On our trip we traveled from Knowlton Hall to Matt the Miller’s in Grandview. We had to make a transfer from the #7 to the #5 at Neil and 5th just on the northern edge of Victorian village. Even though none of us had made this transfer before it was very easy to locate the bus stops we needed to go to after each change. They were clearly marked, though only the one on 5th and Grandview had any sort of shelter from the snow and cold on that particular day.
On our way to the destination the #7 had a decent number of people. About 10-15 people comprised the average ridership at each stop. When we boarded the #5 towards Grandview the bus was only carrying on other passenger. On the way back however, it began to snow, and there were over 20 people on the #5 towards downtown. We were waiting for the #7 to take us back to campus but before it arrived a #18 stopped and we decided to take that instead to save time and get out of the cold wind, there were about 25 people on the bus. The buses both made good time when traveling toward our destination, moving quickly down their route, but on our return journey they were slowed due to increasing stops as people chose to take the bus to get out of the snow and wind.
Overall we would recommend implementation of plastic reusable cards for boarding buses to ensure faster stop times, and we believe, would lead to decreasing travel times. Another way to update the COTA system and bring it up to speed with other modern transportation systems ,that are competitors, would be the creation of a bus tracker system much like CABS and Uber, that shows the bus as it is moving. Also more shelters to shield patrons from the elements. It would also be in COTA’s best interest to aggressively advertise themselves as an alternative to automotive transportation.
Below we have included a timeline so that it is easy to see the details of the trip and how long it took overall.
Board the #7 bus at the Knowlton Hall stop: 2:34 pm
Arrive at Neil and 5th stop: 2:46 pm
Board #5 heading westbound: 2:55 pm
Arrive at Destination: 3:07 pm
Board #5 heading eastbound: 3:11
Return to Neil and 5th Ave Bus Stop: 3:18
Board the #7 to return to campus: 3:30 pm
Return to OSU Union (as we took the #18 back): 3: 38
Total Time of Trip: 1 hour and 4 minutes