Committee posts statewide transit survey and preview map; staff urges broader outreach to rural counties

Becca Brown, committee staff, and Doug McBroom of MDT presented preliminary results from a public-transportation survey and a draft statewide transit map prepared with Legislative Services and MDT data.

Brown said the committees public survey had collected roughly 594 responses as of the most recent pull, concentrated in Montana's larger counties (Lewis & Clark, Yellowstone, Missoula and Gallatin). The survey remains open until noon on April 10 and includes demographic questions, service-availability questions (local transit options, paratransit, vanpools, ferries) and open-text fields about barriers and service needs. Brown asked members and stakeholders to push the flyer and QR code into rural networks: "We really need the input from the people who utilize public transportation to give us really good quality feedback," she told the committee.

Brown also demonstrated a preliminary GIS-based map of public-transportation assets for committee use. The map layers Amtrak stops, essential-air-service airports, park-and-ride locations and the three Missouri River ferries; each map marker contains an attribute window with contact details or a web link where available. The map is a work in progress and staff plan to publish a final version with the committees report in September.

MDT's TransAid (transportation assistance for the disabled and elderly) and Section 5311 rural formula programs were summarized as the committee's two primary transit funding streams for rural areas. Staff encouraged members to direct constituents to the survey and to suggest local sites for committee field visits during the May meeting in Bozeman.