Nothing personal, but have you ever actually been to eastern Montana?

A lot of those little towns are pretty much a day's trip apart from each other by car, let alone bus. Without any other little towns in between. And most of those little "towns" are wide spots in the road where the ranchers come in to do their shopping and visit the post office.

There are places in the world where public transportation just isn't practical. Not many, I admit, but eastern Montana is definitely one of them.