COTA’s Transit System Redesign

Tim Fulton 0:08Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, for the first time in their over 40-year history, the Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, is changing up their routes. Beginning May 1st, COTA will connect more people to more places and more jobs at more times seven days a week. I spoke with Lisa Myers and Josh Sikich from COTA about how their new system was designed and what the philosophy was behind it. We also learned more about COTA as a whole, some of their new initiatives that they're rolling out, and most importantly, I think, how you can find your way with the new system. We also address some of the contributing factors for why our transit options are the way they are in Columbus and why people would wanna ride the bus. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com, or at patreon.com/confluence. The Confluence Cast is sponsored by Kepri, a full-service web and mobile development company specializing in design and programming services. Defined through skill and innovation, Kepri works with their clients to create user-centric, technology-based products that innovate. Kepri provides complete technology solutions with a solid strategy to meet your goals and grow your brand. See examples of their work and explore what Kepri can do for you at kepri.com. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here at COTA headquarters, 33 North High Street, with Lisa Myers, their public relations manager, and Josh Sikich, transit system redesign project manager. Coming up here on May 1st, COTA will be having a big change. Brand-new route layout, brand-new schedule. Lisa, sort of give us the brief overview of what is happening at COTA.

Lisa Myers 2:27So on May 1st, COTA is completely overhauling its system. Uh, this is something that we have not done in our more than 40-year history. We've certainly added routes or removed routes over the years, but we've never taken a look at our system as a whole. So on May 1, as a result of several years of work and, um, p- community involvement and work with the community, we are going to be unveiling a brand-new COTA, brand-new system of n- of bus routes.

Tim Fulton 2:56Great, and you're sort of implementing it. Hopefully... So the goal here and the goal of this conversation today, and, and I imagine a whole lot of your job over the past couple of months has been saying, "Here are the things that are changing." Josh, I'm gonna throw it to you. What are the sort of inherent differences between the current route system and what the public is going to experience on May 1st?

Josh Sikich 3:17Well, currently we have, uh, 68 routes. Um, many of those, uh, duplicate service or they're not the most efficient or effective service. Uh, we will be streamlining our service, um, and, uh, enhancing our frequent network. So frequency is a key part of transit planning. Uh, so when you get a bus every 15 minutes or, or better, then you really don't have to do much research. You go out to the bus stop and, uh, it's, it's pretty easy. It, it's pretty fast. So we're more than, uh, doubling the size of our frequent network. So historically, our frequent network is just High Street, Broad Street, uh, Cleveland Avenue, East Main, East Livingston. Uh, now that same type of service that comes all the time when you need it, uh, morning to night, uh, very frequently, that'll be, uh, more than doubled in size. So, you know, on the east side, you know, James and Steltzer. On the north side, uh, Morse Road, Carl Road. On the west side, West Fifth Avenue, West Broad Street further west. On the south side, Whittier, South High Street. I mean, those are just a couple of the, the, uh, corridors that will see this, um, big enhancement in service.

Tim Fulton 4:23So how did this happen? So y- you, you guys talk about these are improvements being made and there were routes that were servicing duplicate areas. Can you talk about how decisions were made before this point for where routes went and sort of... In my head, things were sort of happening piecemeal. Is that, is that a fair way to put it?

Josh Sikich 4:43That is fair. That, I mean, back in the 1970s when COTA began, I mean, we, uh, our system looks pretty similar to that system from decades ago. We've never done a comprehensive redesign.

Tim Fulton 4:54Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 4:55Uh, so, um, you know, we have added and, and deleted routes, tweaked routes, but, uh, you know, you end up with, with routes that, uh, you know, you could walk, um, a few minutes one way and get a bus. You could walk a few minutes in the other way and get a bus.

Tim Fulton 5:09Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 5:10Um, and, uh, you know, you sorta... It, it's just not the most efficient or effective service. Uh, so when you have, uh, two buses going on roads that are very close to one another, uh, what you can do is actually consolidate those on the one main road, uh, and provide better service. So, uh, people may have to walk an extra block or two, but, uh, when you do walk out to that main road, you actually, uh, get that high-quality frequent service. So there's a little bit of a give and take when you-

Tim Fulton 5:38There is

Josh Sikich 5:38... when you plan the routes.

Tim Fulton 5:40To translate it a little bit, you don't have the worry of, "Oh, if I miss my bus, I'm gonna be waiting for half an hour." You sort of have this assurance that the frequency steps up and you, and you won't have to wait very long even though you're wa- walking a little bit farther.

Josh Sikich 5:55It, that's, that's correct. I think-

Tim Fulton 5:56Or could have to walk a little bit farther.

Josh Sikich 5:58When you have a, a bus that comes every hour, for example, like, like some of our routes do-

Tim Fulton 6:03Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 6:03... uh, it's equivalent for somebody who drives, like, you have your car in your garage, but you can only open your garage door once an hour.

Tim Fulton 6:10Okay.

Josh Sikich 6:11You know? It, it's very difficult to plan your day around-

Tim Fulton 6:14That doesn't... Public transportation doesn't sound convenient at all.

Josh Sikich 6:17Well, those are the, the routes that we're trying to, uh, improve.

Tim Fulton 6:21Right.

Josh Sikich 6:21So we're more than doubling our, our service that's every 15 minutes or better, so that's, you know, on average, every seven and a half minutes a bus is coming. Uh, and that's the type of service that really works for people.

Tim Fulton 6:32And while it's very exciting that COTA is going through this redesign for the first time in their 40-year history, in your experience, and I'm not asking you to throw anybody under the bus... Oh, I can only use that once and I already used it. Is this something that should happen every five years? How often should something like this happen?

Josh Sikich 6:52Well, uh, you know, one of the things with transit, we don't need to really look in a crystal ball and, and sort of predict things.

Tim Fulton 6:58Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 6:59We- every city in the country and in the world has transit, so when we brought in, uh, the experts from around the country back in 2013, 2014-

Tim Fulton 7:07Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 7:07... they said, you know, every, every, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 15 years, around that time you should do a comprehensive redesign. So it's-

Tim Fulton 7:15And so you guys looked at your calendar and said, "Eh, we're overdue." "It's time."

Josh Sikich 7:19But I would say I think we're being pretty innovative in taking this step. You know, a lot of agencies have never done something like this over the decades that they've been in, in existence.

Tim Fulton 7:29Gotcha. I have heard tangentially some conversations about COTA is going from sort of a spoke and wheel system in that everybody has to come down to Broad and High and then go back out depending on where they're going. Can you talk about, first of all, what the new design looks like, is there a new metaphor we get to start using, and how you guys made the decisions about routes? Is it simply servicing the same audience that you were servicing before? Are you looking to expand that audience? What are the philosophies behind the changes that are being made i- in the routes specifically? Yes, we're talking about not duplicating routes, but what else?

Josh Sikich 8:09Yeah. It's true that historically in Columbus when you ride COTA, you know, all, all routes lead to High and Broad.

Tim Fulton 8:15Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 8:15Um, so now, um, you know, one of the, the education efforts that we're doing is trying to get people out of that sort of muscle memory of, "Hey, I gotta go downtown to transfer." Uh, so now if you're, um, you know, on East Main, you know, and you're going up to Easton-

Tim Fulton 8:31Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 8:31... you know, traditionally you, you'd probably have the best trip going downtown. Um, but now you might wanna go outside of town, you know, transfer, high-frequency transfer at, uh, Main and James.

Tim Fulton 8:43Okay.

Josh Sikich 8:43You know? So that sort of thing is, uh, the type of stuff that might be, uh, new to people, having that high-frequency service on streets that are outside of downtown. That's one of the big education efforts that we're, uh, trying to tell people about.

Tim Fulton 8:58How did you guys make the choices for what changed? Is it really just looking at the map and saying, "This probably doesn't need to exist anymore," or is it spring cleaning to an extent? Or how do studies like that happen?

Josh Sikich 9:10Yeah. There's a variety of things. I mean, one of the, um, uh, key reasons for transit and for, for COTA is to get people, uh, to and from jobs. So, um, you know, some of the metrics that we look at from-

Tim Fulton 9:23Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 9:23... the census and some of the data, you know, is where is the population, you know, where are the jobs? That, that's sort of the, the baseline for-

Tim Fulton 9:31Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 9:31... a lot of these transit studies. Um, 'cause you know, I mean, as you get further out and the houses are spread further out, you know, it becomes more difficult to efficiently serve a lot of people.

Tim Fulton 9:40Right.

Josh Sikich 9:40On top of that, you look at, um, uh, hospitals. You know, so the OSU Medical Center, we're going to be serving that, uh, better. Uh, you look at new developments, so like Grandview Yard.

Tim Fulton 9:51Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 9:51You know, really didn't exist, you know, uh, a long time ago. Now we're increasing service to that. And then we also work with our, um, you know, suburban partners, uh, trying to service like Rickenbacker, uh, Polaris, um, Easton. Uh, you know, we're going to increase our service, um, over 75% to the Easton Transit Center. So trying to utilize existing facilities that we have, um, to the greatest extent. So, uh, you know, looking at all those things, sort of the, the population centers, job centers, those new developments. Um, and really, uh, part of that is data, but a huge part of that is working with the community. You know, we had dozens and dozens of meetings with, uh, community leaders, with, uh, elected officials, um, with community groups across the entire region as a part of this process.

Tim Fulton 10:38Gotcha. Lisa, how would a person find out more about whether, first of all, whether their specific route is changing and how this will affect them?

Lisa Myers 10:48One of the things that we talked about most here on our staff was how to make sure especially all of our current customers knew about these changes happening. Um, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Houston and Jacksonville, who both have done this process over the last several years as well-

Tim Fulton 11:03Okay

Lisa Myers 11:03... and see them go through the process, and took some wonderful ideas from them. Uh, we have had a comprehensive campaign. We have touched every single one of our bus stops and placed a sign, what we call an info post, at each one of those bus stops to let people know what will be changing about that route, about that stop on May 1st.

Tim Fulton 11:22Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 11:23So that's one of the, the easiest ways. If you're a current rider, go to your current bus stop and see what's happening.

Tim Fulton 11:28Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 11:28Um, but we also have a variety of information on our website. We have a dual trip planner where people can go and enter their origin and their destination, and it will give you w- your trip today versus your trip on May 1st.

Tim Fulton 11:42Great.

Lisa Myers 11:42So people can compare. They can compare and contrast times. In a lot of instances you might get a few different options.

Tim Fulton 11:48Okay.

Lisa Myers 11:48Um, today people utilize the system in different ways depending on the day of the week-

Tim Fulton 11:52Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 11:52... depending on the time of the day. So you might get a several different options of, uh, what you can do with the new system as well. So really looking at that stop level, finding out what will impact your specific stop, and from there you can see how you can best utilize the system.

Tim Fulton 12:08And the other virtue of this rollout, it was just announced you guys are offering free fares, uh, for the first week of the rollout, so May 1st through May 7th.

Lisa Myers 12:16Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 12:17This seems like a good time to sort of ta- you get to put your very generalist public relations hat on. COTA is not a city entity. COTA is a, an entity that exists for the public good that is publicly f- funded both through fares and through sales tax. Can you talk about- I may have just done all of it. But can you sort of talk about the structure of COTA and what people should know and what some common misperceptions are?

Lisa Myers 12:42Sure. Well, I think you did do just most of my job.

Tim Fulton 12:44Okay.

Lisa Myers 12:45But yes, we are funded through two sales and use taxes-

Tim Fulton 12:48Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 12:48... each, uh, a quarter percent. Uh, one of those is non-renewable, so permanent funding, and then one is renewable every 10 years. In 20-

Tim Fulton 12:56And that's the one we just went through, right?

Lisa Myers 12:58Yes.

Tim Fulton 12:59Okay.

Lisa Myers 12:59In 2016, we just passed that levy for another 10 years, so thank you to the community for supporting us. We do appreciate that.

Tim Fulton 13:05You're welcome.

Lisa Myers 13:06And then we also are funded through our FareBox. Um, so those, that money goes towards creating the routes that you see on the street, paying for our operators, paying for the staff that, that make all of that happen behind the scenes.

Tim Fulton 13:18So then how are you governed? Do you guys have a board of directors that a, I think Josh mentioned earlier-

Lisa Myers 13:24Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 13:24... approved the transit system redesign.

Lisa Myers 13:27Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 13:27Is it all about the board, basically?

Lisa Myers 13:30Yes, we are governed by a board of trustees who, um, certainly help with decision-making, approve financial decisions. Um, our staff makes all of the recommendations to them for the most part and, and asks for their support and for, um, their approval of, of especially big initiatives like this. This is something, the transit system redesign, that we went to them with several years ago.

Tim Fulton 13:53Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 13:53Educated them about the process we were going through internally and brought them along.

Tim Fulton 13:58So given the structure of the organization, sort of what did the board actually approve? You guys didn't go to them in 2013 and say, "Here are the very specific routes. Here's how everything is going to get fixed." What was that? What did that look like?

Lisa Myers 14:12After our staff sat down with our consultants and sat down as a group and redrew the system based-

Tim Fulton 14:19Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 14:19... on the things that Josh talked about, land use, where the job centers are, we then went to the public, talked to them about a couple of different scenarios that our new system could, um, take, a couple different shapes that it could take.

Tim Fulton 14:31Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 14:32And once we got feedback and decided on a final design, we took that to the board to approve.

Tim Fulton 14:37Okay.

Lisa Myers 14:38And that is based on 70% ridership lines and 30% coverage lines.

Tim Fulton 14:43So what does that mean?

Lisa Myers 14:45So a ridership line is something that we know will be high ridership. Um, current, like our current line two or-

Tim Fulton 14:51Okay

Lisa Myers 14:52... current line one or current line 10, our highest ridership lines that we know are in corridors, uh, that are dense, where people frequently use transit.

Tim Fulton 15:01Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 15:02Usually closer to the city, closer to downtown, um, maybe run, run out in that hub-and-spoke, um, system that you, you spoke about.

Tim Fulton 15:10So that's the 70%.

Lisa Myers 15:11Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 15:12What's the 30%?

Lisa Myers 15:13The 30% are coverage lines. So that means service that you, you need to provide to the community because it's necessary, um, for maybe a community doesn't have access, that those are lines that help people get where they need to go but might not be high ridership.

Tim Fulton 15:29So people, I think sometimes everybody wants to be critical of everything, frankly, but people talk about, "I see the buses all the time that have no one on them."

Lisa Myers 15:38Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 15:39Those primarily w- first of all, yes, there are people on them, sir. But also- ... those are, those are coverage lines. Give me some examples of coverage lines.

Josh Sikich 15:49There's, uh, you know-

Tim Fulton 15:50Or are you not allowed to say?

Josh Sikich 15:51No, I, I, uh, yeah, I wouldn't, um, um, I don't have specifics in mind.

Tim Fulton 15:55Okay.

Josh Sikich 15:56But I mean, just the idea of, um, you know, one thing about COTA, it, it's, uh, uh, you know, it's all about the community.

Tim Fulton 16:03Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 16:03Um, and we are a public good. We're a public service. Uh-

Tim Fulton 16:07Right

Josh Sikich 16:07... so if we ran ourselves like a, like a private business to make profit-

Tim Fulton 16:10You wouldn't have coverage lines

Josh Sikich 16:12... we, we would, we would ride on High Street, on Broad Street, you know-

Tim Fulton 16:16Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 16:16... a couple of others, and, and we'd call it a day. Um-

Tim Fulton 16:19Okay

Josh Sikich 16:19... but, um, we need to provide service 'cause we, we provide a, a leg up for many people trying to get to, to jobs. So, uh, one of the things that we went through, uh, as a part of this, uh, there's federal regulations. We did a, a six-month-long analysis to make sure there's no negative impacts on certain communities-

Tim Fulton 16:37Okay

Josh Sikich 16:38... that, um, have, um, uh, historically, um, uh, uh, uh, been, uh, not represented-

Tim Fulton 16:44Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 16:44... in our transportation. Um-

Tim Fulton 16:46And these regulations simply d- they don't deal with income disparity, right? These regulations simply deal with racial disparity.

Josh Sikich 16:53It, it's, it's racial disparity, but it, it's, uh, it's a variety of things.

Tim Fulton 16:57Okay.

Josh Sikich 16:57And, and, and it's important to note that, um, despite all the planning dating back to 2013, 2014, um, when we look at these types of things, making sure we're providing our public good to the people that need it, uh, we, we did make, uh, several tweaks to the plans a year ago based on that process. Just making sure-

Tim Fulton 17:16Okay

Josh Sikich 17:16... we dot all our I's and cross all our T's.

Tim Fulton 17:18Gotcha. Just to put a bow on it, when you say 70% and 30%, you're s- talking, is that resources or is that simply the number of lines?

Lisa Myers 17:28That's the amount of service that we offer. So we offer more than a million service hours a year.

Tim Fulton 17:33Okay.

Lisa Myers 17:34A service hour is one bus on the street for one hour.

Tim Fulton 17:37Gotcha. Gotcha. And so that's how you calculate that.

Lisa Myers 17:40Mm-hmm. Yes.

Tim Fulton 17:41Great.

Josh Sikich 17:41One, and one of the things that plays into this 70/30 split of our resources, uh, we have a goal for 25 million rides by 2025.

Tim Fulton 17:51Uh, and I'm sorry, is that per year or... No, it can't be.

Lisa Myers 17:54Yes, it would be-

Josh Sikich 17:54Per year, yes.

Tim Fulton 17:55Okay.

Lisa Myers 17:55Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 17:56Yep. Yeah, so, uh, so that, we expect that the transit system redesign over the next three years will increase ridership. Uh, and this will provide the framework to continue to build service and make us, um, a bigger part of, of the central Ohio community and, and build the number of trips and the number of rides, um, in the next several years.

Tim Fulton 18:16Is that an ambitious number, or is that a conservative number, the 25? Where are we at right now?

Lisa Myers 18:20Our ridership in 2016 was 18.8 million.

Tim Fulton 18:24Okay.

Lisa Myers 18:24Over the last five years, we've really ranged between 18 and a half to a little over 19 million.

Tim Fulton 18:30Okay.

Lisa Myers 18:30And there are a lot of different factors that go into ridership. We, we're actually, um, very lucky here in Columbus, um, our, because we're in a period of service growth where we're adding service hours-

Tim Fulton 18:40Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 18:41Typically means more trips. Um, our ridership did dip a little bit last year, but throughout the country we're seeing ridership, um, on especially bus systems dip dramatically. We have low gas prices-

Tim Fulton 18:53Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 18:53... um, things of that nature really do impact bus ridership more, more than you think.

Tim Fulton 18:58Right. Well, and there certainly are... This is not the podcast where we talk about alternative transportation options, but that is certainly contributing to it as well.

Lisa Myers 19:07Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 19:07I do wanna pin you just a little bit down. Is that 25 million number, do you think that that's conservative or super aspirational, Josh?

Josh Sikich 19:15It, it's ambitious.

Tim Fulton 19:17Okay.

Josh Sikich 19:17We're, we're, we're setting the bar high. Uh, we're, we're, um, taking an innovative step doing this comprehensive redesign-

Tim Fulton 19:23Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 19:24... and I think it's indicative of, of where COTA is these days. We're being, uh, progressive, we're trying to provide that best service we can and, and, and grow in, in an ambitious way. Um, some of the things that the transit system redesign, the changes that happened May 1st, uh, that might in- increase ridership, one of the key things is adding more consistency to our schedules. Uh, so we will have, uh, similar service seven days a week. Uh, we're-

Tim Fulton 19:49Okay

Josh Sikich 19:49... increasing our Saturday service by 50% and we're more than doubling our, uh, Sunday service. So we know from other cities that have done that, there's a, a latent demand, there's an unmet need right now for service on Saturdays and Sundays-

Tim Fulton 20:03Oh, yeah

Josh Sikich 20:03... that COTA is not meeting. So, uh, we know that'll provide, uh, an increase in our ridership. Also with our, um, network, uh, changes that are occurring, we're providing, uh, frequent service to, um, tens of thousands, uh, more jobs and population, uh, over 100,000, uh, more jobs. So, uh, we know that the service changes that we're making, providing that good quality service where people are getting from point A to point B, where those job centers are, those'll drive ridership growth as well.

Tim Fulton 20:33Are there specific job centers that you guys aren't servicing that you are starting to service or just job centers that you are going to service a whole lot more?

Josh Sikich 20:41Yeah, I think it, it's more the, the latter.

Tim Fulton 20:43Okay.

Josh Sikich 20:43Uh, you know, we, we have service, you know, we've added routes, as Lisa mentioned, we're in a, a time of service growth. But, uh, really providing the best service we can to places like Easton, uh, places like Polaris, um, places like, uh, Grandview Yard, uh, in Rickenbacker. Um, those are things that, um, uh, will, will be better in a lot of ways starting May 1st.

Tim Fulton 21:05Gotcha. So that 25 million rider goal by 2025 is also affected by some of the other initiatives that you guys have in the queue, right?

Josh Sikich 21:15Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 21:15So talk a little bit first of all about CMAX.

Josh Sikich 21:19CMAX is our, uh, bus rapid transit project-

Tim Fulton 21:23Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 21:23... uh, that will, um, be implemented downtown and along Cleveland Avenue-

Tim Fulton 21:29Okay

Josh Sikich 21:29... um, starting in January of 2018.

Tim Fulton 21:32I've seen some of the, the stops for it, right?

Josh Sikich 21:35Yeah. Some of the, they call them pylons, you know-

Tim Fulton 21:38Yep

Josh Sikich 21:38... downtown. They'll, um, really enhance, uh, you know, the idea that this is a place where you could get a high quality, um, transit service.

Tim Fulton 21:46Okay.

Josh Sikich 21:46And also, uh, you see some of the, um, uh, screens actually provide real time information on some of those downtown right now. Uh, so the, you know, the, the changes happening May 1st really lay the groundwork and the framework for increased growth, one of those being, uh, the CMAX bus rapid transit in 2018.

Tim Fulton 22:06So what is functionally different about the CMAX? Yes, there are the real time screens, there are the pylons, the, the distinctly different bus stops. The bus is not different, correct?

Josh Sikich 22:19It will, it will be a, a unique bus.

Tim Fulton 22:22Okay.

Josh Sikich 22:22Uh, there's also something... You know, there's various ways to... You know, so many people when they take a bus, you know, they put it in their phone, they just see, A, this'll take me 20 minutes or-

Tim Fulton 22:32Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 22:32... this'll take me 30 minutes, and they don't think about the things that make that trip, you know, longer or shorter than driving.

Tim Fulton 22:37Okay.

Josh Sikich 22:38Um, one of the interesting things is, uh, like something called transit signal priority, where you could actually time the traffic lights to, uh, be green, you know, when, when CMAX is coming through.

Tim Fulton 22:50Gotcha.

Josh Sikich 22:51Uh, so that's, uh, part of it. Another part of it is just using, um, uh, the stations, uh, innovative, um, transportation methods to really try to grow ridership and, and, uh, lay a claim that this is a, a high quality, uh, transit service that's different from everything else. So, um, there's a, there's a variety of things that I think people will, will enjoy with that CMAX.

Tim Fulton 23:13Gotcha. Would you credit the impending existence of the CMAX a lot to the working relationship that you guys have with the city of Columbus in sort of allowing for things like this to happen?

Josh Sikich 23:25Absolutely. Uh, everything that we do is in partnership, you know, with the city of Columbus, uh, you know, the city of, of Westerville, all of our municipal partners.

Tim Fulton 23:35Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 23:35Um, and, uh, you know, nobody operates in isolation. So that's a key partnership on a, on a variety of fronts because, you know, the city manages the roads, uh, COTA manages the buses that travel on those roads. So, uh, everything is, is really done hand-in-hand.

Lisa Myers 23:52The traffic signal priority is certainly, uh, a unique partnership between the city of Columbus and COTA, and something we're really looking forward to, to working together on. That- As Josh mentioned, is one of the things that makes the C-MAX beneficial for customers, even though it travels along, uh, traditional one of our- traditionally one of our highest ridership routes. Travel times will be faster, up to 20% faster because of things like the traffic signal priority, and then also a s- bus rapid transit line doesn't stop as frequently as a normal local bus route would. Um, so the stations are placed further apart, and that allows for the faster travel times.

Tim Fulton 24:29Gotcha. As you guys were planning the TSR, the Transit System Redesign, the Smart Cities Initiative was announced that Columbus had won. How is that going? This is my touch base of talk about smart cities 'cause it's, it's a question that gets asked a lot.

Lisa Myers 24:44Yes, so COTA is involved with Smart Columbus. We are, uh, one of the working partners. We sit on multiple working groups. Um, my understanding is that we're in a planning phase right now.

Tim Fulton 24:55Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 24:55For the next 12 to 18 months, I think there are gonna be more and more questions to ask and more and more information to learn about with what outcomes will come from Smart Columbus. We've heard, I think, a lot of wonderful ideas.

Tim Fulton 25:07Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 25:07Um, things that, um, COTA is very excited about, things like autonomous vehicles, um, near our Eastin Transit Center. Um, the Eastin Transit Center is somewhere we're ma- we're making a lot of investment because of the transit system redesign. So utilizing that even further in partnership with Smart Columbus and helping our community with first mile, last mile challenges is something that we're very passionate about and something that we know we need to tackle as we move forward as an organization and as a community.

Tim Fulton 25:36Great. And sort of in addition to Smart Columbus, you guys have an initiative, NextGen, which sort of asks the question, what are the, what are the things that we need to be doing? Can you talk about NextGen and, and where you guys are at in that process and what the questions that are being asked are?

Josh Sikich 25:51Sure. Uh, you know, the, the changes that are being made on May 1st and the increased service, uh, you know, we're i- adding service, uh, later this year, and then the C-MAX that we discussed in 2018.

Tim Fulton 26:03Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 26:03It really forms the backbone for providing, uh, you know, the best service we can in the decades to come. Our, uh, NextGen project, uh, really looks out to the year 2050, which-

Tim Fulton 26:14Okay.

Josh Sikich 26:14Uh, yeah, for a lot of people that's a long ways away, but, uh-

Tim Fulton 26:17That's after the singularity.

Josh Sikich 26:18Yeah. But here we are in 2017. Who, who knew we'd, we'd make it this far? So-

Tim Fulton 26:24Indeed.

Josh Sikich 26:24Yeah. So, um, uh, you know, and we just wanna be proactive to, uh, to really look at what's that transit of, of the future? What's our role in the decades to come? We know our, uh, partner at MORPC-

Tim Fulton 26:37Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 26:38... uh, estimates, uh, 500,000 to a million new residents in the decades to come. What does that mean for, for congestion on the expressways, for getting people to and from jobs?

Tim Fulton 26:49Right.

Josh Sikich 26:49What role does COTA play in that dialogue? Uh, right now, you know, m- many people think, "Hey, you could get most places driving, you know, 20 minutes or so around, uh, Columbus." But how long will that last when we add these residents?

Tim Fulton 27:03Right.

Josh Sikich 27:03Um, so, uh, it really looks at a variety of, uh, measures, uh, high capacity corridors. Um, this ranges from light rail, uh, to additional bus rapid transit, to things like, uh, dedicated lanes on the roads for buses, uh, to things like increased bus service, you know, uh, to, uh, the suburbs and, and across the region. And, uh, first to last mile, uh, type things.

Tim Fulton 27:29Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 27:29You know, getting people, you know, y- you wanna provide that efficient service, but how do you get people literally from their home, you know, from their doorstep to your service, and from the, the doorstep of their, uh, job to your service? And then ultimately, um, the innovative technologies that are, that are being looked at as part of smart cities and around the world. I mean, transit may look, uh, drastically different in the decades to come, but I think it's important that we're taking that step to really, uh, look at where are those corridors and what are those next steps we need to do with the community to, to really see what, what role does COTA play in the decades to come.

Tim Fulton 28:04And you guys did just complete an online survey that I imagine you're still compiling it. In my head it just completed, like, a month ago. What are the next steps then for that initiative? Is this a study that's sort of, "Hey, we're doing our due diligence and making sure that our customer base is able to communicate with us"? Do you think that concrete changes will come out of it?

Josh Sikich 28:26We are past the, you know, there's a lot of modeling. You know, we talk about data.

Tim Fulton 28:30Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Josh Sikich 28:31You know, when you look at that stuff. That, that piece of that is done.

Tim Fulton 28:35Okay.

Josh Sikich 28:35Um, and we're really in, uh, a community stage of that. You know, meeting with a lot of community partners, community leaders, um, and seeing who wants to be a champion for those corridors of the future. How do we work with those development patterns that are planned into the future?

Tim Fulton 28:51Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 28:52Um, so really that's the stage where we are now. Just, um, you know, nothing that we do is in, is in isolation. Trying to, um, meet with those folks along some of these key corridors. We know out of the modeling, you know, when you purely look at, at the data, uh, some of the, the same corridors that have been talked about for a long time in Columbus, you know, pop up again. So-

Tim Fulton 29:12Right

Josh Sikich 29:12... High Street, you know, uh, Broad Street, corridors that go out to, uh, to the airport.

Tim Fulton 29:18Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 29:18Out to, um, uh, the job centers across the suburbs, uh, out East Main, uh, you know, places like that, uh, they pop up again as a part of this. But what does that, that really mean? That's, that's the stage that we're in now, to really just build that community support and keep that, uh, dialogue going with our partners around the region.

Tim Fulton 29:37Given the initiatives that you guys are going through a- and the conversations that you're having with the community, I wanna sort of get down to the base level on, on Columbus and, and public transportation. Are there unique challenges that Columbus, either geographical placement, the ... Well, we're flat, so I imagine that's easier. But w- what are the unique aspects of servicing a community like Columbus?

Josh Sikich 30:04Columbus is, is unique because, um, it, you know, it's, it's different from, uh, cities on the East Coast, for example-

Tim Fulton 30:11Okay

Josh Sikich 30:11... or like bigger cities, um, that really have a, a grid network, you know-

Tim Fulton 30:16Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 30:16... that, uh, that provides a lot of connectivity, um, across the region. We are, uh, doing the best we can, uh, with the roads that we have, you know?

Tim Fulton 30:25Right.

Josh Sikich 30:25Um, and, uh, in some cases that means that some of our connections that we can make, uh, may not be as, as dense for example as, as, uh, as what we, what you'd see in other cities.

Tim Fulton 30:37Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 30:37So there, there are unique things, uh, to Columbus. I mean, in some ways, uh, we're, you know, we've been very successful in transportation. I mean, many cities are clogged with congestion and they can't, you know, get their way out of it.

Tim Fulton 30:50Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 30:51Um, but what does that mean, so for people driving on the expressways or people, you know, taking the bus?

Tim Fulton 30:57Right.

Josh Sikich 30:57Um, so there are u- things that are unique, but also, uh, you know, there's, there's just general things as well that, uh, go into, um, transit planning around the world. I mean, the land use patterns that we talked about.

Tim Fulton 31:09Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 31:10And then just, uh, you know, what are the, the perceptions of different modes of transportation? We know the, uh, city of Columbus is one of the larger cities in the United States without any rail. You know-

Tim Fulton 31:20Yeah

Josh Sikich 31:20... passenger rail for example. Um, so, uh, I think, you know, you try to, uh, look at the best transit planning practices. Uh, but are, we have the roads that we have and, and we have the land use that we have, um, and we try to make the best of it.

Tim Fulton 31:35Mm-hmm. We haven't talked a whole lot about sort of downtown and how, you know... There was a study that just came out that I'll link to in the show notes that talks about Columbus per person that comes down to work every day, we bring more cars than almost any other city in the country.

Lisa Myers 31:50Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 31:51Does COTA have an eye on that? 'Cause that, I think everybody can sort of say, "Yes, that is bad. We shouldn't be doing that."

Lisa Myers 31:58Yep. One thing that I certainly didn't realize until I moved here about five years ago-

Tim Fulton 32:03Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 32:03... um, from Northeast Ohio is really how new Columbus is. If you think about it in terms of, of some of the other cities around the country, we're, we're a lot newer.

Tim Fulton 32:13Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 32:13We really grew up in the age of the car. And Josh talks a lot about our road network. I think you see that reflected in, in our roads and in our transportation. Um, people want to get in their car. Um, that's just how people are here.

Tim Fulton 32:27Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 32:27So our cl- our president and CEO likes to say that, uh, we're not your grandfather's COTA anymore.

Tim Fulton 32:34Okay.

Lisa Myers 32:34So a lot of the things that we've been trying to do over the last couple of years are to help people understand that public transportation can work for them. It might not work for every single trip-

Tim Fulton 32:43Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 32:43... but it might work for a couple of trips a week or a couple of trips a month. Um, so things that you've seen recently in the last couple of years like the C-BUS-

Tim Fulton 32:51Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 32:52... um, downtown. That's our free circulator service that runs between downtown, the Brewery District, the Short North. Um, these highly populated areas of workers during the day, of residents who are s- flooding into downtown each year.

Tim Fulton 33:06Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 33:06Um, and then also visitors from out of town. You know, we've seen so many more visitors and more conventions and more events coming here. Um, so COTA has really been focused the last several years on helping people find ways to, to make public transportation fit into their lives. Um, those choice riders, people who might not have taken it before. Because we know with the growth that is expected to happen here, I don't even think we're a 20-minute town anymore.

Tim Fulton 33:31Right.

Lisa Myers 33:31We're certainly not going to be in the future, um, if we don't tackle those challenges now and as we move forward and work with our partners to make sure that, that we're all on the same page about how we're going to do that. Um, our entire transportation network, we know that if you build more roads, if you build more highways, it brings more cars. It doesn't alleviate that congestion, it just brings more cars eventually. So public transportation will need to play a large role in the growth and the future of this city, and certainly COTA is, is ready and willing and excited to be a part of that.

Tim Fulton 34:05Great. So I grew up on the North End just south of Clintonville. I grew up starting taking the COTA bus when I was, I think, 13 or 14 years old.

Lisa Myers 34:13Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:13Taking it downtown. For those that haven't ridden the bus, there... I think we've talked about it on this podcast before. There are perception issues of what, you know, what is the bus, what is the experience like, what is it for, or who is it for even sometimes. Can you talk to that and sort of why would people want to ride the bus?

Josh Sikich 34:32Sure. Uh, for one, um, you know, COTA is for everybody.

Tim Fulton 34:36Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 34:36And, and really, um, it's about options. So, um, you know, one thing that you think about is just cost.

Tim Fulton 34:44Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 34:44You know, owning a car, uh, paying for gas, paying for insurance, paying for maintenance. It's, it's a costly thing for, for everybody, but it hits some folks harder than others. Uh, riding a, a COTA bus is, is just a cheaper way to go-

Tim Fulton 34:58Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 34:58... if you need to get from point A to point B. So that's, that's one thing. Um-

Tim Fulton 35:01For those that don't know, it's two bucks any bus you want, and it'll get to your final destination.

Josh Sikich 35:07We also know that, uh, you know, parking downtown is, uh, getting, uh, more sparse-

Tim Fulton 35:13Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 35:13... getting more expensive. Um, so for folks that, uh, are coming into downtown, uh, you could travel to any of our, uh, park and rides, uh, park for free, and then take the bus, uh, on into downtown while reading your phone or, or reading a book or anything like that.

Tim Fulton 35:27Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 35:27Uh, so part of it is cost, uh, convenience if that works for you. Another part, I, I just saw this morning, um, you know, central Ohio rates, uh, somewhat poorly on various forms of air pollution.

Tim Fulton 35:38Mm-hmm.

Josh Sikich 35:38Uh, you know, the more congestion that's on the roads, uh, a lot of that, uh, goes into the, the pollution issue. So, uh, riding a COTA bus, it takes more cars off the road. It improves our air quality for people that, that live across central Ohio. Another thing, driving a car is still a, a pretty dangerous, uh, form of transportation. Uh, 30 to 40,000 people die in, uh, car accidents each year in the United States. Uh, and riding transit is, uh, is an extremely safe thing to do, uh, both, um, for traffic accidents and for personal safety. Uh, it's one of the, uh, safest ways to, um, uh, to get where you need to go. All of our buses have, uh, cameras and, um, uh, just the, the, your, your personal safety and traffic safety is just much improved on a COTA bus. Then ultimately, uh, it's just about, um, you know, getting people to, to jobs. Um, whether, uh, you have a six-figure income, uh, and you just want the convenience of, of getting downtown, uh, without the hassle of traffic, or whether you're, uh, unemployed and, uh, just trying to get a leg up for the next stage in your life, uh, COTA really, uh, provides that economic development, that, uh, workforce development, a solution for the region. So Uh, we're not saying COTA, uh, needs, you know, everybody has to ride a COTA bus. But I think especially after May 1st, uh, when we really put our best foot forward-

Tim Fulton 37:04Mm-hmm

Josh Sikich 37:04... uh, with a high quality, uh, change, this comprehensive redesign, I think it'll, uh, um, it'll be good for people to give COTA a look and see if it works for them.

Tim Fulton 37:13Great. So you talk about convenience, you talk about cost. It's frankly, it makes you a good citizen to ride the bus, and the safety aspect of it.

Lisa Myers 37:21You'd be surprised the things you, you see out the window of the bus and when you're walking to the bus, things that you don't notice and don't see when you're driving your car.

Tim Fulton 37:30Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 37:30Um, I think that's been one of the, the most wonderful things for me about working here, riding the bus more. Uh, just learning more about your community.

Tim Fulton 37:37Right.

Lisa Myers 37:38Learning more about your neighbors. We, we know lots of people who, who see the same, the same faces on the bus every morning-

Tim Fulton 37:44Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 37:44... or get to know their bus driver. There's that camaraderie and that, that sense of community that comes from, from being a bus rider, I think. Again, whether you do that every day or whether you just choose to do it a couple of times a month when-

Tim Fulton 37:55Mm-hmm

Lisa Myers 37:55... when you, you've got a little bit more time or you know you don't have a meeting in the middle of the day.

Tim Fulton 38:00Mm-hmm.

Lisa Myers 38:01Um, really COTA's here for you when you need it. Um, whether it's going to an Ohio State game, coming to Red, White, and Boom, coming downtown Short North for Gallery Hop. Really all different ways that you can take COTA, um, and, and be m- even more a part of your community.

Tim Fulton 38:16Great. Lisa, Josh, thank you so much for your time and, uh, we'll have a link to everything we discussed in the show notes. And, uh, go Bus.

Lisa Myers 38:24Wonderful. Thank you so much for having us.

Josh Sikich 38:26Thank you.

Tim Fulton 38:36Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite commuter. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.