COTA Ridership Up Significantly in 2008
Press Release:
COTA’s Growth Outpaces Transit Agencies in Ohio and Nationally
The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) provided over 16.4 million passenger trips in 2008, an increase of nearly 10 percent over 2007. On an average weekday, 57,000 passenger trips are taken on COTA.
Nationally, public transit ridership was up 4 percent in 2008 according to a report released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) on Monday. Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation last year, the highest level of ridership in 52 years.
COTA’s ridership increase was among the highest among comparable transit authorities. Along with volatile fuel prices, COTA’s ongoing service expansion program and the upgrading of its bus fleet are making transit a convenient and economical option for central Ohio residents.
“We are pleased to welcome more customers to COTA,” said Bill Lhota, President/CEO. “Fortunately we are able to accommodate the higher demand for transit by adding more service and new routes.”
COTA is expanding service by 60,000 hours annually by adding service to its busiest routes, introducing service to new destinations and adding new express routes. The Authority is acquiring 40 new coaches annually, adding Park & Ride locations, investing in the renovation of its fixed-route bus facilities, and constructing a new facility for Mainstream, its demand response service for people with disabilities.
The increases in 2008 are continuing in 2009. For the week ending March 1, COTA ridership was up 7.6 percent over the same week a year ago. Year-to-date ridership is up 4.5 percent.
“The fact that our ridership continues to grow indicates that commuters are realizing significant savings by opting for public transit over driving,” Lhota said. “Our challenge is to continue expanding the system while maintaining a high level of customer service.”
To see the complete APTA ridership report go to http://www.apta.com/research/stats/ridership
For more information about COTA, log on to www.cota.com or call (614) 228-1776.
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Related Tags: buses • commute • COTA • ridership • Transit • transportation
March 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Bravo to folks using public transportation.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
And yet people will still claim the buses run empty…
Great job COTA!
March 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I know I added to that number during -0 weather.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I’m particularly impressed by this: “COTA’s ridership increase was among the highest among comparable transit authorities.“
Nice.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Is this the work of COTA or is this simply the economy and the economics of commuting playing out? I don’t have the answer, just asking the question.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I think it’s a little of everything.
I’ve noticed, since partially moving back with my parents and catching rides in the morning, that COTA has advertising on 610 for the express services.
I think it’s partly the service changes. We have a few new park and rides, routes have been extended, service seems better (walked out of lunch today, saw my bus go past and thought I was in for a wait. Nope, another bus just behind I was able to catch.) and it seems a bit more efficient.
Seems the economy is playing a role. Paying $60 for an express pass for the month and having “reliable” transportation is probably far better for some folks than having the car die on them. I think the gas spike last summer helped people reach the breaking point, we saw numbers rise despite gas falling.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
This may seem counter-intuitive, but I read somewhere that a struggling economy actually reduces ridership on transit because people who lose their jobs aren’t commuting to work everyday. Now, this could be counteracted by people who are just having to cut back so they take the bus instead of driving.
Keep up this momentum and maybe a streetcar will be in our future…
March 9th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I bet the economy had something to do with this part:
Nationally, public transit ridership was up 4 percent in 2008. Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation last year, the highest level of ridership in 52 years.
And COTA had something to do with this part:
The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) provided over 16.4 million passenger trips in 2008, an increase of nearly 10 percent over 2007.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Lots of great additional data & analysis over at XING: LINK
March 10th, 2009 at 5:05 am
I honestly thought that more than 57,000 trips were taken on the system/day. I heard some people say that ridership was up by like 20% too - not that 10% is bad.
Keep in mind though, 57,000 trips is actually about 28,500 PEOPLE using the system per day, since most people obvi need to take two trip segments to get back home. What would be more interesting to know is, what percentage of Cbus commuters take public transit? That would be a far more useful metric.
They could significantly increase ridership if they built bus shelters, and put up schedules at the bus stops. That would draw more users to the network than say….. well, i wont go there, but I think you know might know where im going with this.
The true test is whether COTA can sustain these numbers when gas prices are relatively low, and our economy isnt in shambles. Otherwise, I dunno if 2011 or 2012 will offer such hopeful figures for COTA.
March 10th, 2009 at 7:21 am
“The true test is whether COTA can sustain these numbers when gas prices are relatively low”
Ridership has continued to increase under rock bottom gas prices the last several months.
Considering gas prices were down 60% or so from the year before, same week, I’d say that’s your answer.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Karl,
Census journey to work data showed a 2.3% transit mode share for the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area. But that’s only for work trips and it’s old data since the census was last done in 2000.
Am I the only nerd looking forward to the 2010 Census?
April 25th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
COTA keeps rolling - Lower gas prices haven’t stopped ridership increase
Saturday, April 25, 2009 2:02 PM
BY BILL BUSH
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
When gasoline prices surged to more than $4 a gallon last summer, the number of COTA riders surged along with it.
Ridership is still up, even though gas prices plunged to under $2 late last year. The 3.84 million passenger trips on COTA during the first three months of this year is up about 6 percent over that quarter last year , and up about 12 percent over the first quarter of 2007.
READ MORE