COLUMBUS - Public transit and big cities like Chicago, New York and Washington D.C. go hand-in-hand, but many people may not know that the City of Columbus is carving out a name for itself when it comes to exceptional public transportation.
This year, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) was awarded the Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement award for medium-sized systems by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). The Columbus agency beat out other medium-sized cities like Charlotte, Nashville and Cleveland.
In fact, COTA tells 10TV that Columbus is one of few cities across the country seeing a substantial rise in ridership, with a 9.2 percent increase this July from the year before.
10TV talked with COTA employees, both at the forefront of the agency’s efforts and behind the scenes about what goes into an award-winning transportation system.
“We're here 365 days a year and we're talking traffic, which we can't control. We're talking weather, which we can't control. I mean, we're at level 2 sometimes and we're out here for our customers,” said Danyell Rashid Haye, a bus operator for COTA.
Bus operators like Rashid Haye act as the front lines for COTA customers.
“I mean it’s like, you meet kids, you meet doctors, lawyers, all walks of life here,” Rashid Haye said.
Some customers, like Ayanna Bandele-Poindexter, have ridden COTA for 40 years.
“I actually don’t have a driver’s license,” Bandele-Poindexter said. “But even in the fact that I don’t have one, I’ve never felt like I really had to have one.”
One reason, Banfele-Poindexter explained, is that COTA has kept up with the city’s growth.
“(COTA) has expanded as our city has grown so I haven’t found any problem in getting somewhere,” she said.
Michael L Bradley, COTA’s chief development officer, explained to 10TV that the agency’s transit system redesign was one of the first of its kind in the country.
“People change over the years. Land use changes. Thirty years ago there wasn't a Polaris, 30 years ago there wasn't an Easton,” Bradley said. “So you look at today where the jobs are and the concentration of employment centers and where people want to go, you look at the development occurring along Ohio State arena and so we need to be in those areas so we looked at our whole service and we began by looking at where those jobs are today but more importantly, where are they going in the future.”
COTA has also utilized new technology, like free WIFI on the buses and traffic signal priority, which syncs traffic signals with buses to keep them from stopping as often.
“In the Cleveland Avenue corridor we're experiencing a 20 percent improvement in travel time, which makes it more convenient,” Bradley said.
The agency isn't stopping at new technology. COTA is working to lower its carbon footprint.
Of the more than 300 buses running each day, 150 and counting run on compressed natural gas.
Finally, security has played a big role in COTA’s national recognition.
“On a perfect day, nothing goes wrong but of course then, where we live and work there's always a situation where, whether it be a traffic accident or something, we make sure the service keeps working or we move the resources around to keep the traffic moving,” said Charles Edwards, COTA superintendent of operations.
Behind the scenes, COTA has crews inside monitoring roadways 24/7 and on the streets patrolling the bus routes.
“There’s a lot going on in the city that a lot of people don't know about so you know, there may be a road that's blocked, there may be construction that's going on, as you can see up and down High Street,” said Mark Jones, a COTA transportation service supervisor. “And we go and we respond to that to keep the service running and ensure that the buses can stay on time because being on time is important.”
Find the closest COTA route, here.