community life.
Advocates and transit leaders say rural mobility faces challenges that differ from those in cities, including long travel distances, limited funding and the need to balance service frequency with geographic coverage. They argue that improving awareness of existing transit options is one of the first steps toward strengthening rural transportation systems.
For many Americans, private vehicles represent independence. Meg Wade, executive director of Peace House, views them differently. Wade describes cars as “isolation machines” that separate drivers from the communities around them.
Transit, they said, can provide both safety and connection. Wade noted that motor vehicle crash death rates among drivers in rural Jackson County are higher than in urban Multnomah County. Expanding transit options, they said, can help reduce those risks while giving residents more ways to move through their communities.
Providing transit service in rural areas often requires difficult tradeoffs. Scott Chancey, Josephine County’s transit program manager, said agencies must decide whether to offer limited service across a broad geographic area or concentrate resources in higher-demand population centers.
Despite those constraints, Chancey said public transit has a strong safety record. In 17 years of operation in Josephine County, the system has recorded only three major accidents while traveling roughly 500,000 miles each year.
Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, a board member of the Rogue Valley Transportation District, envisions expanded service in the future, including improved accommodations for strollers and bicycles. She said transit can deepen a person’s understanding of the places where they live.
“I learned so much more about every place I live by taking the bus,” she said.
Voters in the Rogue Valley will weigh a funding levy this spring that could restore evening and weekend service for the district.
Guests
- Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, board member, Rogue Valley Transportation District
- Scott Chancey, program manager, Josephine County Transit
- Meg Wade, Executive Director of Peace House and a 2025 Community Storytelling Fellow with Oregon Humanities, specializing in stories about mobility justice
