Cbus route helps rev up COTA ridership
The Central Ohio Transit Authority looks to be recovering from a downward ridership trend.
Since topping out at 18.8 million rides in 2011, when the agency was named the fastest-growing public-transit system in the country, COTA ridership dipped to 18.7 million rides in 2012, then rose slightly last year.
The picture remained bleak early this year, but things turned on a strong summer. That’s thanks in part to the new Cbus Downtown circulator, which officials have said is exceeding ridership expectations.
The biggest monthly ridership jump was in July — the same month as Red, White & Boom, COTA’s biggest day of the year. Ridership was up more than 10 percent in July.
Through the end of August, it’s up more than 1 percent from last year. Larger growth during the summer balanced out ridership loss earlier in the year.
COTA spokeswoman Lisa Knapp said the Cbus is part of the equation but not the only reason for the jump.
“Ridership is up in general,” she said..
Taxi drivers want the city to reinstate a professional license that would require them to pay for a renewal once every three years instead of annually.
The city eliminated the professional license as part of sweeping changes in its vehicle-for-hire code last year after officials discovered that some drivers had committed crimes that would have precluded them from receiving a license.
Those crimes didn’t show up until the end of the three-year window, when drivers applied to renew their licenses, said Glenn Rutter, the city’s license officer. The professional licenses were issued to drivers who had at least five years of experience in Columbus.
At a Vehicle for Hire Board meeting last week, drivers complained that renewing annually was an unnecessary financial burden. The city’s annual fee for a license and photo identification card is $55. Drivers also have to pay $42 for a background check and $5 for an updated driving record.
But, Rutter said, if the professional licenses are reinstated, drivers should have more-stringent requirements than having held a license for five years. He suggested special training or a clean complaint history.
Drivers are expected to present a proposal to the city.
At the same meeting, taxi drivers raised another complaint: the perceived inequity between the city’s age limits for taxicabs and the cars being registered for Uber and Lyft.
The city is phasing in morerestrictive age limits for taxis. Starting next year, taxis that are 9 years old or older cannot be used. The age limit is 8 years in 2016.
The personal vehicles that Uber and Lyft drivers use, though, can be as old as 10. The Uber and Lyft limits were set when the City Council approved regulations to govern the app-based car services; the taxi restrictions were written by the Vehicle for Hire Board.
That didn’t sit well with drivers at last week’s meeting. The local taxi and livery industry has been at odds with the upstarts since they started operating in February.
Rutter said that most of the cars being registered to Uber and Lyft drivers are new.