If you do not own a car in North Dakota, it can extremely difficult to get a ride. Public transportation, rideshare, and cab availability are hit-and-miss. And, if those options are available, a person can wait hours for a ride. Also, our cities and towns are not exactly "walkable" for pedestrians to run errands.

KFYR-TV states that there is, in fact, a rideshare shortage in North Dakota. According to the report, rideshare drivers decreased by 65% during the pandemic. The report states that a lot of North Dakota rideshare drivers stopped services out of health safety concerns for family members. And many of those former drivers have moved on to other jobs. Get the full story from KFYR-TV here.

When I lived in Colorado, I was amazed at the incredible selection of ride options I had. I could literally walk a couple of blocks to a bus or tram station if I needed to get downtown or to the airport - I even used the transportation before I bought my car. I could also hop on Uber or Lyft and compare the prices of drivers who were working immediately in my area. It was insanely easy to get anywhere in the city.

When I got back to North Dakota, I remembered why it was so important to have my own vehicle in this state. Here, you almost have to be aware of peak driving hours and pray there is a ride available during those times. And the pandemic made that even worse.

How do you feel about the rideshare availability shortage in North Dakota?

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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