Public Transportation in Rural Counties

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Residents of central Nebraska can take advantage of a community transit program to catch low-cost rides to medical appointments or to run errands.

Public transportation options are scarce in rural areas, as are ride-sharing programs such as Uber and Lyft. As a result, people who don’t drive often rely on family members or friends for transportation or don’t go. But in seven counties—Adams, Buffalo, Dawson, Franklin, Gosper, Hamilton and Kearney—a publicly funded program called Reach Your Destination Easily (RYDE) Transit offers an alternative. The door-to-door program runs from eight to 12 hours a day, depending on locality. Residents pay $1 or $2 for local one-way rides and up to $8 for out-of-town trips. About half of the riders are 50 and older.

RYDE Transit is featured in the 2017 edition of Where We Live, published by AARP. To order a copy, go to aarp.org/livable-communities/publications. Click here to learn how to schedule a RYDE Transit trip.