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The COTA Board of Trustees approved a fare adjustment plan that will go into effect on January 1st. A single local trip will rise in price from $1.75 to $2.00 while an express trip will rise from $2.50 to $2.75. A one-day pass will rise from $4.00 to $4.50 and a seven-day pass will rise from $22.00 to $25.00. Local transfers will remain free.
Additionally, the existing monthly pass system that operates on calendar months will change over to a new 31-day pass system that allows riders to purchase a pass during any day of the month that is good for a full 31-days of travel. The cost of the monthly pass system will rise from $55 to $62 for local travel and from $78 to $85 for express travel.
More information can be found online at www.cota.com.
Have they ever considered a yearly pass? It’d be nice to just get one permanent pass and be done.
Also having a reloadable card would be handy too like how you can reload a gift card.
I would love to see them introduce a pass that allows you to purchase a specific number of rides (1 roundtrip, 3 rides, 5 rides) instead of passes that are dated for a specific period like one week or 31 days. Unfortunately, I don’t ride frequesntly enough to warrant purchasing a weekly or monthly pass. In Atlanta’s transit system you buy “rides” not days and it seems so much more effective because you can keep the pass forever.
I think I am okay with this. I rarely have 75 cents so I end up giving $2 anyway. Good call on the 31 day pass as well. I am digging the idea of a reloadable card that has come up many times before in COTA discussions.
I am also okay with this increase as the world will probably end anyway …. :)
They absolutely need reloadable cards, and I think there should be a time-based & #of rides based options for people who use the services in different ways.
I understand why they may need to increase the fare… after visiting Austin, Texas and having a $1 bus ride from the airport to downtown, I’m a bit jealous.
How can we convince COTA to have cards for # of rides? That would be amazing. I ride the bus probably 2 times per week, so it’s never been beneficial to buy a weekly pass. I’d absolutely buy a 10 ride card.
COTA needs some serious work. Columbus and the region cannot be competitive in tomorrow’s world when a majority of Generation Y insist on living in a city with ample public transportation. Would you consider COTA as an ample public transportation system for a growing city of our size? The latest Young Professional survey showed 37% of respondents placed alternative transportation options at the top of their “wishlist”. That is up from 23% in 2007. That percentage will only continue to rise. We (Columbus) need to get real.
To provide more options as stated in the previous comments is a move in the right direction. My experience using London Transportation in the UK conveyed many ideas on how to modernize a sad transportation system such as COTA. I urge COTA and CU readers to look at least look at the Oyster Card model in order to gain short-term operating efficiencies. Mid- to long-term goals will take a political backbone from local leaders. We will never be a world-class city without a world-class transportation system.
I use COTA daily. If you are going to raise my fares, what is the trade off?
Cards based on the number of rides – it’s gotta be the lowest-hanging fruit on the tree. Even with the new fare, it’s not that often that I have $2 in bills. For occasional COTA users, the lack of such a card is one of the biggest inhibitors to more frequent use of the system. Are we at +5 or +6 now on this point?
They announced a price hike from $1.50 to $1.75 in November 2009. Kind of a bummer to see rates go up a quarter again only 2 years later. Also, the powerpoint on their website indicates they intend to raise prices every 3 years from here on out, which I didn’t know.
On the plus side, you don’t need coins anymore.
Fare Increase: They have metrics that John explained on XingColumbus. If fares should change differently, then some case has to be made for changing the metrics.
Cards Based on Rides: My understanding is that the current fare box system was not created with that in mind. If you want that to change, $$ will be needed to do it. I have no idea if the new fare box system coming online has the ability. The new system is only a minor upgrade as central Ohio does not fund transit for fancy.
Reloadable Cards: I’ve brought this up several times at COTA meetings (other than real-time info!!!!) and they look into it every few years, but the capital cost is always greater than any expected revenue. They’d really like to do it, but to spend big $$ so you will take COTA 3 times more a month just doesn’t add up. Especially since fares only cover 18-20% of operations.
As an outsider (Indy) coming back to Columbus in 2012, what progress has Columbus made towards improving public transportation? Lite rail? Express rail to suburbs? Streetcar?
I remember reading a lot about this a few years ago, but have not seen much since. With the continued Urban Renewal from Mayor Coleman, I would hope this would be on the agenda.
COTA’s business model seems to be reliant on either college students or people who have no other option. A reloadable card is the only viable option for someone like me. I’m sure they don’t care since they get money from me whether I use their “service” or not.
So, is it 31 days from the date of purchase or 31 days from the first use?
Couple of quick things…
1 – I’m in total agreement on the rechargeable cards being a necessity. It’s one of the number one things I hear over and over from friends, acquaintances and other people who are “riders of choice”. I’m not sure what sort of cost or technology implementation is required to make it a reality, but I agree with Jung that it seems like low hanging fruit.
2 – I’m a huge fan of the idea of the 31-day pass. A good step toward offering more options.
3 – In response to Marmo, the trade off for the increased fares is the increased bus hours, new service (like the 21) and increased frequency. There’s been incremental updates every 4 months for the past three years. Each time the changes are somewhat small, but overall things have really been upgraded. I’d love to see a comparison of COTA services in 2007 compared to 2011. I think the differences are pretty significant.
4 – rmandrew – Welcome back! Unfortunately, the Streetcar was shelved a few years ago with city budget issues surfacing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it resurfaces again soon though now that Coleman has won his fourth (and possibly final) term. Watch in February for the State of the City address. Also, our state’s plan for rail transit across the state was 99% ready to go, but then Kasich was elected and gave our $400M in federal funding to other states because he thought they deserved it more than we did. There is some very serious talk about a BRT line along Cleveland Avenue, which while not rail-based, could be a solid first step toward expanding our local definition on what mass/public transit should be.
5 – ehill – It’s 31 days from first use. ;)
Walker, not to Troll, but “our state’s plan for rail transit across the state was 99% ready to go, but then Kasich was elected and gave our $400M in federal funding to other states because he thought they deserved it more than we did” — are you sure that was his reason? I understand you are bitter about the loss of this so-called ”free money” but I sincerely doubt Kasich believes California is more “deserving” of this funding. Whether you agree with his decision or not, he made his reasons pretty clear for why he chose to cancel the project.
Like John Stewart, your wit and sarcasm is appreciated when it is understood as just that…but when it is confused as a fact/news — and then people start repeating it — well, then it’s just a lie.
Kasich stated that he was rejecting the funding because he’d rather see it go toward road projects in Ohio. The feds told him that it could only go to rail. Then Kasich said that he was rejecting it because he’d rather see it go toward paying down the federal deficit. The feds then told him that it would be reallocated to other states’ rail projects if Ohio didn’t want to use it.
So Kasich rejected the funds. Your guess is as good as mine as to why he went ahead and returned the money, as he was made full aware of what would be done with it. At the end of the day it was really just partisan politics at its finest. Sticking to silly ideals, even if it costs the state hundreds of millions in infrastructure development and thousands of jobs.
The money is gone. Kasich gave it to other states for their rail projects. No lie.
Were the funds for the statewide rail system? Has there been talk of light rail only in Columbus? Is that the same plan as the Streetcar?
http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/light-rail-on-columbus-wish-list/
http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2009/jan/16/coleman_talks_about_light_rail_request-ar-10330/
Marmo,
You realize that prices on all sorts of goods and services are raised all the time with no new benefits added to the products?
rmandrew – The funds were for the statewide 3C corridor that would have connected Cleveland to Columbus to Dayton to Cincinnati. The Light Rail proposal was a different project, which COTA shelved years ago. The Streetcar was a separate project too, which was put on hold by the Mayor’s office a few years ago. There are currently no active rail-based plans on the table at this point in time, though I imagine any of the three could be dusted off fairly easily as some of the initial planning and study work was already completed.