‘We need it’: Rural Transit asks Owen County to continue funding its only public transportation option

John Kay lost his driver’s license in 2005.

His eyesight was declining. To get around, he started using Rural Transit, an Area 10 Agency on Aging public transportation service that gives door-to-door service to anyone, regardless of age or ability, for $3 a ride.

It’s the only public transportation in Owen County.

Rural Transit also services Monroe, Putnam and Lawrence counties, with one deviated fixed-route in Greencastle, IN.

The roughly 20 Rural Transit drivers — who Kay has gotten to know over the years — pick him up from his home in rural Spencer and take him to the laundromat and doctor’s appointments in Bloomington.

According to a 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment by the IU Bloomington Health Hospital, Owen County was designated as a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area.

In 2025, Owen County residents took 7,962 rides through Rural Transit, allowing people to travel to medical appointments, grocery stores, the pharmacy, out to eat, work and other services. This makes up 19.11 percent of the trips for the four counties.

At the Owen County Council’s June 8 meeting, Area 10 Agency on Aging Executive Director Amy Guerrettaz urged the county to contribute $30,312 to Rural Transit for 2027. The money would complement what the Town of Spencer and Federal Transit Administration has already given via a Section 5311 Formula Grant for Rural Areas.

Rural Transit used to receive money from the county to help fund the program but more recently has not been included in the budget.

Council vice president Anton Neff said the council has time to make a decision and invited Guerrettaz to come to the council’s 2027 budget workshops in August.

“I did feel like they heard the need and that I was well received, so I’m very hopeful,” Guerrettaz said.

Why is Rural Transit important?

For people who are homebound or don’t have regular access to transportation, Rural Transit isn’t just a way to run errands but a social outlet for its users, Assistant Transit Manager Lisa Salyers said. They talk to the other riders, the drivers and get a break from the isolation they may live in.

“They know each other; they’re considered friends,” Salyers said. “They just grow a bond together.”

It also allows elderly people living in rural areas to stay in their homes longer and avoid moving to nursing or assisted living facilities to have access to transportation.

“I think having the independence, being able to maintain your independence and still have your home that you’ve lived in and your gardening, your pets, all the freedom, that that allows,” Guerrettaz said. “That’s really healthy for us to maintain as much independence for as long as possible, as we age.”

Kay’s neighbor gives him rides sometimes, but it wasn’t always that way. Without the service, many users throughout Owen County wouldn’t have a way to leave their homes. Ride share services like Uber and Lyft aren’t reliable in rural areas, may have long wait times and much higher costs than the $3 each way that Rural Transit offers.

“I hope they get their money,” Kay said. “Because we need it. I’m sure I’m not by myself.”

The only way the community can thrive and survive is by supporting each other, Guerrettaz said.

“I hate to think of somebody who relies on Rural Transit to get to dialysis, and then they don’t have that transportation,” she said. “That’s life-threatening, so there are those situations, and I think that more and more the focus is going to have to be from the community supporting its own residents, since the state and federal levels are kind of cutting that funding.”

How does Rural Transit work?

Salyers said Rural Transit requests that riders call three to five days in advance to reserve a ride, but that if they call on the day of and there’s room in the schedule, they’re often able to work them in.

They’ll give the dispatcher the necessary information, like their address, where they want to go, when and for how long.

Rides are $3 each direction within the county and an additional $3 for rides outside the county. Salyers also said for people who might be nervous using Rural Transit for the first time, they can have a family member ride with them on their first trip to get familiar with it and learn to trust the program.

The rider gets a call reminder from an automated system the night before the ride and when the driver is on the way. It tells them about how long it will be until the driver arrives.

Drivers can give assistance from the door of the riders home to the vehicle and then from the vehicle to the door of wherever they’re going.

“I gotta have help,” Kay said. “I can’t see, I just barely can see just a little, but very little. They help me. IU Health, my doctor’s on the second floor, so it’s a hassle. The bus drivers are really accommodating and take me up there. When I get done, they’ll run back up there, and we’ll go to the elevator and go out the door, go to the bus, and that’s super nice.”

When the driver is on the way to pick the rider back up, they initiate another call to let them know when they’ll be there.

Guerrettaz said she would really like to see ridership grow and have more people take advantage of the service.

“I would like people to know that even though they don’t need the service and they don’t have anybody that they know that needs a service, that there are people that need the service, and that it does actually help not only that individual that needs it, but their family members from not having to take off work to help them or make other arrangements,” Guerrettaz said. “It gives those people independence, so they can control what they’re doing without asking permission for somebody else to go to the grocery store.”