COTA plans to reduce express fares to $2

Authority will also cap monthly charges at $62

The Central Ohio Transit Authority plans to lower its express service fares this fall from $2.75 to $2 so they are the same as rates across the rest of its system.

The transit agency also will implement a new fare management system that caps fares at $62 a month for riders who pay daily because they can’t afford to pay for the 31-day monthly passes up front.

COTA’S board of trustees will vote on the rate changes at its Sept. 29 meeting. Based on PRE-COVID ridership numbers, the fare capping will cut COTA’S fare receipts by $1.8 million a year while changes to low-income eligibility is expected to result in the loss of another $1.3 million a year.

Angel Mumma, COTA chief financial officer, said transit officials hope increased ridership will help make up some of that total $3.1 million in estimated revenue losses.

“We believe this is the right thing to do,” Mumma said.

In an email Thursday in response to questions from The Dispatch, Mumma said $50 million in federal CARES Act money that COTA received to help get it through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 will help it absorb those revenue losses. And while that is onetime money, she said it gives COTA time to find other revenue sources to offset those losses in the future.

Mumma said the decrease in revenue from reducing express fares “minimal” since most express riders use C-pass, the program where Downtown workers ride for free. C-pass is funded largely

through a property tax assessment on properties within the central part of Downtown.

COTA ridership still below pre-pandemic levels

No rate increases are planned by COTA in the near future, but the agency is standardizing its express fares to match other fares because it just wasn’t worth continuing the different fares, Mumma said.

Express ridership also has been slow to come back after COTA restarted the service in May and this may help to boost ridership on those routes.

COTA plans to roll out a new fare management system in October and November that includes fare capping, a new mobile ticket app called Transit App and more than 400 locations where riders can load money for fares to their

apps and COTA smart cards, including Walgreens, Family Dollar, Speedway, CVS and smaller, local retailers.

Currently, the only retailers where riders can load fares are Giant Eagle and Kroger, Mumma said.

Riders will also be able to upload money to their accounts online at cota.com and at COTA’S customer service center at 33 N. High St. Downtown.

“We want to make sure we are setting the foundation today to grow with the community in terms of need,” Mumma said.

Getting more COTA riders to use app, smart card

COTA wants to cap monthly fares to help low-income riders. Those who use the app or a smart card to pay fares will have fares capped at $4.50 a day or $62 a month.

“That will be your permanent boarding card,” said Sophia Mohr, COTA’S chief innovation officer.

Asked about riders having to constantly load cards or apps throughout the week if they don’t have enough money to pay up front, Mumma said even if people have to top off their accounts every day or every other day, they’ll still save money in the long run, which should outweigh the inconvenience.

In addition, people who lose their 31day paper passes today are out of luck. Through the new system, if people lose a pass or their cellphone, COTA can block the account until the rider gets a new pass or cellphone.

In October 2020, the COTA board approved a $1.5 million contract with Masabi LLC to implement the fare management program. A state grant of $1.25 million is picking up most of the cost.

Cash will still be accepted on buses, Mumma said, but COTA’S goal is to push more riders toward the app and smart cards.

The YWCA is one nonprofit that buys monthly passes for residents. COTA officials spoke in advance with Christie Angel, YWCA president and CEO, about the planned new program.

Angel said she likes the fare-capping idea because it helps people who live paycheck to paycheck.

But Angel said it will take time for riders who normally use cash and paper passes to adjust. She asked COTA officials to be patient as they walk riders through this, and check to see how things are going.

“People change at different paces,” Angel said.

Mumma said COTA plans an effort to educate riders about the new fare management system in November, which is after it is planned to go into use. mferench@dispatch.com @Markferenchik

BARBARA J. PERENIC/COLUMBUS DISPATCH COTA buses come and go at stops along Broad and High streets in downtown Columbus in this file photo from 2019. Express service fares this fall are expected to be cut from $2.75 to $2.