Riding the Bus COTA style

I do not ride the bus. I have not been on a bus in over 10 years. I drive everywhere I have to go. Buses are not convenient for me. I have a job that requires that I have reliable transportation, and I may need to go somewhere in the middle of the day. The bus system does not really do that for me and the time I'd spend waiting for and sitting on one would be costly.

But that's not why I'm posting this. The bus serves a lot of people. But Columbus does not have a system of moving people around like New York, Chicago, or even Cleveland.

You know as much as we fuss about the bus system in Columbus, when you know what they are working with it makes a big difference in your attitude (or better yet, change that line to first person for me).

I attended a town meeting with COTA reps, Jim Hutchinson, Belinda Taylor and Bill Lhota among others. COTA has 750 employees (less than the library) of which 430 are Bus Operators, and 280 fixed-route buses (not counting special services like Mainstream and other services they provide).

Most major cities in Ohio receive at least one cent millage from taxes to support them. COTA had been running on a quarter of a penny until the temporary increase to half (yea- half a penny). The more we talked about this, the more I wanted to start a penny campaign - give the man a penny!!!! geez! I suspect COTA could use 2 pennies just to catch up and plan for the future. And yes, they are interested in light rail as well.

I don't ride the bus. I'd love to ride the train again. Then maybe I'd transfer to a bus. COTA needs support.