New Kids on the Block: COTA Transit Audit

Trip to Nationwide Children’s Hospital

 

Stop 1The New Kids on the Block chose to go to Nationwide Children’s Hospital located off of Livingston Avenue and Parsons Avenue on the east side of Columbus. Our transit audit started at 18th Avenue and High Street.

This stop was clean for the most part and had trash cans around. However, there weren’t any places to sit or any shelter if there happened to be inclement weather. We caught the number two bus at 3:43 PM, which was one minute late from its scheduled arrival time of 3:42 PM. While getting on the, the first thing we noticed was that the bus the driver wasn’t too polite to Casey because her Buck ID wasn’t working correctly. As we sat down we noticed there weren’t any bad smells and there were plenty of open seats for our entire group. Overall bus number two going southbound on High Street from Woodruff Avenue was, quiet, warm, clean, and other than a slight situation with a Buck ID the ride went smoothly.

 
Stop 2Before transitioning to our next bus, the number one, our experience during the next stop wasn’t as nice. Our stop at Broad Street and High Street was very crowded. There was hardly any room in the shelter for all of us. It was very windy that day, the 12th of November, and we all wanted to get under the shelter to block the wind. While we were inside the shelter, a homeless man and woman approached us for money before we got on the number one. Unlike the stop before, this stop had information posted inside the shelters. The information included a map of the transit stops as well as bus fair, times, popular destinations, etc.

 

Stop 3Bus number one, our second bus, arrived at 4:05 PM. This was perfectly on time. The driver was very polite, but this bus experience was very different than the previous one. People on the bus were less hygienic and the bus was more crowded. Also, there was a man singing the entire trip to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Due to the over crowdedness people were forced to stand until the next stop. Right before we arrived to our destination, the bus driver slammed on his brakes for no apparent reason. Which left a few people uneasy.

 

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Kiauna, Casey, Bryson, Nicholas

After reaching our destination at Nationwide Children’s Hospital we then stood under the shelter of our next stop for around 5 minutes until our next bus, the number one, going west arrived at 4:30 PM. However, the bus didn’t arrive until 4:31PM which was one minute later than scheduled arrival time.

 

 

Stop 4Entering the bus, the first thing noticed was how polite the bus driver was. We all then sat down because there were plenty of open seats and also saw that nobody else was standing. After standing outside in high wind and cold 40 degree weather, we noticed that the heat was on and working well inside the bus and warmed us all back up. We then headed aback towards downtown for our next stop at Broad Street and High Street, which was in front of Columbus Statehouse.

 

 

Stop 5After getting off the number one bus going northbound, we initially noticed this area was nicer than the other stops. The stop had a much larger shelter than the other stops. However, it was also much more crowded than the other stops which caused us not to be able to sit under the shelter. While at this stop, one of our group members was approached by a woman to sign a petition, which is a slight annoyance. When our last bus, the number two, arrived at 4:48 PM there were three buses already at the stop. Even though the bus arrived on time we had to walk outside of the shelter about 65 feet down the street to enter our last bus.

 

Stop 6While going back to Woodruff Avenue, the number two bus was quite crowded. After getting a nice greeting from the driver, we noticed a handful of people were standing up, and it got loud. This was due to an inebriated individual toward the back of the bus who slurred his way through his sentences the entire ride.

When we got off our final bus, the stop at Woodruff Avenue and High Street was in very poor condition. The stop had two wooden benches which were also in poor condition that could only fit about two people on each.

 

OverviewOverall our trip went well, we managed make it back by 5:11 PM after starting at 3:43 PM and travelling a total of 5.2 miles. Initially the trip was easy to navigate using COTA’s website which was helpful. Most of the stops were fine. All of which had some seating except for one. All of the stops had shelters except our initial and final stops. Our only problems with these stops weren’t necessarily the stops themselves, but being bothered by other people at the stops. While we were on the buses, 3 of the 4 drivers were very kind. Half of the buses were quiet and had room for everyone to sit. We felt safe on the buses. Each bus had the locations being called out as well as mini pamphlets with bus information in them. They also each had trash bags, hand sanitizers, and the heat was working.


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Stop 2-2 Stop 2-3

 

 

New Kids on the Block: Mixed Use Village

The New Kids on the Block came up with an interesting way to use this land on the lot in the picture below. The idea that this district wants to be more welcoming and enjoying, we figured that having an all-in-one mixed use area would attract people to come the Bridge District.

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The mixed used pedestrian villa will contain two lines of buildings in range from five through eight stories. The common use is from residential to commercial and office use. There will also be a Recreational center that welcomes public use and all parking is proposed to be in the rear leaving the in-between space for pedestrian use. Bridge District will propose night live attraction, with Shoppe’s, dining, recreation, theatre, and brewery.

village

Some elements that will make this village appeal to tourist and the people living in the communities are defined keys of Dublin. We would use materials like older stone and as well as modern stone to present character. We’ll also present lamp posts to help light the area at night.