It’s been well over a year since I wrote anything about COTA’s proposed Cleveland Avenue bus rapid transit (BRT) line. In that post, COTA had just announced the study and I was speculating about what would be included. Now that the study is finished, we know more about the design. According to COTA’s public presentation, it will include:
- Buses in mixed traffic
- BRT stations (except for downtown and north of SR 161)
- Signal priority
- Level boarding
- Special branding of service
- Frequent service (BRT will operate every 10 minutes in peak periods and every 15 minutes in off-peak periods. Local service will continue to operate every 30 minutes)
The map below shows the route. There would be five stops on High Street, one at Nationwide Blvd & High Street, and three on Naughten or Mt. Vernon. The BRT stations start north of there, with 23 stops in the 8.8 miles up to Columbus Square Shopping Center. That’s an average stop spacing of 0.38 miles. That’s more stops than I would like to see on a BRT line, but it’s expected given that the line will still have to accommodate much of the local service given the planned low frequency (30 minute headway) of the #1. Travel times are still projected to decrease by 20 percent and ridership is expected to increase by 15 to 30 percent, so that’s very good.
So when will this be done? COTA was scheduled to submit to the FTA in August. If they get a grant, then construction can begin in 2014 and service can begin in 2016. Hopefully if COTA gets FTA approval, they will start working on other corridors – like High Street, Broad Street, Main Street, and Livingston Avenue – before 2016. It would be nice to see a comprehensive plan for BRT routes radiating in all directions that can create the capacity needed to move towards a frequent transit grid that could also reduce bus congestion downtown.
I’ve only just thumbed through the presentation but my reaction is that if they actually implement this it will kill rapid transit in Columbus for a generation. Anything done here needs it’s own right of way – it’s a function of the lousy drivers we have here. If we spend millions for a BRT which is continually stuck in traffic or cancelled by weather it will be seen as money wasted. Not to mention all the individual cars in traffic who will (wrongly) blame the BRT for being stuck.
I don’t agree with anything you wrote:
1. I don’t see how higher transit ridership (15 to 30% higher according to the estimates) will be anything other than a positive step towards better transit in the future.
2. Columbus drivers aren’t significantly worse than drivers anywhere else. In fact, they may be better than average based on state traffic fatality rates.
3. A transit line with its own right-of-way would cost many millions more, which would make it much less likely to get a high cost effectiveness rating from the FTA, which means nothing would happen at all.
4. I’m not sure anyone in Columbus is “continually stuck in traffic,” which of course is why transit isn’t that popular to begin with, which is why COTA is starting with a low-grade BRT line instead of something with dedicated ROW.
5. How often are buses “cancelled by weather?” Once every few years in a massive snow storm?
6. The buses are operating in mixed traffic (that means cars can use the lanes too) and stopping less often, so drivers won’t be delayed any more by the bus system than they are now.
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