For an elderly resident of Harney County, Oregon, the nearest major medical facility can be a three-hour drive away. In Wallowa County, in the far northeastern corner of the state, there is no fixed-route bus service. In many of Oregon's rural tribal communities, there may be no public transportation at all. A new $25 million federal grant is aimed squarely at that problem.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has secured $25 million through the Federal Transit Administration's Section 5310 program, which funds transportation specifically for seniors and people with disabilities who cannot use conventional transit. The money will flow to more than 28 counties, cities, transit districts, tribal governments, and nonprofits across the state, covering everything from new vehicles and passenger shelters to the day-to-day cost of running demand-response services that take riders to dialysis appointments, grocery stores, and doctor visits.

The scale of the need is growing. Oregon's 65-and-older population has climbed from about 533,000 in 2010 to more than 800,000 today, representing roughly 19 percent of the state, above the national average. By 2030, that share is projected to exceed 22 percent. In rural counties, where many of the grant's recipients are located, the median age is already well above 50 and fixed-route bus service is economically unworkable across thousands of square miles of high desert and mountain terrain.

The list of subrecipients spans Oregon's full geographic and organizational range. Rural counties such as Baker, Harney, Lake, Sherman, Gilliam, and Wallowa are included alongside small cities like Madras, Prineville, Hermiston, and Milton-Freewater. Three tribal governments are named: the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which face some of the state's most severe transportation gaps. Nonprofit organizations including Ride Connection Inc., the Marie Mills Center, Chamberlin House, and Senior Citizens of Sweet Home round out the recipient list, reflecting how much of Oregon's specialized transit is delivered outside of government.

The grant also funds mobility management, a relatively newer federal priority that focuses on coordinating rides across multiple providers and helping riders navigate their options, rather than simply purchasing more vehicles. Oregon has worked to build out its statewide transit infrastructure over recent years, including through HB 2017, the 2017 transportation package that created a dedicated payroll-tax fund generating roughly $200 million annually for transit. Advocates have argued that even with those state dollars, rural and specialized services remain underfunded.

Section 5310 funding flows to Oregon as a formula apportionment based on the state's population of older adults and people with disabilities. The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, increased the national Section 5310 authorization to approximately $1.5 billion over five years, providing a modest boost to what states like Oregon receive each cycle.

ODOT's Public Transportation Division will administer the grant and distribute funds to subrecipients, a process that will determine how quickly new vehicles get purchased, which communities see improved service, and whether the outreach efforts described in the grant actually reach the riders who need them most.