Buses in Columbus

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 penney 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.