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Urban In-Fill wrote
19 Days
January 19, 2008 by Jeff
Nineteen days into the month and I’ve only used the car three times, and those times were for trips to and from work. Late hours and Sundays, when limited COTA schedules are the culprit. I’ve put a total of $30 in gas in the tank this month, and I’ve still got just over a half-tank left.
Comments
- leftovers: Didn't realize they were owned by the Hill's Market people. Hopefully this
- mrpoppinzs: Looks like the COTA #6 goes right by there. I will have to try this place o
- bucki12: Brings back memories of walking up there when I lived in the KLD. It took m
- honestlyinsincere: Well done! Entertaining and supported by solid research.
- evantyler: And now the Dispatch weighs in... http://www.dispatch.com/content/storie
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19 Days into Urban In-Fill’s COTA Challenge
By: Walker
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I drive so little nowadays (and when I do such short distances) that it really pains me when I fill up. A tank of gas can last longer than a month and I forget that it costs over $50 to fill up.
Ouch!
I would probably partake in this if COTA actually went somewhere I need to go on a regular basis.
I wish it did. Riding the bus is awesome and fun. You see all kinds of stuff and people.
Where are you going, Delaware? COTA goes everywhere in the city center.
I tried this experiment in December. OK, I’ll admit, it wasn’t by choice – I had an unexpected car repair issue develop. But I bought a COTA pass during the first week of December, and since then I’ve decided to continue riding every day to work, even though my car is back in action.
I had no problem getting to and from Downtown; I live in Grandview, so there’s 3 different buses to choose from. As for groceries/post office/bank/etc. I guess I’m just lucky because those are all within walking distance from my house. However, I had no problem doing my Christmas shopping, since the #5 got me over to the Short North and the North Market. I did have issues with getting to bigger stores like Target; for some reason you can take the #84 TO Grandview, but you can’t get FROM Grandview to the Lennox. But it’s not that far, so I just walked. In fact, the only day-to-day activity I wasn’t able to accomplish without my car was laundry (I have to go to a laundromat), because I tend to do 5 loads of laundry at a time, and there are no stops close enough to my house to make that feasible.
I was able to go to more bars and restaurants than I normally would, because I didn’t have to deal with parking – I’m one of those people who won’t go to a restaurant if it takes more than 5 minutes to figure out where to park.
Overall, I’d have to say my COTA experiences have been very positive. I do wish COTA had more late-night routes, because we ended up having to get a taxi a few times after hitting the bar (although, I’m not sure I’d ride alone late at night). Also, a lack of weekend buses was a problem. Once, when taking the #84 home from Target, I was the last person to depart from the bus, and the driver simply switched the overhead sign to “GARAGE” when I left, even though there were 7 or 8 stops left on the route; I wonder how they can just skip the rest of the route like that.
Last of all, yes, there are MANY interesting people riding the COTA – they have been the source of many great stories for my non-COTA-riding friends.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m thinking about trying out the COTA challenge this spring sometime. See how it goes.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m thinking about trying out the COTA challenge this spring sometime. See how it goes.
But with the new home and better locks, there is now no excuse for you not to get out on the bikes w/ us.
A.
Having a working bike is a good reason.
That and being a wimp in the cold is another. :?
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m thinking about trying out the COTA challenge this spring sometime. See how it goes.
Do you know which COTA lines service The KLD?
Overall, I’d have to say my COTA experiences have been very positive. I do wish COTA had more late-night routes, because we ended up having to get a taxi a few times after hitting the bar (although, I’m not sure I’d ride alone late at night).
Semi-COTA related story. Back when Long St used to be the cool place to hang out my friend and I walked out of the bar around 2am and walked to High St to flag down a cab. After a few minutes of frantic waving no cabs stopped. Soon after a COTA bus with “garage” flipped on stopped. The driver was on his way back, gave us a ride home free. Not only did he take us down High St. He dropped us off at my front door on Michigan Ave. I wish somebody would have been up to see the COTA bus drop us off at our door. It was a very bizzarre ride. We chatted with the driver the whole way home and he kept talking about putting the bus on the sidewalk and running over pedestrians. In hindsight I really hope that guy didn’t steal a COTA bus and go joy riding at 2am……
You have no idea how much I would love to steal a COTA bus and just drive around and pick people up.
That is one weird story. I think somewhere out there there is a guy with a “this one time I stole a COTA bus and picked up these two random people…” story.
The 6, 11, and 16 stop just around the corner within a 30 second walk. We’re also a short walk from the 10 on Broad St.
There’s quite a few places these four routes can take us, and connections to other routes seem pretty easy.
At least on paper. I’m going to try to explore a bit more soon. And write some internets about it.
That is one weird story. I think somewhere out there there is a guy with a “this one time I stole a COTA bus and picked up these two random people…” story.
There was a Seinfeld kinda like that. Kramer fended off a guy on the bus, kicked him off and continued driving the bus, and picking up people and dropping them off at their stops because “they kept ringing the bell”.
The 6, 11, and 16 stop just around the corner within a 30 second walk. We’re also a short walk from the 10 on Broad St.
There’s quite a few places these four routes can take us, and connections to other routes seem pretty easy.
At least on paper. I’m going to try to explore a bit more soon. And write some internets about it.
Dude, take the 16 bus. That’s what I take to work. Soon we can ride around together!! How fun!
That is one weird story. I think somewhere out there there is a guy with a “this one time I stole a COTA bus and picked up these two random people…” story.
Dude, do it. Kossuth and Pearl. Call me.
I think we’d be riding it in opposite directions most of the time.
I think we’d be riding it in opposite directions most of the time.
So, we’ll go round and round a couple times to catch up.
Now everybody cool is riding the bus and I feel left out. :(
I wish it went to my work.
Seriously.
I could really use that time to do some homework or something.
I was on this date with some chick at Bodega maybe a year ago. We walked down to the UDF to get a pack of Reds. Walking back it started raining very hard so we ducked into the COTA stop shelter at 1st and High by the Donatos. It was about 1 AM, way after COTA stops service. We started making out in the bus shelter for awhile and some mini-van pulled up and this hillbilly dude asked if we needed a ride.!? I politly declined and the hillbilly min-van guy took off. I said to my date, “Wow COTA is really down-sizing” she laughed and we kissed for awhile. The rain stoped 20 minutes later and I walked her to her car. I never got laid though, but she was a hoot- a funny girl is rare. But I would never seriously date a non-cyclisty anyway.
February 1, 2008 by Jeff
Calculating costs between methods of transit is not necessarily comparing apples to apples. A car ride to work, while the same destination by bus, occurs over less miles because a car takes a more direct route. Cost per mile becomes skewed. We’ll have to look at this, for comparative reasons, by “tripsâ€Â.
Here’s the breakdown.
Total bus trips taken: 39
Total car trips taken: 18
A total of 57 trips taken in a motorized vehicle. Trips on foot, of which there were many, are not taken into account.
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