In Search of a City: A Passing Grade for the Transit Pass
The Franklin County Commissioners made a huge contribution to the health of downtown in September. They approved a resolution to pay 80% of the cost of monthly transit passes for county employees. This one-year pilot program allows County employees unlimited access to COTA buses for $9.00 per month and unlimited access to local or express buses for $12.40 per month.
Unfortunately, parking benefits are the norm in Columbus. Many employers think nothing of building and maintaining employee parking facilities or shelling out money for commercial parking spaces, but balk at offering comparable transit subsidies.
They create an artificial demand for parking that drives up the cost of doing business in downtown and creates a host of environmental and social problems. Columbus parks 84 cars per 100 downtown employees, compared to 59 in Portland, Oregon.
Area universities, including Ohio State University and CCAD, have offered unlimited access to COTA for years. These “eco pass” programs have successfully encouraged students to use transit and leave their cars in their home towns. Finally, Columbus has a major employer willing to do the same thing.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Why do I pay the same for 1 mile ride as someone coming in from the burbs? Can we please have within zone charges, 50 cents to go from short north to downtown?