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One of the most frequently requested COTA upgrades on Columbus Underground would have to be the addition of a late night weekend bus route serving High Street that runs until the bars close down. It sounds like COTA has been listening to your requests.
On September 11th, COTA will be launching a new route (numbered appropriately as the #21) that will run a loop from the Clintonville area down High Street to the Arena District from 8pm to 3am on Friday an Saturday nights. Buses will run every 30 minutes.
The only thing the line needs now is a catchy nickname. Any suggestions?
Update (7/31/09) – The #21 bus route will officially run every 30 minutes from 8pm to 3am (previously reported as 7pm to 2:30am). The route will run from the Park of Roses to Downtown on High Street where it loop clockwise at Spring, Front, and Nationwide before heading northbound again. The new route will begin running on Friday, September 11th.
Update (8/24/09) – The #21 bus route is going to be starting service early, as requested by the SNBA. The first weekend of service will take place on September 4th and 5th, in time for Gallery Hop.
“The 21″?
This is the best thing ever! So many times have my friends and I thought, “Well, we’ll just take the #2 down, and walk back!” only to find that we were too tired to make the trek and paid the $10 cab fare.
Booze Bus
Took them long enough
+1 for Booze Bus.
Very excited about this!!! Many years in the waiting…
It was either before my time, or before I was paying attention, but I believe COTA did something similar to this a few years ago, but canceled it due to low ridership.
If you want to see this be a success, I’d recommend utilizing it, and making everyone you know aware that it exists! ;)
I just wish it went further south to, I dunno, the Brewery District? Maybe that’ll be a future extension, hmm? But what about the pedi-cabbers?
+1 Columbusite. Why stop at the Arena District? I mean, it’s going all the way up to Clintonville.
How about we just run all bus lines later? ;) I’ll take late night service on the 6, 11, and 16.
Hmm. While Booze Bus seems appropriate I’m going to guess that, atleast the final bus out of the station, will be more like the Barf Barge.
This is great news, and it doesn’t only benefit those who are about to ralph. Of course anyone who has a few drinks should take advantage of this bus. But more, anyone going to events at the Arena, Convention Center, the Wex, etc. can avoid the hassles of parking and not have to monitor the clock to catch that last #2 bus.
I only hope that it runs frequently enough. Nobody is going to wait at a bus-stop for 45 minutes.
Two things:
1. Would be nice if this bus had something on it to make it stick out. Ex. painted differently, maybe brighter colors or something
2. The only other piece that worries me is safety. Put a bunch of drunk d-bags in a tight place and I’ll bank on at least one fight per night.
@surber17
If it’s the only bus running at night, doesn’t it already stick out?
And believe me, drunk d-bags are still going to hop in their SUVs to drive home.
Agreed on both, esp the d-bags … ha!
It’s hard to match supply and demand on routes like this. I think it’d be great to have it go every 30 between 11:00 and 1:00 and then every 15 between 1:15 and 2:15 (which is when people start piling out of AD bars), but that’s probably unrealistic. Also, with the last route canceled for low ridership, I think it’s probably safer for COTA to start with less frequent service and move up. One bus can carry a decent number of people, even ones whose balance means they need more room.
P.S. Idle curiosity … what is the maximum capacity of a single, typical COTA bus?
I don’t think the route will be successful if the buses are infrequent. Sure, it would be cheaper to run them once an hour, but 1. few people will use it as it just isn’t convenient, and 2. when special events let out, the one bus will be overrun, leaving patrons farther up the line to watch the full bus roll by without stopping. That happened with the Blue Jacket games a few years ago. In either event, it make for a failed-effort as people will not use a bus that is not convenient or reliable.
I think there are studies as to how long an average person is willing to wait for transit. The bus time/frequency should be designed to succeeed at the outset. If not, then #21 will not be expanded due to crowding, rather it will likely be scrapped for lack of ridership, despite demand.
Hurray for more buses when I’ll actually use them!
Considering that this will be pretty much the only route running this late those night, I don’t think COTA is going to have much of an issue getting frequency and capacity dialed in.
They have a pretty good fleet of buses available at that time to address any issues. Maybe keep a couple idling just off the route ready to go?
@surber17
Good idea. I propose this design
Gram,
A standard 40 foot bus typically has approximately 40 seats and can hold approximately 60 passengers including standees.