Earlier this year, we posted one of our #GOPCThreads about potential infrastructure projects which could result from the enactment of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). One project that was highlighted, which we have previously blogged about, was the LinkUs Initiative in Columbus/Central Ohio. The LinkUS initiative was created to address the transportation and access issues of a growing region, and builds off of several previous studies, including Insight2050, COTA NextGen, and the Insight2050 Corridor Concepts Study (which we highlighted in our Good Ideas series).
Last week, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), the public transit agency which serves Franklin County and select areas outside the county, announced plans to put a proposed sales tax increase before voters, possibly as soon as this November. The increase, which would raise the transit tax from 0.5% to 1%, would generate $6 billion for the development of a bus rapid transit system by 2050. The $6 billion generated from the sales tax would aid COTA’s effort to raise matching federal money resulting from BIL, as well as bond financing to pay for the system, which would cost a total of $8 billion by 2050, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
The proposed sales-tax increase (e.g. the new 0.5%) is planned to be dedicated solely to building out the bus rapid transit lines, where larger buses would have dedicated rights-of-way and passengers would board at stations. The existing 0.5% sales tax would continue to fund general COTA operations and the regions bus system.
Bus rapid transit, or BRT, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have better capacity and reliability than a conventional bus system. Standard BRT systems include roadways that are dedicated to buses and give priority to buses at intersections where buses may interact with other traffic. They are designed to reduce delays caused by passengers boarding or leaving buses or paying fees. BRT is seen as an effort to combine the capacity of a light rail system with the more cost-efficient bus transit system.
COTA currently operates a modified BRT, the CMAX, which runs from downtown Columbus north to suburban Westerville. The CMAX however does not have a dedicated lane exclusive for the use of buses. Greater Cleveland RTA operates a BRT line, the Healthline, which runs from Downtown Cleveland to East Cleveland on a route that includes Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, the main campuses of both The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, as well as University Circle, home of both Severance Hall and the Cleveland Museum of Art. This line has been nationally recognized.
Regionally, the most extensive BRT system is in Pittsburgh. The first route opened in 1977, the South Busway. The South Busway is a two-lane BRT highway serving southern portions of the city of Pittsburgh. The busway runs for 4.3 miles from the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel across the Monongahela River from Downtown Pittsburgh to the Overbrook neighborhood of the city, bypassing the crowded Pennsylvania Route 51. It is owned and maintained by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the public transit provider for Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh region. Its success led to the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway in 1983, a fuller BRT deployment including a dedicated busway of 9.1 miles, traffic signal preemption, and peak service headway as low as two minutes. After the opening of the West Busway, 5.1 miles (8.2 km) in length in 2000, Pittsburgh's Busway system is today over 18.5 miles long.
COTA has made early comments that the BRT lines would run north/south and east/west, to give the county coverage.
GOPC is a longtime advocate and proponent of investment in public transit. We look forward to tracking the progress of this latest initiative and will provide updates across our many social media platforms and here on our blog.