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From The Alive:
What Columbus Needs: Transportation – Moving people, not cars
By John RossRespondents to the What Columbus Needs survey agreed that the city needs to improve public transportation, with nearly 60 percent saying the system in Columbus is much worse than networks in other cities.
User-generated comments clashed on whether Columbus needs more bike paths, intercity passenger rail, streetcars or suburban trolleys. But nearly all agreed that car-centric Central Ohio needs to adopt the sort of multimodal system seen in larger, flourishing metropolises.
This really crosses several modes, but COTA is a big part of this article in Columbus Alive and part of a much larger series of stories on What Columbus Needs.
I can’t help but laugh a little bit when I read that their survey results show that 58% of respondents say that our transit system is “much worse” than other cities while in the very next question 52% reveal that they never ride COTA.
I guess you could say that some of those people can’t use it because it’s not efficient for where they want to go… but I’m willing to bet that most people have just never bothered even attempting to ride the bus and simply continue to complain about it without ever really experiencing it first hand. Almost like a child who hates broccoli without ever having tried it.
And this comment in the article is absolutely ridiculous:
I agree that we need a rail option, but I have a feeling that this guy is going to be somewhat disappointed when something is proposed and the nearest rail stop is 10 miles from his subdivision.
Not to beat up on folks in the suburbs too badly, because not everyone is guilty of this… but complaining about not having proper transit options while choosing to live in an area that lacks any kind of population density just comes off as pointless whining sometimes.
While nothing in this piece is groundbreaking news, I think John Ross did a fine job in putting it together. The one thing missing though is the list of personal solutions. Rail Transit is a tricky issue, as you can’t really do a whole lot other than advocate, but I fully believe that supporting existing COTA infrastructure is going to be the fastest way to get that infrastructure to improve. When ridership grows, service grows to accommodate.
So put your money where your mouth is and put your body on a bus.
I agree with the guy who rides the #2 and says other lines are basically a waste of time. Apparently, the #1 is supposed to be a good one, but I don’t find myself heading up Cleveland very often. Still, the #2 has proven reliable when I needed it, but otherwise I literally bike faster than the bus.
Speaking of personal solutions to car alternatives there’s always personal mobility. I recommend bikes (duh) and a wide array of other two-wheeled vehicles to get the most out of urban living.
Columbusite Says: I agree with the guy who rides the #2 and says other lines are basically a waste of time.
That’s a ridiculous way to put it. Each line is going to service different people based on where they live, where they work, and various other needs. Having additional lines that don’t service you is hardly wasting any of your time.
Not a surprise survey, as someone who doesn’t use Cota since my commute is just 3 miles (7 min. each way) as is. 3 weeks without a fill up. I would have liked to see more “suggestions” given. I am disappointed that COTA isn’t advertising rail as they should. I mean we did pass their levy and they have additional ridership, so to throw a few funds towards advertising or promoting rail isn’t too much to ask. Even Orlando who is trying to start up rail has a great web site even if they can’t get voter support in their state congress. http://www.sunrail.com/
I don’t know much detail with Columbus’s light rail plan other than the route in which it is taking. Without a way to promote it how can you get the public to back it?
I personally would love the first light rail line to travel along the existing 315 rails. (what better timing to get approval with the construction this summer) With the connection with the tech corridor, OSU, riverside and the best TOD grandview yard development opportunity it would provide a great start.
I agree that Columbus needs rail to continue to be competitive nationally even if I personally won’t be able to ride it daily.
Alot of people don’t have the first clue about rail initiatives because they’re not exposed to it enough. I don’t see any newspaper or magazine advertisements, billboards, enough websites, public forums or public television shows advocating rail service. Part of advocating involves advertizing and getting the word out, which I don’t see being done at all. All we do get is the occasion Dispatch article updating on rail progress. We can paint bike tires and hang signs in the Short North advocating biking, why can’t we do the same with rail. It just doesn’t make sense to me. People are going to think about it more if it’s “in their face” all the time.
I would still love to see a video made, very similar to the ImagineKC made. That was awesome. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out. It’s what I hope Simcity 5 will look like, if it ever gets made.
I don’t see how a line that comes by once every 45-1 hour is very convenient for people that live there and want to rely on it for work as opposed to my taking it for the hell of it to try it out and COTA failing me either by not showing up for much too long or just fake-stopping only to ignore me is indeed a waste of my time.
Yawn. Take it away younguns. Torch passed on. Godspeed.
Maybe a central ohio advocacy group needs to start in order to advertise rail? I just wish COTA would be one. If only a decent web site existed demenstating rail possibilities in Central Ohio maybe some of the public could be swayed.
I don’t know, everyone seems to want a rail system or some form of convenient mass transit other than bus but lets face it no one talks about the extreme costs associated with it. Sure NYC and DC have great systems but they are also heavily subsidized to keep them affordable. Columbus should focus on making the bus system as efficient as possible and work from there. Keep the focus small then work out.
I think DIY transportation is the best bet.
“extreme costs associated with it”
see the highway budget lately? Fact is, the economic development tied to rail makes it a wise and profitable investment…something a bus doesn’t bring.
Yeah, I really don’t think any of the cost estimates we’ve seen for various rail projects is really that “extreme” compared to highway construction projects. The roads are subsidized just as much, but no one ever says that.
As for the COTA bus system, I think Lhota has done a great job with stabilizing and conservatively growing our bus service over the past few years. The small focus is there, and successful. It’s time to add rail transit into the mix. Central Ohio is going to continue to grow, and if we wait until after it’s needed then we’ll really be kicking ourselves.
how about signs along the 315/270 interchange that says “wouldn’t you rather be on a rail car?” Even those signs being dragged behind a plane in the sky would work when you are stuck in that 5:00 mess.
Maybe they could pay the 610 and NBC4 traffic helicopters to tow the sign?
Perhaps our definitions of extreme vary, but I still think it is a big burden on the tax payer. Yes roads are subsidized (almost everything seems to be these days) but the percentage of tax payers that use the roads versus those that will use public transport is much higher. People in the suburbs don’t want to pay for the urban crowd to ride for cheap and the urban crowd doesn’t want to pay for the suburbia crowd to ride to work.
I’m a relative newcomer to Columbus and I don’t have all the details so please excuse me if there are some specific situations that I’m missing out but I’m trying to speak in more generalities. I would love to have a rail system, the subway is such a convenience when visiting NYC, but I’d rather see it be self-sustaining meaning the fare charged allows the system to at least break even. I think that’s just a dream though.
zachgs Says: I would love to have a rail system, the subway is such a convenience when visiting NYC, but I’d rather see it be self-sustaining meaning the fare charged allows the system to at least break even. I think that’s just a dream though.
Yeah. It is a dream. I don’t believe there are any rail, road, or bus systems anywhere in the entire world that “break even” either with ticketing or tolls.
All types of transportation are reliant on infrastructure that we all pay for whether we directly benefit from it or not… because everyone does indirectly benefit from it. So, the “percentage of tax payers that use the roads versus those that will use public transport” is a mood point.
The reason that people in Central Ohio are so car-dependent is because we (as a society) have only subsidized auto-oriented development for the past 80 years while choosing not to subsidize other transit options. We can’t really blame people today for living in a sprawled out configuration when rail transit hasn’t been an option in Columbus for a half-century. But the only way to correct that and provide rail options that will service a larger percentage of the public is to build it in the best current configuration as possible and let the TOD and ridership grow around it.
Depends on how far deep you want to dig to claim financial benefit. If you include the economic investment and development along light rail or streetcar lines, and the tax dollars they then generate? I’d be willing to bet most of the streetcar lines in the US are doing just that. I believe Portland’s streetcar line of a few miles is now over 5 billion in development along the tracks. Kenosha is approaching the first billion. Most of the stories go very much the same.
Even though I prefer streetcars, let’s not forget the $4 billion in development in Cleveland thanks to their first $200 million BRT line. Do that on Broad + the tree-lined median = success. And this may be shocking, but I think it’s better to forget about any cycling infrastructure here. Turn Oak and Long into parallel bike-boulevards or complete streets rather than spend money on a bike lane on Broad and expect cyclists to get over three lanes for a left hand turn.
Our underutilized business districts near Downtown need the streetcars bad. Take Parsons for example, which is the next most intact commercial street after High. It should all look like the stretch with Black Creek, Chop Chop, and Carabar, but the entire southern portion basically only has Plank’s to offer. Then there’s Cleveland Ave, Mt. Vernon, Main St., W Broad, S High, E 5th Ave, the list goes on for places that should be destinations that make Columbus a nationally renowned city, but instead are way under-utilized. The fact that the streetcars have brought development and vitiality to some of these very streets and that they can bring them all back again just makes you scratch your head as to why streetcars have just been shrugged off.
There is major potential on Parsons – but it’s going to take a lot of time to clean up the east side of it enough to get businesses to invest there. I think spillover from Schumaker Place and Merion Village is happening – Parson’s isn’t quite the Berlin Wall it once was, but there’s a long way to go. A streetcar serving the area, Childrens and the east end of downtown would be a big help.