Barriers to Transportation in Rural Communities: Perspective of Older Adult Users.

This article focuses on identifying specific transportation barriers faced by rural older adults who require transportation assistance in Wisconsin and explores potential policy and technology solutions. A cross-sectional survey of 580 respondents from 92% of rural counties found that 67.6% reported at least one barrier, with top issues including limited service hours, restricted service areas, trip destinations, difficulties getting in and out of vehicles, service reservations, and scheduling. Logistic regression analysis highlighted that concerns about service hours, service areas, and service reservation significantly influenced satisfaction with transportation services. The study suggests improvements such as extending service availability, enhancing door-to-door accessibility, adopting age-friendly technology for scheduling and communication, and implementing sliding scale subsidies to address affordability, aiming to better support this historically underserved population.