3.2.8 Region 8 - Dickinson Region

Region 8 consists of the eight counties in the southwest corner of North Dakota. With an area of 10,001 square miles and only 38,365 residents, this region has the lowest population density of any region (3.84 persons per square mile). Counties in the region include Adams, Billings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope, and Stark (Figure 3.21). Dickinson, with an estimated 2003 population of 15,683, is the region's largest city and serves at the regional center for shopping and medical services, and the location for the Region 8 Focus Group meeting for which a copy of minutes are presented in Appendix G. Bowman, with a population of 1,600, is the region's second largest city.

As was the case with neighboring Region 7, Region 8's population of potentially transportation-disadvantaged residents is fairly typical (Figure 3.22). The size of various related segments of the population are: 10,923 disabled residents or 28.5 percent of the population, 6,838 senior residents or 17.8 percent of the population, 4,889 low-income residents or 12.7 percent of the population. There may be some overlap as these are not three separate and distinct groups.

Dickinson has daily east and westbound intercity bus services available and is served by a local taxi operator. There are four public transportation services in this region (Elder Care in Dickinson, Southwest Transportation in Bowman, Golden Valley/Billings Council on Aging in Beach, and Dunn County Transportation in Killdeer). Each of these operations provides local transportation to area residents and occasional trips to Dickinson.

The region has eight nursing homes, three basic care facilities, three assisted living homes, and two facilities for developmentally disabled residents. As indicated in Table 3.15, several of these facilities provide transportation services for their residents.

Table 3.15 Number of Vehicles by Agency in Region 8

* NH = nursing home, BC = basic care, AL = assisted living, DD = developmental disabilities, and T = transit
NR = No Response to Survey
†No vehicles but coordinates with Elder Care

As is the case in other sparely populated rural regions, Region 8 has little money available to support local transportation services. Spending on related services totals only $453,446 annually; about $11.81 per capita. As indicated in Table 3.16, state aid is, by far, the largest source of funding for local public transportation services.

Table 3.16 Region 8 Transportation Dollars

As is the case with all of the state's eight regions, additional money flows into the region to reimburse area residents for transportation costs incurred to access various federal programs, including auto repair and insurance premium for personal vehicles. These reimbursements for vehicle repair and other transportation costs amount to:

• Vocational Rehabilitation (DHS) - $10,606
• TANF and JOBS (DHS) - $21,103
• Workforce Investment Act (Job Service North Dakota) - $1,197

There is a sizable effort underway to coordinate public transportation services in Region 8. Elder Care contracts with the taxi service in Dickinson to provide the paratransit services on evenings and weekends. St. Luke's Nursing Home in Dickinson has a vehicle that it shares with Elder Care and Southwest Transportation in Bowman contracts with hospitals and clinics in the region to help defray the cost of clients' medical trips. Local efforts are also underway to include all the region's counties in a coordinated transportation system.

3.3 Summary of Regional Statistics

The preceding regional transportation inventories presented a number of statistics on each region. These statistics are summarized in Table 3.17 on the following page.

As Table 3.17 illustrates, North Dakota's eight regions are similar in terms of potentially transportation-disadvantaged populations (disabled, seniors, and low income). Two significant deviations are the high percentage of low income residents in the Devils Lake region (Region 3) and the high percentage of seniors in the Jamestown region (Region 6).

Population densities also vary considerably across the state. The regions with the largest cities obviously have the highest populations per square mile. If, however, the populations of these major cities are discounted, population densities in the rural areas of these regions would fall more in line with the rest of the state. Even with this allowance, however, population densities are the lowest in the state's western-most regions.

Note that transit spending, both in total dollar amounts and on a per capita basis, is highest in the regions with the highest populations and the largest cities. A major contributing factor to this occurrence is the fact that these large cities all have fixed-route bus systems.

Also note that regions with multi-county transit systems do not necessarily have higher per capita spending on transit. Region 3 (Devils Lake), for example, does not have a multi-county system and spends $8.36 per capita on public transportation. On the other hand, Region 6 (Jamestown) has two multi-county systems and spends $7.33 per capita on transit. This occurrence may suggest that multi-county systems create efficiencies which lead to low per capita costs while, at the same time, increase the level of service to area residents.

Table 3.17 Summary of Regional Statistics