In response to customer demand, the city of Fort Smith will offer bus service to Choctaw Casino in nearby Pocola, Oklahoma beginning March 1. Riders must show proof of a return fare. The transit service, which started in June 1996, handles about 200,000 passenger trips annually, said Transit Director Ken Savage. He noted the casino’s parking lot is located within Fort Smith city limits.
“Now some passengers heading for the casino hike from the closest bus stop on Arkansas 271. They’re walking some distance to the casino. So we felt like we could accommodate that on an on-call basis or by request,” Savage said. The trip to the casino will take about two-and-a-half minutes longer, Savage said. Passengers must show the bus driver a valid return ticket to make sure they don’t gamble away their return fare, he noted. “I think the commission was wanting assurances we wouldn’t have problems with fare. So they put some protections in there.”
The transit system receives 3 percent, or about $450,000, of Fort Smith’s portion of a 1 percent Sebastian County sales tax. Those local funds entitle the city to receive more than $2 million in state and federal grants, city officials said.
