Hough to Lead New Transportation Initiative - SURTC

People need affordable, accessible transportation. They need to commute to work, obtain health care, access job opportunities, shop, socialize, and vote, to attend worship and community events. In rural and small urban areas people are often at a disadvantage because they do not have adequate public transportation.

Jill Hough, director of the new Small Urban & Rural Transit Center at the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, wants to see public transportation become a practical lifeline for rural and small urban areas. She wants people to be able to get to where they need to be.

The purpose of the Transit Center is to work to improve the mobility and accessibility of rural and small urban city residents through rejuvenated public transportation.

"The SURTC program is rooted in the importance of mobility and accessibility to an advanced socioeconomic system," Hough says. "Public transportation that provides the ability to conveniently and affordably access job opportunities is one of the key underpinning pillars of a working economy."

SURTC will conduct research and provide service, technology transfer, education and training. Research will look particularly at social equity, transit ridership, improved technology and air quality. The Center will provide information to transit agencies, businesses and communities to provide a link among transit users, transit providers, businesses and researchers.

The Center will provide and facilitate the exchange of information relevant to the transit industry. There will be a special focus on planning, operations and technologies emphasizing smart solutions to problems.

Training programs will be developed to specifically address small urban and rural transportation issues. Additionally, SURTC will work with North Dakota State University faculty members to develop and incorporate public transit into their curriculums.

The SURTC has and will continue to be coordinated with federal, state and local transportation partners. Key partners include the Federal Transit Association, Community Transportation Association of America, American Public Transportation Association of America and state transit associations. SURTC will coordinate efforts with other UGPTI programs including the Mountain-Plains Consortium, the Advanced Traffic Analysis Center and TEL8.

The states targeted by SURTC are North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and western Minnesota. These states have a large proportion of elderly and disadvantaged citizens for whom public transportation is their lifeline. Transit services in these states are also under funded relative to large urban areas. SURTC will bring attention to this imbalance and work to meet the needs of rural and small urban areas. Without transportation people can become isolated, virtually living under house arrest.

Through a customer-oriented program, with a strong research focus, SURTC will provide the knowledge and human capital to sustain and enhance transit service to small urban and rural communities.

SURTC Ideal Innovation at UGPTI

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute continues to build transportation knowledge. The research support and outreach provided by the new Small Urban & Rural Transit Center, SURTC, exemplifies forward-thinking ideas and planning to help people on a daily basis.