PlanRVA, the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission serving nine Virginia localities, has earned national recognition for its Rural Transportation Analysis. The initiative received the 2025 Excellence in Regional Transportation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), which honors projects that strengthen regions by advancing priorities like equity, safety, resilience, public involvement, and transit.
PlanRVA’s Rural Transportation Analysis provides a scalable framework to tackle unique transportation challenges rural communities face, rooted in the belief that effective solutions begin with listening. By engaging residents across the region and gathering firsthand insights into their daily experiences, the project shaped recommendations grounded in the lived realities of communities throughout the region.
At Social Pinpoint, we’re honored to have played a role in this award-winning project. Powered by our platform, PlanRVA’s dedicated Rural Transportation Analysis project page offered residents a centralized space to stay informed, ask questions, and contribute meaningfully throughout the planning process. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to inclusive engagement, ensuring communities have a direct voice in decisions that affect their daily lives.
How PlanRVA’s Community-Driven Approach Shaped Rural Transportation Solutions
Rural transportation planning means more than laying out bus routes. It’s about understanding how people move through less densely populated areas, identifying the barriers they face, and co-creating solutions that effectively address real needs. These regions often grapple with long travel distances, limited infrastructure, and fewer funding opportunities, making it harder for residents to access jobs, healthcare, education, and daily essentials.
PlanRVA’s nine-month Rural Transportation Analysis set out to change that narrative across five Virginia counties: Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, New Kent, and Powhatan. At its core was a simple but powerful goal: identify mobility challenges and co-develop practical, community-driven solutions.
Throughout the project, PlanRVA prioritized building strong, two-way communication with the communities it serves, recognizing that successful rural transportation planning requires more than technical analysis; it depends on listening to the people who experience these challenges every day. From the outset, public engagement was embraced as an essential and ongoing part of every stage of the process, not just a procedural step.
To support this commitment, PlanRVA launched a dedicated online project page using Social Pinpoint. This page served as an accessible, centralized hub where residents could explore project details, ask questions, and follow progress every step of the way. Key features included:
- Downloadable resources such as a Community Guide outlining the project’s goals and structure, fact sheets summarizing key findings, and technical appendices for those interested in a deeper dive into data and methodology.
- A visual project timeline that mapped out milestones, deliverables, and engagement phases, helping residents track progress and see where and when they could participate.
- A “Who’s Listening” section that introduced members of the project team, putting names and faces to the effort, which helped build trust with the community.
- An open question box where residents could ask questions and feel assured that the project team was actively listening and ready to support them.
- A plain-language FAQ that offered additional project context and addressed common questions in a clear, approachable way.
- Clearly displayed contact information so residents always knew how to reach someone directly.
When it came time to gather input, PlanRVA used Social Pinpoint’s Form tool to launch a community survey aimed at identifying travel habits, mobility challenges, and transit priorities. Residents were also invited to use Social Pinpoint’s interactive Map tool to drop pins marking common destinations across the five counties. This spatial data provided valuable insights into travel patterns and highlighted key locations vital to improving rural mobility.
With nearly 500 responses, the survey provided a wealth of insight into the daily transportation realities of rural residents and highlighted several key challenges: long travel distances, limited public transit options, the high cost of vehicle ownership, and accessibility barriers for older adults and people with disabilities. Residents also expressed a strong desire for flexible, reliable, and affordable transportation options.
Using this feedback as a foundation, PlanRVA developed practical strategies—such as expanding microtransit, coordinating volunteer driver programs, and adding new fixed-route transit options—that are detailed in the new Rural Transportation Analysis (RTA) Final Report. The next step is to identify implementation actions and pursue funding opportunities at the local, state, and federal levels so PlanRVA can work with partners to bring these solutions to life.
Community Engagement as the Foundation of Rural Transportation Planning
PlanRVA’s Rural Transportation Analysis exemplifies the power of treating community engagement as a cornerstone of planning. Through clear communication and accessible tools like surveys, interactive maps, and open forums, they built trust with rural residents and local stakeholders, uncovered valuable insights, and shaped solutions grounded in the lived experiences of the community. This collaborative approach enabled the team to propose thoughtful strategies rooted in community realities—not assumptions—and is a key reason the project is earning national recognition and setting a new standard for regional transportation planning.
Ready to engage your community in a more meaningful way?
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to take your engagement efforts to the next level, Social Pinpoint helps you connect with your community in more effective, accessible, and meaningful ways. Book a free demo or get in touch to learn how our team can support your next initiative.
