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KNWA & FOX24 - Northwest Arkansas & River Valley News
Ozark Regional Transit receives $14.9M for EV charging stations in NWA
By Reagan Netherland,
6 hours ago
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Ozark Regional Transit (ORT) has been awarded $14.9 million from the Department of Transportation to build EV charging infrastructure at up to 17 sites across Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.
This project will boost the number of publicly available charging ports in Northwest Arkansas by 58%, according to an Instagram post from ORT .
The new stations will be located in areas served by Ozark Regional Transit’s On-Demand services and, while primarily used for charging On-Demand vehicles between trips, will also be available for public use.
“A MASSIVE thank you to Senator John Boozman’s office and Congressman Steve Womack’s office for securing us this grant, as well as to Shawn Strate, Andy Brewer, and their team at Olsson Inc. for putting the grant application together. We also extend our gratitude to the cities of Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale Mayors for their ongoing support of ORT and public transportation.”
According to Plugshare.com , Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale are currently served by 244 EV charging stations, including 21 free-to-use stations.
Arkansas ranks 38th in the nation for the number of EV charging stations, with 335 reported stations statewide. There is one EV charging station for every 9,157 Arkansas residents, according to Consumer Reports.
ORT originated from the Economic Opportunity Agency of Washington County (EOA), which began providing demand-response transportation for elderly, low-income residents in 1974 using Federal Title XX funds, according to their website .
In 1977, the Economic Opportunity Agency (EOA) initiated a national rural public transportation project, recognizing the need for transit in small cities and rural areas. ORT’s services grew through the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading to the establishment of Project Respond and the transfer of EOA’s transportation program to the Community Resource Group (CRG) in 1979.
ORT became a mass transit operator in 1980 and expanded further, receiving urban transit funds in 1991 to start daily service in Fayetteville and Springdale. By 2001, ORT’s budget reached $1.6 million, supported by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA).
Today, ORT operates across 110 square miles in both rural and urbanized areas of Northwest Arkansas.
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