Advancing Rural Mobility Program

Benzie bus on a flat landscape by the water

Improving access to public transit
in Michigan’s rural communities

A map of northern Michigan showing public transit service areas by county. Each county is outlined, with the counties that have rural transit providers shaded in light purple. The map labels the following transit agencies within their corresponding service areas: Straits Regional Ride in the northernmost counties (Cheboygan, Emmet, and Presque Isle); Charlevoix County Transit; Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority; Benzie Transportation Authority; Manistee County Transportation Inc.; Yates Dial-A-Ride in Lake County; Roscommon County Transportation Authority; Kalkaska Public Transit Authority; Crawford County Dial-a-Ride; Ogemaw County Public Transit; Iosco Transit Corporation; Thunder Bay Transportation Authority in Alpena County; Arenac Public Transit Authority; Gladwin Transit Authority; and Clare County Transit Corporation. Lake Michigan appears on the left and Lake Huron on the right. A north arrow is in the bottom-left corner.

Program Overview

In rural communities, public transit provides a critical lifeline, but knowing what services are available can be challenging. The Advancing Rural Mobility Program seeks to improve transit trip planning in rural areas and provide access to static and real-time transit information to passengers.

The program received a federal Stage 1 Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant. For the program’s pilot phase, MDOT’s Office of Passenger Transportation (OPT) partnered with four transit agencies: Benzie Transportation Authority (also known as Benzie Bus), Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority (also known as WexExpress), Charlevoix County Transit, and Roscommon County Transportation Authority. MDOT is using state funding and pursuing additional federal funding to expand the project’s reach and impact.

Learn More

September 2024

MDOT Launches Advancing Rural Mobility Trip Planner to Enhance Transportation Access in Rural Areas

Fast Facts:

  • The Advancing Rural Mobility pilot project has launched a new online trip planning tool for four rural public transit agencies and their riders.
  • The project is funded through a United States Department of Transportation SMART grant.
  • Participating public transit agencies include Benzie Bus, Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority, Charlevoix County Transit, and Roscommon County Transportation Authority.

The Advancing Rural Mobility project’s trip planner tool aims to enhance transportation access and efficiencies in rural areas. To meet the unique needs of Michigan’s rural communities, the trip planner utilizes partner transit agencies’ service data to display possible trip-planning options. Transit riders will benefit from increased awareness of available transportation options, helping improve access to essential services, reduce isolation, and ultimately foster greater connectivity and quality of life.

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Technology Resilience – April 22, 2026, 1-2 p.m. EST

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is working with the Federal Transit Administration to develop a National Transit Data Interoperability Roadmap to guide industrywide advancement of transit data interoperability in areas that address the greatest need and impact to improve agency operations and transit for riders. The Roadmap will identify areas where improvement to exchanging transit data could improve transit and actions that need to be taken at a national level to improve interoperability in those industry-identified areas. In this session, Michigan transit agencies can provide ITS America with feedback on initial actions heard from the industry so far on the project and help identify possible highest-impact actions to improve transit data interoperability across Michigan.

If you’d like to receive an invitation to the Tech Talks, contact Janet Geissler, GeisslerJ1@Michigan.gov

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Mi Trip Planner

The Advancing Rural Mobility project’s trip planner tool aims to enhance transportation access and efficiencies in rural areas. To meet the unique needs of Michigan’s rural communities, the trip planner utilizes partner transit agencies service data to display possible trip planning options. Transit riders will benefit from increased awareness of available transportation options, helping improve access to essential services, reduce isolation, and ultimately foster greater connectivity and quality of life.

View Trip Planner
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Have the Advancing Rural Mobility Program newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox for up to date news, announcements, program initiatives, and more!

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Newsletter Archives

Read the previous newsletter releases to learn more about previous Advancing Rural Mobility Program milestones and information.

Cover art for the “Advancing Rural Mobility Program E‑Newsletter” dated February 2026. The top features the program logo with circular graphic of the state of Michigan with small location dots and a red bus icon. Below the title text, there is a large photo showing a group of people outside standing near a transit van on a paved street. The group is positioned beside the open side door of the van, and the background includes trees and utility poles under a bright sky.

The Advancing Rural Mobility Program is designed to provide access to static and real-time public transit information and address the information gap by using existing and emerging open standard data specifications that work with fixed-route and demand-response services to deliver transit information to rural communities.

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