4 to 5 bucks for gas coming!?

[Nikia]

80. This is definitely a problem in rural areas, including small towns

Sometimes a family chooses to live there because their extended family lives there, despite the lack of local jobs. Sometimes, they did have jobs there until they got laid off. Sometimes one member of a couple has a job there but the other has a job a distance away. Sometimes, neither coupled has a job in town but both members of the couple have jobs in opposite directions. Sometimes housing in the small town is significantly, especially when it comes to amount of house for your buck.
Sometimes these people would be happy to take some kind of public transportation if it was offered. A long time ago, many of of these small towns did have passenger train service to other small towns and bigger cities. For now, I guess that carpooling could help. Some businesses do encourage this. In businesses that don't though, I think that sometimes people are afraid to ask because of the American value of "independence".