Face of MO Transit; Delivering more than service every day, everywhere for everybody
Jim, of Sedalia, has been utilizing OATS Transit since 1986. As a student, he used the public transit service to get to and from Pettis County Children’s Therapy Center for children with disabilities. Today, he continues to make this same trip, just in a different capacity, as he now works in IT at the school. Jim also uses OATS Transit to get anywhere else he may need to go, including shopping trips and to and from medical appointments. He says the drivers are very friendly, and he always feels safe. Also pictured is OATS Transit driver Terry Twenter.Justin arrived in Springfield in October 2017 as a refugee from East Africa. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), he and his older siblings fled Burundi when he was 14 years old after their parents were killed in the DRC’s civil war. He more recently had to leave his wife and daughter behind in Burundi, so he could better provide for them. Quickly after arriving in Southwest Missouri, he secured a night-shift position at a plastics manufacturing company. He is grateful to be able to rely on City Utilities Transit Services (CU Transit) to get to and from work, school and the store. The city bus system has aided in his ability to secure a good job, which enables him to send money home to his family, while saving and preparing for them to join him someday.Meet Stephanie, of St. Louis City, usues a combination of MetroLink, MetroBus and biking to get to work, classes and local events, as well as to run errand and connect to the airport and train station. She loves how the local system makes it easy to be multi-model and believes public transit is a low-cost, low-impact means to travel and an asset to any metropolitan region.Meet Jeremy, RPH, owns Parkland HealthMart Pharmacy in Fredericktown. He says medicines only work for patients who take them, and a common barrier to his patients adhering to their medications is transportation. Many take a critical blood pressure or blood sugar medications. Without access to public transportation like Southeast Missouri Transportation Service (SMTS), he fears many of his patients, especially those who don’t have friend or family close by, would go without these critical medicines.
