Scheduling a Ride With OATS Transit

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. August 12 –– OATS Transit, a Missouri-based transportation provider, is in the process of rolling out new procedures designed to make scheduling trips and dispatching buses more efficient. For the last 48 years, local residents and drivers have ded­icated hundreds of hours answering phones and taking reservations for trips.

Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 20, anyone needing to schedule a ride will need to call the OATS Transit Springfield Office to schedule a trip. 

Individuals in Barry, Barton, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Douglas, Greene, Jasper, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton, Ozark, Polk, Stone, Taney, Webster and Wright counties can call the local office at 417-887-9272 or 800-770-6287 to schedule a ride.  

Rides must be scheduled in advance, including en-route stops. You can find the full schedule for your area on the company website at www.oatstransit.org, then, click on Bus Schedules to find your county.  You can also call the local office for a complete schedule. In rural Missouri, OATS Transit serves anyone of any age, and also contracts with a number of agencies and individuals to provide their transportation. Schedules vary in each county depending on available funding sources to cover the service.

The goal is to increase produc­tivity, improve efficiencies in service, handle more riders with better routing of buses, and provide better report­ing mechanisms. “We will forever be grateful to all of our Volunteers who took the time to ensure local residents had a ride and our buses were full,” said Dorothy Yeager, OATS Transit Executive Director.  “As we move forward with our new dispatching and scheduling procedure, the need for Volunteers will continue, just in a different capacity. They have been an integral part of our history and ensuring their local community knows about our services,” added Yeager.

OATS Transit provides more than 1.5 million trips annually in 87 Missouri Counties. The company is a 501c3 organization with a staff of 750 employees statewide.  For more information, please visit the website at www.oatstransit.org, follow us at facebook.com/oatstransit for the latest news. OATS Transit is the largest rural transit provider in the state, and one of the largest transit providers in the entire nation.