Welcome to the 24^th National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation virtual conference!  Although we postponed the conference for a year in hopes of doing an in-person conference, we have developed a comprehensive and substantive virtual conference around the conference theme “Making Connections to a Better Future”. We welcome participation by rural and tribal transit managers, human service transportation managers, rural and regional planners, intercity bus operators, State DOT and human service staff, researchers, and anyone else interested in providing access and mobility in rural areas.

Plenary sessions address the conference theme, the Federal Transit Administration Administrator’s Award, the Rural Mobility Champions award, and the perspectives of industry leaders—and your input about the future direction of rural transit.  There are also presentations in 25 breakout conference sessions organized in our traditional five “routes”.

·      Planning, Design and Research

·      Policy, Funding and Finance

·      Special Topics on Rural Mobility

·      Rural and Tribal Transportation in Today’s Operating Environment, and

·      Better Mobility Through Technology

These sessions really provide the most comprehensive and current body of knowledge about what is happening in rural public transportation—there is something here for everyone. 

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the members of the conference planning committee (a working group of Transportation Research Board’s Rural, Intercity Bus and Specialized Transportation Committee AP055) who have devoted many hours of their time to the development of the conference program and the many decisions needed as we dealt with effects of the pandemic. 

In addition, we would like to thank the Federal Transit Administration, which has provided support through the National Rural Transit Assistance Program (NRTAP) for this conference, and to the Transportation Research Board Technical program staff.   Finally, although in the end we did not have the in-person conference planned for Charleston, South Carolina, we appreciate the support and participation of the Transit Association of South Carolina and the South Carolina DOT staff—and their continued support as we plan the in-person 2023 Conference to be held in September 2023 in Charleston!

Fred Fravel, Robin Phillips, and Stephanie Gonterman—RIBTC 2020-21 Co-Chairs