Bus ridership in Bentonville is climbing steeply.

For June, Ozark Regional Transit reported 3,386 bus trips in the city — more than four times the total from June 2024.

Still, ridership remains low compared to the city’s population. The June total works out to an average of 161 bus trips per day.

Ozark Regional Transit Executive Director Joel Gardner shared the data in an update to the City Council on August 12. He attributed the growth mainly to improved collaboration between city governments in Bentonville and Rogers.

Both cities help fund the transit system and had previously required routes to begin and end within their boundaries, ensuring their contributions only supported service inside their city.

Starting last year, that changed, which Gardner called a “fricking rock solid decision.” Instead of being restricted by individual city fiefdoms, riders can now take a single bus between Rogers and Bentonville.

Gardner also credited better digital marketing and more frequent pickups along fewer routes for the increase in ridership.

Buses run Monday through Friday and are free to ride. Several routes serve Bentonville, and an I-49 route connects to buses in Springdale and Fayetteville.

Maintaining bus service in Bentonville this year will cost $1,601,207, with the city covering 35% of that total.

Ozark Regional Transit also offers an Uber-like rideshare service that operates Monday through Saturday, providing rides that begin and end within Bentonville.

The on-demand service is far cheaper than Uber at $1.25 per ride, but also far less reliable — 59% of ride requests so far this year have been denied due to limited capacity.

“The only thing I can say about our on-demand is yes, people will want more of it, but I’m not here to do an Uber or taxi service, I’m here to provide public transportation,” Gardner told City Council members.

Asked to clarify what he meant after the presentation, Gardner framed the current rideshare service as a stepping stone to expand public transit service, but one that should ultimately lead to more fixed routes.

“Public transit is fixed route, regularity, always being safe, always being on time,” Gardner said.

See the full report from Ozark Regional Transit here. For help planning a trip, Ozark Regional Transit recommends using the Citymapper, which is available as a website and phone app.