Soon, you’ll be able to catch a free bus ride around downtown Bentonville on weekdays.

The new route, along with a 2026 service agreement with bus operator Ozark Regional Transit, was approved by City Council on Jan. 27.

The downtown bus route is required to be operational by the end of April, but Ozark Regional Transit executive director Joel Gardner said he’s hoping to be up and running sooner.

It’s expected to run from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a more detailed schedule to be finalized in the coming weeks.

Exact bus stops are still to be determined, but Gardner expects there to be stops near the Momentary, at Crystal Bridges, and on the downtown square.

There are a few other bus routes in town, and all are free to ride.

Compared to the overall population of Bentonville, the public transportation system still serves a relatively small number of riders each month, with Ozark Regional Transit reporting just over 5,300 rides in January.

However, the trajectory of ridership started noticeably accelerating last year and hasn’t slowed down since. In 2025, the transit agency refocused on more frequent pickups along fewer routes, strengthened its digital marketing and improved connections to Rogers’ bus routes.

The new downtown bus route will weave through shopping, restaurants and major attractions. It will also serve the part of town with the most limited parking for cars.

If someone hops on the bus just once, Gardner said he believes “they'll be able to turn around and say, ‘Okay, this is worth using. This is worth investing in.’”

If the downtown bus route proves to be popular, the next logical step would be expanding to weekend service.

“First thing I want to do is I want to go ahead and get it established. Go ahead and work all the bugs out of it,” Gardner said. “And then turn around and say we need to actually provide transit to the citizens and the visitors on Saturdays — and preferably Saturdays and Sundays.”

On weekends, residents seeking public transit can try their luck with on-demand transit, a door-to-door Uber-like rideshare service that’s also run by Ozark Regional Transit and costs $1.25 per ride.

The on-demand transit service is rather unreliable, with many rides rejected due to a lack of capacity, and it’s not seen as a good long-term option, Gardner previously told The Bentonville Bulletin. The funding for the new downtown bus route comes from ending weekday on-demand transit service, with city and transit staff favoring the predictability of a fixed route.

In the future, Gardner said he could see routes extending to west Bentonville, Centerton, and Bella Vista, with more frequent service.

That would require additional funding, in a budget environment where city services are already being pinched.

The city government will cover about 40% of the cost of running bus service in Bentonville this year. Its contribution for 2026 is $705,327, about a 25% increase over last year.

The remaining cost is split pretty much equally between the federal government and grants from the Walton Family Foundation, a longtime supporter of Ozark Regional Transit.

The agency serves the four largest cities in Northwest Arkansas. While Fayetteville is more urban, Bentonville could be the biggest growth opportunity because of the large number of people who commute into the city daily.

“We need to get them alternative ways of getting into town, and then also alternative ways of getting out of town, so that when we just want to move around, we're not stuck in freaking traffic,” Gardner said.