Our Service
Mission
Enhancing quality of life
by providing safe, caring,
and reliable transportation services.
Values
Safe: Safely transporting passengers
to their destinations.
Caring: Treating passengers with
respect and compassion.
Reliable: Achieving and maintaining maximum standards of performance.
Vision
Every OATS Transit community receives superior transportation services.
OATS Transit is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation providing general public transportation in 87 rural Missouri counties. We specialize in getting people to work each day, taking patients to life-saving medical appointments, and taking people shopping so they can continue living independently. We also offer contract transportation service for agencies.
We are a shared-ride, demand-response, public transportation company offering service to people of all ages in rural Missouri. We transport people to work, medical appointments, shopping and other community resources. We offer intercity express routes to connect people with larger cities. Our buses are ADA accessible. You can view our bus schedules by county on our website.
Rural transportation is our specialty, which is available to everyone without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, age, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other factor prohibited by law.
Why does OATS Transit have to charge for its services?
Despite the common misconception, OATS Transit is not 100% Federally or State funded. A portion of the costs associated with doing business are reimbursable through MoDOT’s 5311 program at 50% of the actual expense we incur. This subsidy allows OATS Transit to offer a fare (or contribution) rate that is way below our true cost of doing business. We are required to generate enough local revenue to support the other 50% of these expenses. In addition, in order to maintain a fleet of dependable, reliable vehicles, we must generate 20% of the actual replacement cost for each vehicle in each county we serve. Therefore, we need to rely on our riders to help support the system through fares and contributions.
For trips requiring a fare, those must be paid in advance of your trip. Drivers cannot accept payment on the bus. You can pay with a credit/debit card over the phone when you schedule your trip, or mail a check/money order to your local OATS Transit office. Those funds are added to your account by calling 888-875-6287 and will be deducted each time you ride.
