gramarye wrote So, to summarize:

The biggest argument in favor of COTA is efficiency.

The biggest argument against COTA is COTA.

:(

Assuming COTA would be more efficient, they shouldn’t have trouble coming in with the lowest bid, right?

COTA would probably do fine, but I think we should give private companies (example: First Transit) a chance to bid too. Maybe a private operator would do such a great job that we would want to privatize other bus routes. Maybe they wouldn’t and we could terminate their contract.

Coremodels wrote I’m not sure if I’m more irritated that the guy running COTA just “happened to notice” high gas prices on his commute…as I would think that would be something he’d try and keep up with…

or that he’s commuting that much of a distance and not riding his own service.

either way, I’m peeved LOL

I guess I’m not shocked, and therefore not pissed. How many CEOs of large Columbus organizations do you think ride COTA? Does the CEO of Walmart buy his clothes and furniture there? I don’t think jobs should have residency restrictions.

or that he’s commuting that much of a distance and not riding his own service.

either way, I’m peeved LOL

jpunkster wrote I’m still too angry at COTA to digest this – Listening to Bill Lhota introduce himself at the streetcar meeting last week and talk about the high price of gas that he noticed as he was driving into work from Licking County really got my goat, what irony! Anyone else think a stipulation of running COTA should be that you have to live on a line or try taking one of the few park & ride routes into the office?

I don’t know if that’s irony — but it’s totally shitty. I don’t trust that guy. It’s like the old rule that you should never visit a doctor with dying window plants.

Brewmaster wrote With competitive bidding, wouldn’t you run the risk of pi$$ing off COTA if they don’t win? Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but having two transit agencies fighting each other probably wouldn’t serve the public interest.

I’m usually a fan of competition, but transit agencies are a different animal. You don’t want COTA trying to put the streetcar agency out of business.

When streetcars used to run the streets of Columbus, there were multiple private companies operating lines in Downtown and elsewhere.

The lines that went out to the suburbs were developed/operated by developers trying to get residents to move to a certain area. The seling point was that someone could live outside the city and get Downtown right quick.

These lines also synched up with national heavy-rail systems that were popular when that form of travel was super common.

The biggest argument in favor of COTA is efficiency.

The biggest argument against COTA is COTA.

:(

Andrew Hall wrote See my post in the other streetcar thread about potential incarnations of the streetcar being worse than the status quo …

COTA wants its grubbies in the nice, lush, hot streetcar pie. Streetcars will come in spite of COTA and COTA should not be rewarded for decades of malfeasance.

A.

THANK YOU!

Walker wrote It’s been hinted at for a long time and I think it makes the most sense to have them manage the operations of it.

Does this mean that streetcars are never allowed to run past 6:30 p.m.?

Will they be allowed to arrive at stops at times posted on a schedule?

Will they be able to run more frequently than every 45 mintes?

gramarye wrote Honestly, I’d be in favor of having one-stop shopping for everything up until you’re at the OhioHub level (which necessarily means coordinating with polities outside central Ohio). However, until you get outside the general area roughly corresponding to MORPC’s jurisdiction, I don’t see why completely separate agencies would be necessary. Possibly not even separate branches within one agency.

One agency might make the most sense. I looked through some streetcar/trolley websites and found that all are either operated by the local transit authority or by a non-profit city-owned development corp.

Streetcars operated by transit agencies

Charlotte

Kenosha

Little Rock

Memphis

Seattle

Tampa

Toronto

Streetcars operated by non-profit corporations

Dallas

Portland

JohnWirtz wrote

cab124 wrote Does anyone know what other cities that run multiple transit system concurrently are doing in this regard?

Most cities have no problems coordinating schedules, and to a lesser extent fares, between multiple agencies.

San Francisco is in the process of implementing the Translink Card, that will be good everywhere.

NYC has the MetroCard, that seems to be good on the MTA buses and subways, but not on the commuter rails or New Jersey Transit.

That’s pretty much the same as the situation in Chicago and DC. Chicago has a Chicago Card good on CTA and PACE, but not on Metra unless you purchase a Metra LinkUp or PlusBus sticker. DC has a SmarTrip card that is good on buses, but not commuter rail and is the only way to pay to park and ride at Metrorail stations.

The thing is with those cities, the differing transit agencies are running dis-similar systems, i.e. bus/subway and commuter rail. The systems serve somewhat different purposes.

In Columbus’s case we’re talking about potentially having two separate agencies run two systems run essentially the same sort slow speed surface route. I think it would make the most sense to have COTA run the Streetcar, as it is mostly a fixed bus route.

If this were instead a commuter system I would say another transit agency might be in order.

cab124 wrote Does anyone know what other cities that run multiple transit system concurrently are doing in this regard?

Most cities have no problems coordinating schedules, and to a lesser extent fares, between multiple agencies.

San Francisco is in the process of implementing the Translink Card, that will be good everywhere.

NYC has the MetroCard, that seems to be good on the MTA buses and subways, but not on the commuter rails or New Jersey Transit.

That’s pretty much the same as the situation in Chicago and DC. Chicago has a Chicago Card good on CTA and PACE, but not on Metra unless you purchase a Metra LinkUp or PlusBus sticker. DC has a SmarTrip card that is good on buses, but not commuter rail and is the only way to pay to park and ride at Metrorail stations.