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COTA will be ringing in the new year by adding more late night service to almost all of their major routes as a part of their ongoing regular service updates.
During the weekdays, bus routes 1 though 11 plus 16 and 18 will have new/updated Downtown lineups at 11pm and Midnight, which means that each bus will be running their final routes later than before. Service expansion on weekends means the same 11pm and Midnight lineups for the same bus routes on Saturday, and new 8pm and 9pm lineups on Sunday.
The new changes are scheduled to take effect on January 4th, 2010. The full detailed list of service updates can be found by clicking here (PDF). More information can be found online at www.cota.com.
I’m personally very excited about this news, especially the late night service on Saturdays. The recent addition of the #21 has been nice for being able to stay out late on High Street and not have to worry about taxis, designated drivers, or parking in general. But for someone who lives on the Near East Side it meant calling it an early night and making it back Downtown by 10pm for the final line-up or risk walking the final mile home in the cold. Having all of those routes running later at 11pm and 12pm means being able to spend more disposable income on local entertainment and stimulate the economy. ;)
Seriously though, I hope all of these late night routes are supported well by the public. Perhaps someday soon we might even see some additional lines running until 3am on the weekends like the #21? (My vote would be for the 1, 2 (and do away with the 21) and 10).
This is terrific news for hotel, restaurant and other hospitality workers.
I’m getting annoyed by COTA. Today I waited 25 minutes for a Number Two. Yes that is right– 25 minutes at 10:50 a.m. to catch a bus to campus area from the Short North on the city’s busiest corridor. I could have gotten there faster if I had walked, and I seriously thought about it. What was worse, two Number twos were stacked up behind each other when one finally arrived. A couple weeks ago, I had a friend down from Clintonville and I waited with her for 45 minutes at 10 p.m. at the bus stop for her ride back before one finally came. I am a big fan of public transport, but COTA is not living up to my (very) basic expectations lately. To me, (I’m a city buff) it’s beginning to not be worth the wait which is sad. Good luck with the Night Owl, but I’d rather see improvements in the main day line first. Sorry for this negative post, but hell, our big city bus system is small town. Very frustrating.
Sorry to hear about the problems you’ve been having, Kyle. I honestly don’t ride the #2 very often, but your complaints aren’t the only ones I hear about it on a regular basis. I wonder how many of COTA’s logged complaints are in regards to the #2.
Walker, I agree about getting rid of the #21 and just having the #2 run night owl… the #21 completely leaves out Worthington. COTA also needs to run more #2 busses. One time not only did I have to wait long in the cold, but three #2s ending at Graceland passed before finally a Crosswoods came. I live inbetween Crosswoods and Polaris (“Flint” if you will) and a stop should be closer to me and my community than there is. Currently, I have to walk 20 min to catch a bus (and believe me, I do catch it!)
Instead of going out-and-back Willson Bridge rd and then making a loop around the dead Crosswoods, the #2 should continue North and East to connect Polaris mall to everything down High, not to mention unserved roads where a lot of developement has and is taking place. (FLINT, PARK, SANCUS, LAZELLE, WORTHINGTON WOODS, just to name a few)
Kyle, I have that same experience pretty regularly. I ride from campus to Short North to downtown and it can be terribly unreliable.
When I take COTA I check the real-time GPS map first if possible. Otherwise, I just walk in the direction I need to go and if it’s still worth my while I’ll hop on the bus. COTA still needs to take my advice and cut out the burbs except for park & rides. Check out this bus stop on #47: LINK
Should COTA be running buses here or make service more reliable where more than one person takes the bus like High St?
I think fewer stops in the high ridership areas would increase the reliability of the route. Just remove half the stops in each direction between downtown and Hudson Street.
You’ll see there are many housing complexes West of the bus stop Columbusite showed us. To mention cutting all suburban routes just to have more intercity routes is kind of bogus. People who aren’t lucky enough to live in convenient areas like the Short North need to get around too.
alove Says: People who aren’t lucky enough to live in convenient areas like the Short North need to get around too.
Heh. I didn’t realize that luck had much to do with living in the Short North. ;) My house in the King Lincoln District sits directly on three bus lines and is two blocks from a fourth. It was one of the factors we considered when buying our home. We didn’t luck/unluck into any of that.
I don’t think cutting suburban routes is the answer, as most other transit systems do serve parts of their city’s suburbs.
That said, Columbus has an abundance of affordable housing within the outer belt that is very transit friendly. Like the west side in the Hilltop. Our focus should be making city transit easier. Then worry about the suburbs.
If I want walkable neighborhoods with access to transit, I’ll live in the city. If I want easy access to the freeway I’ll live in the ‘burbs. Or if I am just poor, trying to save money and have parents willing to deal with me.
Before this turns into an all out central v suburbs thread, let’s acknowledge that this is awesome progress and must be an indication that a younger demographic is using transit.
I would be more than happy to organize a #5 bar crawl. It would end a little earlier than the @21s, but hey, that is why you start during happy hour. I’ll be looking forward to January 4th, when I no longer have to catch the 10:something #5 back home!
^^^ # 5 doesn’t run that often at night (or at least as long as the # 2), haha….
I don’t have many problems with the # 2 (only on days of home OSU football games, grrrr), because I usually ride it from the east side to downtown/Short North…
Since the # 1 goes to the Ohio Health/Westerville Medical Campus on Polaris Pkwy., they should extend it out to the State St/Maxtown area.
they should extend the # 83 back out to Hilliard again too.
BCNation Says: # 5 doesn’t run that often at night (or at least as long as the # 2), haha….
Did you read the original post up at the top? The part about later service that starts on Monday?
I think that “younger demographic” is what’s saving the city and it’s culture. Our generation is fixing all the mistakes made by previous generations. Yes, “I am just poor, trying to save money and have parents willing to deal with me,” but I bet you weren’t trying to improve your city when you were 19.
No, I was usually on campus killing my liver.
Gotta love the kids. They always think they’re the first ones to do anything. Adorable. Don’t worry, in 20 years, kids will be bad mouthing your generation too. (and you too will be amused by people who don’t know what the hell they are talking about).
^ Really. The Short North wouldn’t be what it is today without the people doing the work 20-30 years ago.
Whatever. At least me and others my age spice up Columbus and add interest to the city.
Sass? Really? That’s the best you can do?
So has every generation before, and so will every generation after. You are nothing new, or particularly interesting. (At least by your responses so far)