OATS Transit Ride Scheduling Changes

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 49 years, local residents and drivers have dedicated hundreds of hours answering phones and taking reservations for trips.

Beginning April 6, 2020, anyone needing to schedule a ride must call the OATS Transit office to schedule a trip. Individuals in Adair, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Randolph, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby and Warren counties should call 660-415-0901 or 800-654-6287 to schedule a ride. 

Rides must be scheduled in advance, including all 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 1.4 million trips annually in 87 Missouri Counties. The company is a 501c3 organization with a staff of more than 700 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.