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YouTubeCOTA board authorizes massive expansion in 2011.
Would surely like to see a route up Sawmill Rd and possibly a cross town route via 161 terminating at Tuttle Mall in Dublin.
Where would you like to see COTA establish service ?
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Transit
COTA Service Changes/Updates/Additions in 2011
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economic guru
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Posted 1 year ago # -
pez
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economic guru wrote >>
COTA board authorizes massive expansion in 2011.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/15/COTA_board_votes_on_new_budgetx_service_expansion.html
Would surely like to see a route up Sawmill Rd and possibly a cross town route via 161 terminating at Tuttle Mall in Dublin.
Where would you like to see COTA establish service ?+1
Posted 1 year ago # -
chucky
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Sawmill Rd for sure makes a lot of sense. I've wondered for years why there is no service with all the stores, condos, homes, apartments.
161 service...kind of like the Morse Rd route, sounds reasonable.
I think it's way past time COTA start serving the largest shopping mall in the state of Ohio - POLARIS. Thousands of people work up there.
economic guru wrote >>
COTA board authorizes massive expansion in 2011.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/15/COTA_board_votes_on_new_budgetx_service_expansion.html
Would surely like to see a route up Sawmill Rd and possibly a cross town route via 161 terminating at Tuttle Mall in Dublin.
Where would you like to see COTA establish service ?Posted 1 year ago # -
bjones7
Worthington Ohio
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This post should be in transit. Does anyone have any stats or maps on COTA Service in 2001 (2001-2007) . I've been hearing for a long time of all the "past routes" Yet I don't remember any of the routes prior to 2007. Can anyone help me out? Past routes? Remember them? Got a map? Thanks!
Posted 1 year ago # -
jpizzow
580 N. Park St.
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"A major new route scheduled to begin next September will connect hospitals and universities: It will include stops near Riverside Methodist Hospital, the Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus State Community College, the Columbus College of Art and Design, Franklin University, Grant Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital"
Sounds like a great light rail or streetcar line to me.
Posted 1 year ago # -
economic guru
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This may help some, of what transpired years ago.
http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5621.0
bjones7 wrote >>
This post should be in transit. Does anyone have any stats or maps on COTA Service in 2001 (2001-2007) . I've been hearing for a long time of all the "past routes" Yet I don't remember any of the routes prior to 2007. Can anyone help me out? Past routes? Remember them? Got a map? Thanks!Posted 1 year ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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chucky wrote >>
I think it's way past time COTA start serving the largest shopping mall in the state of Ohio - POLARIS. Thousands of people work up there.The Polaris area is already served by the Express Route #29 from Downtown to the Polaris Area (including Chase HQ):
http://www.cota.com/assets/Riding-Cota/Schedules/Current/029.pdf
I doubt that's an adequate route for many people to get to/from work though as many people are spread out over a wide region who work there and Polaris is not a central hub on our hub-and-spoke style system.
I'm not sure what ridership would be like to make some sort of "Far North Side Commuter" line that tangles through various suburban subdivisions to get people to their Polaris jobs, but I'd love to hear what sort of ideas that others have on what that sort of route should look like.
Another issue that would definitely need to be addressed is a new form of funding to support bus transit in those suburban communities. We'd ultimately need some sort of regional funding mechanism to service customers outside of Franklin County. But in the shorter term, perhaps bus service on a suburban commuter route could run closer to $4-$5 per ride if the service area is spread further out and requires more miles traveled for fewer passengers being carried.
Posted 1 year ago # -
economic guru
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That's not good enough, drop you off at Polaris at 8 am and the stores don't open until 10 ? Then you can't get a ride back down for several hours, you're kidding me.
I'm not looking to go into various subdivisions, just go to the largest shopping venue in the entire state with stops along the way.
I don't know, maybe a designate a # 2P for Polaris that runs up High Street to Worthington Galena Rd.
Walker wrote >>
chucky wrote >>
I think it's way past time COTA start serving the largest shopping mall in the state of Ohio - POLARIS. Thousands of people work up there.The Polaris area is already served by the Express Route #29 from Downtown to the Polaris Area (including Chase HQ):
http://www.cota.com/assets/Riding-Cota/Schedules/Current/029.pdf
I doubt that's an adequate route for many people to get to/from work though as many people are spread out over a wide region who work there and Polaris is not a central hub on our hub-and-spoke style system.
I'm not sure what ridership would be like to make some sort of "Far North Side Commuter" line that tangles through various suburban subdivisions to get people to their Polaris jobs, but I'd love to hear what sort of ideas that others have on what that sort of route should look like.
Another issue that would definitely need to be addressed is a new form of funding to support bus transit in those suburban communities. We'd ultimately need some sort of regional funding mechanism to service customers outside of Franklin County. But in the shorter term, perhaps bus service on a suburban commuter route could run closer to $4-$5 per ride if the service area is spread further out and requires more miles traveled for fewer passengers being carried.Posted 1 year ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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economic guru
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I imagine it could serve a dual purpose.
I've ridden the 18 many a times, when my car was in the shop and didn't want to rent wheels. The OSU kids want a bus to Polaris, at least ones I've spoken to that go to Tuttle.
I would imagine the rest of Columbus would as well.
COTA does on certain routes just stretch beyond the county borders, which describes the Polaris area. After all, wasn't it Columbus that provided millions in funding for the roads there to begin with ?
Walker wrote >>
economic guru wrote >>
That's not good enough, drop you off at Polaris at 8 am and the stores don't open until 10 ? Then you can't get a ride back down for several hours, you're kidding me.Chucky was talking about a route for work commuters, not shoppers.
Posted 1 year ago # -
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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Walker wrote >>
chucky wrote >>
I think it's way past time COTA start serving the largest shopping mall in the state of Ohio - POLARIS. Thousands of people work up there.The Polaris area is already served by the Express Route #29 from Downtown to the Polaris Area (including Chase HQ):
http://www.cota.com/assets/Riding-Cota/Schedules/Current/029.pdf
I doubt that's an adequate route for many people to get to/from work though as many people are spread out over a wide region who work there and Polaris is not a central hub on our hub-and-spoke style system.
I'm not sure what ridership would be like to make some sort of "Far North Side Commuter" line that tangles through various suburban subdivisions to get people to their Polaris jobs, but I'd love to hear what sort of ideas that others have on what that sort of route should look like.
Another issue that would definitely need to be addressed is a new form of funding to support bus transit in those suburban communities. We'd ultimately need some sort of regional funding mechanism to service customers outside of Franklin County. But in the shorter term, perhaps bus service on a suburban commuter route could run closer to $4-$5 per ride if the service area is spread further out and requires more miles traveled for fewer passengers being carried.I have a few of ideas on this that I'd like to study in more detail.
-Create a route connecting the Crosswoods to the Polaris area along Sancus Blvd (lots of apartments, Chase HQ, and Polaris Towne Center giant big box strip mall) that is timed to meet up with the #2 at the Crosswoods park & ride (or just run some of the #2 trips beyond the Crosswoods). As a side note, if you add an east-west route along Park/Main connecting the Crosswoods to uptown Westerville, you could think about calling the Crossswoods a "transportation center." It may even be worth building one of those Easton-like outposts to let people wait inside.
-Create an all-day version of the #31 (maybe half-hour headways at first?) that would run all the way up to Polaris. I call this the #2X because it's express compared to the #2.
-Extend the #1 to the mall by heading west on Polaris instead of going east to the Ohio Health building at Africa Rd. This would probably mean you need to find a different way to serve the Ohio Health building. Maybe that new east-west route I was talking about could head north along State Street and turn back to the west to get to that building?
-Create a #1X route that makes limited stops on Cleveland Ave and heads west to Polaris.
-Implement my crazy I-71 freeway BRT idea.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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economic guru wrote >>
I imagine it could serve a dual purpose.Of course it could, but there are different considerations to be made as far as routes and timetables and such go. I was only speaking to the commuter point earlier as it was the point brought up earlier.
economic guru wrote >>
I've ridden the 18 many a times, when my car was in the shop and didn't want to rent wheels. The OSU kids want a bus to Polaris, at least ones I've spoken to that go to Tuttle.
I would imagine the rest of Columbus would as well.I'm not familiar with ridership numbers between OSU & Tuttle, but it would be interesting to research to see if there is value there. My general impression is that stores at Polaris are a bit more expensive than their counterparts at Tuttle, so would that carry over for a student population that generally has less expendable shopping dollars?
As for "the rest of Columbus", I imagine no one would object to having easy, direct and timely bus service to Polaris. The problem lies in creating a bus line that does that for "the rest of Columbus". Props to John Wirtz for taking a stab at it.
economic guru wrote >>
COTA does on certain routes just stretch beyond the county borders, which describes the Polaris area. After all, wasn't it Columbus that provided millions in funding for the roads there to begin with ?Yeah, I imagine Columbus paid for that infrastructure since Polaris is within the City of Columbus, despite also being in Delaware County.
I will have to look back on some older documents (or just ask John Wirtz) but I was under the impression that a significant portion of COTA's funding comes from within Franklin County? If so, should Franklin County taxpayers be expected to fund transit services further and further in Delaware County? Or could a more regional approach be explored to start equally sharing the load?
Posted 1 year ago # -
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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Walker wrote >>
Yeah, I imagine Columbus paid for that infrastructure since Polaris is within the City of Columbus, despite also being in Delaware County.
I will have to look back on some older documents (or just ask John Wirtz) but I was under the impression that a significant portion of COTA's funding comes from within Franklin County? If so, should Franklin County taxpayers be expected to fund transit services further and further in Delaware County? Or could a more regional approach be explored to start equally sharing the load?I think COTA's service area includes a small part of Delaware and Fairfield Counties. Polaris might be in there. I really don't know for sure, but I suspect that it is since it's already served by an express route.
I thought of another issue. The mall's owner would have to grant permission to COTA to set up bus stops and use the property for bus service. You would think this would be a no-brainer for the mall, "Yeah we'd like more customers." But they might not want "those people" at their mall.
Posted 1 year ago # -
bjones7
Worthington Ohio
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I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of "Limited" route/stop created on the major lines (1,2,10,etc). For the people who have never heard of Limited lines, they "skip" the "minor" stops or stops that seems not to pick as many people up (yet have people waiting at them), and pick people up from a "limited" number of stops. Now before you go thinking, this is the same thing as an EXPRESS route, NOPE they are not the same!
Limited routes run all day. They run every 10-25 mins (instead) of 8-10 mins. Even if you put limited stops for the #2(example only): @ 3-4 stops downtown, 3-4 stops OSU area, 3-stops Clintonville area, 2 stops Worthington area, 1 stop Marcus area, they still saves a commuter a notable amount of time.(The stops are for example ONLY.)
The up side to "Limited Routes" are that you can run these lines all day (from 6am-7pm) by simply reducing/redirecting the number of "Local routes"(for that route. So if you have 7 buses-#2 North High, 2-3 would be Limited). They help out with EXPRESS routes (like the #31) during peak times, they're faster than "local" routes, and they're pretty successful in other cities. Now I'm not saying Columbus should have what other cities have, when it comes to "Limited routes", but we should at least have something that allows BUS commuters to get to point A to point B a little faster and not cost us tax payers a arm and a leg to fund it!
I would like to know what you guys think?
Posted 1 year ago # -
economic guru
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In 2007 Mayor Colemam commissioned a study on the Northwest quadrant of Columbus.
On page 33 of the study, it recommends COTA have bus service on Sawmill and 161.
http://assets.columbus.gov/development/planning/NorthwestAreaPlanDraft.pdf
Going on 4 years later and still nothing. Does the right hand know what the left is doing ?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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johnwirtz wrote >>
Urbanboi wrote >>
I would like to see more frequent stops and late night service in the inner city.More frequent stops, seriously? The buses stop like every 600 feet.
+1
If anything we need fewer stops for most routes through the inner city. The #2 is one of the slowest routes and it's partly because the bus stops at every single block. All stops should be at least a 1/4 mile apart.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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economic guru wrote >>
In 2007 Mayor Colemam commissioned a study on the Northwest quadrant of Columbus.
On page 33 of the study, it recommends COTA have bus service on Sawmill and 161.
http://assets.columbus.gov/development/planning/NorthwestAreaPlanDraft.pdf
Going on 4 years later and still nothing. Does the right hand know what the left is doing ?Plenty of studies have recommended rail service across the metropolitan cities of Ohio too.
Posted 1 year ago #
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