Will COTA ridership propel ballot measure?
Advocates hope increase is a good sign for fall
As the wheels on more buses go round, the number of passengers stepping aboard keeps increasing.
Rides taken on buses run by the Central Ohio Transit Authority have edged back toward a pre-pandemic high and may already be on track to rise again in 2024. It’s an increase that COTA and transit advocates hope is a good sign for the fall, when voters will decide on a ballot measure that could dramatically increase bus options in central Ohio.
COTA gave more than 11.12 million rides in 2023, up 5% from roughly 10.5 million total rides in 2022, according to the transit agency. While that’s still short of the 19.4 million rides COTA gave in 2019, it’s a sign that things are moving in the right direction, said spokesman Jeff Pullin.
“As more people have come back to the workplace, that has really helped increase those numbers . ... We do see (2024) numbers being higher than last year, but it’ll take some time to build back up because people’s mobility habits have changed,” Pullin said.
Not unlike other employers during the COVID-19 pandemic, COTA lost a significant share of its workforce — around 10% of operators to be exact.
Before the pandemic, COTA had around 700 drivers. As of April, COTA had 590 operators, which followed a hiring spree of 170 drivers in the past year, though not all hires have worked out, Pullin said. The transit provider is hosting a hiring event April 24 at its facility at 1330 Fields Ave.
COTA has been forced to offer incentives to applicants, including $2,000 bonuses for new hires and $500 bonuses for existing employees who recruited new operators, among other job perks and benefits. The transit agency saw its operator applications increase 75% as a result, COTA’S former CEO told The Dispatch.
“Last year we were able to build back our services,” Pullin said. “A lot of that had to do with being able to hire and train more operators.”
The hiring spree allowed COTA to increase the frequency of buses on several routes to every 15 or 30 minutes, Pullin said. Buses are also running later now, making their final pickups at 11 p.m.
Looking forward, Pullin said COTA will aim to continue increasing the frequency of routes and may even consider bringing back the Cbus, a popular Downtown circulator that riders could take up and down High Street for free.
And while higher ridership may be a good argument for more frequent buses and later service, Pullin and others said they hope the increase will also bring more people to the polls this fall.
On the Nov. 5 ballot, voters will get to decide whether to add a new 0.5% sales tax to an existing 0.5% tax to fund a bus rapid transit through an initiative called Linkus. If the measure passes, it will allow COTA, along with the city, county and others to build out three faster bus routes including one along East Main Street, one along West Broad Street and another that will crisscross Downtown and connect it with Grandview Heights and Ohio State University, according to Linkus.
It’s unclear yet which way voters will go on the ballot measure that aims to add bus rapid transit by 2027. But Stevie Pasamonte, chair of the advocacy organization Transit Columbus, said they think the rise in ridership is a good omen.
“That ridership increase is really important. It makes a case for further investment,” Pasamonte said. “I think it’s an opportunity to get even more creative and look at what makes a lot of sense for where the city is now and where it’s going to be.” mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby