Decades on, overnight transit route continues supporting Austin’s economy  

David Holder has helped keep Austin, Minnesota's, community and economy moving for more than two decades, but unless you’re a night owl or (very) early riser, you might never know it. Holder drives Southern Minnesota Area Rural Transit’s (SMART) overnight and early morning on-demand route that primarily serves second- and third-shift employees. 

A new video produced by the Center for Transportation Studies profiles SMART’s overnight demand-response service in Austin (pop. 26,000)—known informally as “the work route”—which is unique among rural Minnesota communities. 

The work route operates from around 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.; a second run serves customers from 5 to 7:30 a.m. Many of its riders work at the Hormel Foods Austin Plant and neighboring Quality Pork Processors, but others use the cost-effective service for door-to-door transport between their homes and employers such as a local printing company, retailers, restaurants, and other businesses that operate later in the evening or overnight.

“I just drive around all night…helping out people. It’s extremely inconvenient if they don’t have the bus,” Holder says. “I try hard to get them to work on time and home as fast as I can because they’re working hard and are tired, just as anyone would be.”

SMART was formed in 2014 when rural transit agencies serving Freeborn, Mower, and Steele Counties consolidated (service in Waseca County was added in 2016). The overnight Austin service predates SMART by about a decade but has been maintained in some form ever since—even through the COVID-19 pandemic, which was an immense hardship for public transit agencies nationwide.

“This route makes you so much more independent and makes jobs more available,” says long-time customer Elizabeth, who works at an Austin motel and has ridden along with David virtually as long as the route’s been in service. “There’s so many people for one reason or another who can’t drive and can’t have a car, and [this] allows us to easily go places and is much more affordable.”

Kirk Kuchera, SMART’s transit manager, shares his understanding that the origins of the work route involved coordination with and support from a number of major local employers and the local business community. Keeping it running, though, requires the exceptional effort of SMART employees like David who are motivated by service to their community. The story of the work route holds lessons from which other rural Minnesota areas could potentially benefit.

“If there were other communities that were interested in putting something like this together, I’d say start with the manufacturing or whatever the business sector is and really connect with those folks,” says Kuchera, an active member of the Minnesota Public Transit Association. “David on our team has been a rock star…That’s definitely some commitment and dedication on his part to keep things going, too.”     

The video is one project of CTS's 2024 "Rural Needs. Statewide Answers. Improving Transportation for All Communities" thematic focus.