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Ozark Regional Transit To Stop Route That Goes Through Rural Cities

PRAIRIE GROVE (KFSM) — An Ozark Regional Transit route that goes through Washington County will soon come to a stop. Route 620 that stops at rural Washing...

PRAIRIE GROVE (KFSM) -- An Ozark Regional Transit route that goes through Washington County will soon come to a stop.

Route 620 that stops at rural Washington County cities will end in April due to funding.

The route travels through Lincoln, Prairie Grove, Farmington, Fayetteville, Greenland and West Fork.

"The ridership was not very great, I think on the western part of the county but the folks who were using it really needed it, so it will have an impact," Prairie Grove public works director Larry Oelrich said.

Route 620 started in June 2014 after ORT asked for a portion of the state transportation tax that the state gave back to counties and cities. ORT public information officer Jeff Hatley said Washington County wanted to start a fixed route connecting the rural cities with those funds.

"Unfortunately connecting that many rural bus systems that far removed from one another causing that route to be three hour circuit to go all the way around. So it was good in some ways that it did allow people who didn't have a connection," Hatley said.

Hatley said Route 620 will be replaced with a designated demand response. Two vans a day will pick up people in Washington County, but riders must call ahead to schedule a ride.

"What we are hoping is that not only will people take advantage of it, but that we will start seeing trends of people leaving certain cities at certain times and maybe we can start doing a batch pickup and incorporating them into our system," Hatley said.

To view a map of Route 620, click here.

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