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COTA upgrade: No more free bus rides for OSU alumni
By Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday September 19, 2011
One of the perks of an Ohio State University diploma — free bus rides as long as the driver doesn’t notice that your student ID has expired — is coming to an end.
Technology upgrades by Ohio State and the Central Ohio Transit Authority mean students will have to swipe their BuckID at the fare box as they board COTA buses.
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Gosh, I thought I'd at least get free rides until my student loans were paid off ;)
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I've always been kind of surprised to hear when pro-transit friends use expired BuckIDs to ride the bus. It sounds like most everyone in this city wants COTA to improve, so I don't understand the mentality cheating them out of their fares.
Is $1.75 that expensive?
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Not expensive, but very inconvenient. I never have cash on hand, much less small bills and change - my change is in my car for parking meters! If I could buy something like a metrocard and be able to keep it on me at all times then I'd be good. Think of the surge of cash to COTA if they did this. I'd buy $20 and it would probably last me years, but they've still got my money. Everyone wins!
I've only "planned" to ride the bus twice in the almost 6 years I've lived here, but have ridden it maybe 5 or 6 times total. I don't think my $7 is the make or break that gets COTA functioning in a way that I would be a regular rider. Besides, in my 5 quarters at OSU I more than paid for the rides I received ;)
heresthecasey
OSU
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Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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somertimeoh said:
Not expensive, but very inconvenient. I never have cash on hand, much less small bills and change - my change is in my car for parking meters! If I could buy something like a metrocard and be able to keep it on me at all times then I'd be good. Think of the surge of cash to COTA if they did this. I'd buy $20 and it would probably last me years, but they've still got my money. Everyone wins!
Yeah, convenience is a huge factor. I rarely carry cash myself, and frequently find myself in situations where I wish I had it.
I agree that a rechargeable card would be good for casual ridership. Hopefully we'll see that implemented sometime soon...
ohiogirlie74
Short North/ Italian Village
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Agree on the update to prepaid/ reloadable cards - or what about a credit/debit card reader? If they can rig up a parking meter with one, surely they can fit one on a bus. Or, would the transaction processing take too long?
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Walker said:
Yeah, convenience is a huge factor. I rarely carry cash myself, and frequently find myself in situations where I wish I had it.I agree that a rechargeable card would be good for casual ridership. Hopefully we'll see that implemented sometime soon...
I'm never going to buy a Cota card (even a rechargeable one) and rarely carry cash. If parking meters can accept debit cards, I'm not sure why Cota can't? They also seemed to do away with their tracking buses online service - which doesn't seem like it should be that complicated?
jimbach
Short North (WP division)
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A card reader on a bus would require some sort of wireless connection, which would take a really long time. It takes a while for a parking meter to run your debit/credit card, now imagine a bunch of people getting on a COTA bus doing the same thing. It would take 5 minutes every stop during busy periods.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Mercurius said:
I'm never going to buy a Cota card (even a rechargeable one) and rarely carry cash. If parking meters can accept debit cards, I'm not sure why Cota can't? They also seemed to do away with their tracking buses online service - which doesn't seem like it should be that complicated?
Futzing around with credit card swipers, connections, printing receipts, etc... would not help with boarding times and keeping buses on schedule.
Are there any bus or train systems in the world that take credit cards at fare boxes while boarding? I'm doubtful.
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Walker said:
Futzing around with credit card swipers, connections, printing receipts, etc... would not help with boarding times and keeping buses on schedule.Are there any bus or train systems in the world that take credit cards at fare boxes while boarding? I'm doubtful.
Ticket vending machines would be fine too - as long as they accept debit/credit cards and are frequent enough to find. Still not sure why wireless connectivity is such a problem. It takes about the same amount of time to swipe a card and print a receipt as trying to come up with the right change and drop it into a coin slot one at a time.
ohiogirlie74
Short North/ Italian Village
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Yeah, maybe they could set up swipe-card-get-fare-token type machines at stops?
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Mercurius said:
http://uk.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/london-bus-accept-contactless-cards-1359.php
Cool, thanks for the link. Will be interesting to see how it works out when they attempt this next year. Would also be interesting to know how much this type of infrastructure upgrade would cost for a system like COTA and whether or not it would be cost effective.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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An interesting take on the topic at XING:
Concept: Expanding the BuckID COTA fee model
Why not get rid of fares (or maybe just most fares) and add a small fee to every household’s property tax bill? The 2005-2009 American Community Survey showed 453,580 households in Franklin County. Again, the annual fare revenue collected by COTA was $13,817,908. To balance the current revenue, those households would need to pay $30.46 per year on average. That’s pretty small compared to a typical property tax bill of several thousand dollars. It’s even small compared to the cost of a monthly pass. But now everyone in the service area can ride the bus as much as they want without the hassle of buying tickets, monthly passes, or having exact change.
MORE: http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/concept-expanding-the-buckid-cota-fee-model/
lakeerietransplant
On the outskirts of Yuppieville (Weinland Park)
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Walker said:
An interesting take on the topic at XING:Concept: Expanding the BuckID COTA fee model
Why not get rid of fares (or maybe just most fares) and add a small fee to every household’s property tax bill? The 2005-2009 American Community Survey showed 453,580 households in Franklin County. Again, the annual fare revenue collected by COTA was $13,817,908. To balance the current revenue, those households would need to pay $30.46 per year on average. That’s pretty small compared to a typical property tax bill of several thousand dollars. It’s even small compared to the cost of a monthly pass. But now everyone in the service area can ride the bus as much as they want without the hassle of buying tickets, monthly passes, or having exact change.
MORE: http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/concept-expanding-the-buckid-cota-fee-model/
Most people do not or will not ride public transportation. Charging people for a service that they don't use is not right to me.
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