Transportation is a workforce issue
If you care about workforce development, you should care about transportation. It’s not a new challenge, but it’s becoming harder to solve due to several factors:
• Rising costs: Public transit is increasingly expensive to operate, and the cost of owning a car has risen 30% in the past decade. The average monthly cost of owning and operating a vehicle is now $965.
• Fewer young drivers: Only 25% of Kentucky residents ages 16–25 had a driver’s license in 2023.
• Long commutes: As the region grows, many workers now face 90+ minute travel times each way.
Public transportation is a $93.4 billion industry, and 87% of trips support workforce activity, according to NKADD Mobility Manager Ryan Craig’s recent presentation to the Northern Kentucky Workforce Investment Board. Every $1 billion invested in public transit supports roughly 50,000 jobs, and every $1 invested generates about $5 in long-term economic returns.
In Northern Kentucky, transit is fragmented. The OKI Regional Council of Governments coordinates transportation in Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties through TANK, while NKADD oversees service in Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Owen, and Pendleton counties. TANK routes stop in downtown Cincinnati, requiring riders to transfer to Metro to reach many Cincinnati-area jobs.
Other providers—Proudworks (formerly BAWAC), Carroll County Wellness Transit, Federated Transportation Services of Kentucky, and Owen County Public Transit—offer limited service, often restricted to medical trips, as seen in this map:
At the same time, many Northern Kentucky households, especially in rural areas, lack access to a private vehicle. This map shows concentrations of zero-vehicle households. (The darker the color, the more concentrated the lack of vehicles is.)
The challenge is significant, but progress is underway. While funding and operational challenges persist, the demand for transit services continues to grow, and transportation remains a key challenge for job seekers in our region.
NKADD, TANK, OKI, and other agencies are exploring new strategies. TANK recently collected over 1,000 responses to its "Reimagining the Future of Transit in Northern Kentucky" survey and will release the findings and recommendations in February 2026.
Similarly, NKADD will continue to implement strategies outlined in the NKADD Coordinated Transit Plan. For questions about the plan or specific transportation challenges, contact Ryan Craig at ryan.craig@NKADD.org.