This study identifies psychological factors affecting the acceptance of demand-responsive transit (DRT) among elderly residents living in rural areas. Text mining and K-means clustering techniques were used for inductive content analysis to structure responses from multiple individuals regarding local public transportation and DRT services. Based on the structured perception survey results, key utterances were examined by a semantic group to identify clustered factors affecting the individual acceptance of DRT services and to interpret their specific meanings. Furthermore, key strategies for increasing DRT service acceptance were identified based on these interpretations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 53 elderly individuals living in rural areas of Jeju Island and the island regions of Yeosu City to understand their perceptions of local public transportation and DRT services. Text mining and clustering were performed on 173 pre-processed utterances, thus resulting in four core semantic groups: economic feasibility, connectivity, publicness/ethics, and service volume/supply. Through repeated review of utterances assigned to each semantic group, factors related to “publicness and ethics,” such as psychological and community norms including guilt over exclusive use of public resources, were identified as the most influential concerns regarding the introduction of DRT services. Additionally, requirements for connectivity were identified in the regional context, including expectations for integrating DRT with other transportation modes and concerns regarding uncertainties in travel time and distance. Based on these findings, strategies were proposed to improve the acceptance of DRT services among elderly residents in rural areas. The results suggest that, beyond overcoming the digital divide identified in previous studies, additional considerations are necessary when introducing DRT services in rural regions. Specifically, securing social consensus on the implementation, purpose, and broader impact of DRT services is essential for enhancing their acceptance. Furthermore, a DRT service model that accounts for connectivity with other transportation modes must be applied, while service models that reflect regional characteristics and contexts from the planning stage should be designed. By proactively addressing issues related to the digital divide, this study analyzes psychological factors beyond those associated with digital literacy. Future studies may expand to rural areas with diverse characteristics and contexts by applying advanced methodologies.