"The Bus" Merced County Transit provides door-to-door transit service in every city, town and community in Merced County.

Dial-A-Ride service is primarily for use by our senior citizens age 60 and older and the disabled, or those without a regularly scheduled fixed route bus operating within one (1) mile of their residence.

Dial-A-Ride is available to the general public in all communities EXCEPT the Cities of Merced and Los Banos. 

In the Cities of Merced and Los Banos, Dial-A-Ride service is reserved for the exclusive use by the elderly (age 60 and older) and the disabled that cannot use our fixed route service. All Dial-A-Ride users in these two cities must register for Dial-A-Ride service.

Dial-A-Ride is generally open for service between 7:00 am and 6:00 PM Monday through Friday and 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturdays.  However, service hours may vary from community to community depending on ridership demand. Same Day Service request calls are not accepted after 4:45pm.

In order to get Dial-A-Ride service or to be registered for service, please call us at 209-384-3111 in the Merced-Atwater area or (800) 345-3111 in all other Merced County communities. You can also contact us via email at  

Once you call, please give us your pick-up address and your destination. We will arrange your ride from there.

Ambulatory Dial-A-Ride passengers may be transferred to one of our fixed route buses for faster, efficient service. This does not apply to wheelchair passengers.

REMINDER If you have a doctor, dentist, or other important appointment, call us at least one (2) hours in advance of the appointment.

Advance reservations of 24 hours or even a week before you need an appointment ride are strongly encouraged.  This is especially true if you need a regular ride and return on a daily basis.

Calling for Immediate Response For Dial-A-Ride Service -
You may call to arrange for one ride each time you call. Multiple requests will not be accepted from a single phone call. Pickup times are made within 30 minutes of your call in Atwater, Merced, and Los Banos. Pickup times are made within 40 minutes of your call in all other areas depending on your location. 

Cancellation Policy -
If you have called for a Dial-A-Ride bus and it becomes necessary to cancel, you must call in before your bus arrives. If you fail to call before your bus arrives, you will be considered a no show.

No Show Policy -
A No Show is considered when someone has called for a Dial-A-Ride & fails to show up or provide a 30 minute prior notification of cancellation. There will be a double charge for the first time NO SHOW. A double charge will be accessed every time following the first No Show. If the pattern continues and you fail to show up three times without canceling your ride, it may cause you to loose your riding privilege.

All Dial-A-Ride Buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts.  If you use a three-wheeled scooter device you may be asked to use a regular seat so that we may safely board you and your scooter.

Dial-A-Ride Fares

Dial-A-Ride fares shall be the same as the fixed route fares.  The minimum local fare (for trips taken where the pickup and destination are in the same city or community) shall be $2.00, except in the cities of Atwater, Merced and Los Banos where the one-way Dial-A-Ride cash fare is $2.00. Additionally for TSA-4, the fares shall be as follows

Field Trips

The charge for field trips shall be the total cost of the trip based on the cost per service hour of the total system operation. (i.e. if it costs the system $25 to operate one bus for one hour and the field trip takes a total of three (3) hours, the cost of the field trip will be $75).