Ozark Regional Transit is the provider of mass transportation in the Northwest Arkansas region, including Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville.

History

The roots of the organization are in a 1974 project by the Economic Opportunity Agency of Washington County to provide rural transportation. By 1978, two fixed routes had been established and, in 1982, after being designated as an urban area, northwestern Arkansas formed Ozark Regional Transit and acquired federal funding. Currently, 5 local routes serve the interconnected Fayetteville and Springdale communities and two routes travel through the Rogers-Bentonville area. A commuter route travels once per day in each direction to provide a peak connection between Fayetteville and rural Washington County, while another commuter route travels all day between the four major cities.

Fire

In January 2017, an explosion and subsequent fire destroyed 20 ORT buses, leaving only six functional buses in the fleet. In the subsequent weeks, transit services from around the country donated buses to ORT to restore their fleet, including Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Key West Transit, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Razorback Transit, and Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated, with many other lending buses until the fleet could be restored.

Routes

Fixed route ridership

The ridership statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response services.