Piloting Transportation Efficiency in a Rural County

Building a clean and equitable energy economy while addressing the climate crisis has always been a top priority of the Biden Administration. Among the strategies in working toward this priority is improving the efficiency and attractiveness of public transportation. This goal to enhance public transportation is thus a shared priority for the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. DOT.

Another priority that links these two federal departments is the Biden Administration’s whole-government focus on advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. In the public transportation sphere, those historically underserved areas include not only impoverished communities in urban areas but also rural areas across the country.

These linkages between DOE and DOT goals were realized in 2024 in the Rural Access Mobility Platform (RAMP) project in rural Greene Co., Pennsylvania.

The project evolved on two fronts. In about 2019, Waynesburg University, located in Greene Co., and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), located in Pittsburgh, PA, joined in researching food insecurity problems in rural counties. They found a key element to food insecurity is a lack of reliable transportation. At about the same time, CMU started to work on theories and systems to create a technology platform—RAMP—that could lead to more efficient on-demand public transportation. This project was led by Prof. Sean Qian and implemented with CMU’s Mobility Data Analytics Center. The RAMP technology would demonstrate how transportation could operate most cost- and energy-efficiently by integrating existing real-time data sources like the Pennsylvania DOT’s road condition reporting system and automatic vehicle location (AVL) data.

Then, in 2020, CMU and its partners received a pilot grant from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicle Technology Office (VTO). The purpose of the grant aligned perfectly with the RAMP system, as the DOE was looking to fund communities to “explore and demonstrate potential mobility system approaches to improving the efficiency and convenience of public transportation, acknowledging transit’s role in both low-carbon people movement and ensuring equitable mobility access.”  

The DOE-funded pilot ran from May 1 to September 6, 2024. The RAMP project had two goals: 1) develop a technology-driven solution that can lead to more efficient delivery of public transit in low population density areas; and 2) increase access to public transportation in rural areas. The pilot project team also sought to identify how on-demand, technology-coordinated, community-powered mobility services can be extended to link other regional transportation systems and be adaptable for use as a model to address transportation needs in other rural communities.

The service was operated through Blueprints, a nonprofit community action agency, in addition to the coordination of local stakeholders with Waynesburg University. Because of its mission to address all social determinants of health issues, the agency was well aware that Greene Co. residents had limited access to health food sources.

“For 59 years, Blueprints has been working to improve life circumstances for people who struggle economically. We complete a comprehensive community needs assessment every three years, and in every assessment, a lack of transportation is identified as a significant barrier,” says Jeff Fondelier, Blueprints’ Chief Executive Officer.

During the pilot, all rides were free. The service ran M-F, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. using three donated Honda Odyssey vans. Originally it was designed with one vehicle dedicated to a fixed-route service between county towns Waynesburg and Carmichaels, while two other vans offering on-demand service throughout the county; eventually the service provided only the demand-response option, as there was very low ridership on the fixed route portion after a month of operation.

Because a large part of Greene County does not have reliable broadband or cell service, the RAMP service was limited to where service was available. Users requested rides either via the RAMP website or phone call to get matched with an on-demand driver to take them to their destination. The average waiting time for a ride was around 11 minutes per trip, and the average in-vehicle travel time is 10.5 minutes per rider.

During the pilot, RAMP riders were asked to indicate if their trip destinations were for food security, health care access, civic engagement, employment opportunities, or other purposes. Most of the 2,289 passenger trips were for health care and food security, with the rest of the trips distributed among employment, pharmacy, and banking.

“Incorporating travel demand characteristics and multisource data into rural mobility service design has never been done before and, based on our pilot in Greene County, has enormous potential,” said Qian. “Our team plans to continue developing the technology and replicate this system in rural regions across the county.”

The Greene Co. team is now applying for additional funding, this time from the FTA, to fold more on-demand trips into their transportation options. Meanwhile the CMU team has received a planning grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to study how best to implement RAMP in Southeast Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.