Columbus District Weighs Putting High Schoolers on COTA Buses: Three Options Save Up to $7.2 Million as COTA Misses 32,000-Plus Trips
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus City Schools Board of Education, in Franklin County, Ohio, met on October 20 for an update on a plan that could put high school students on public buses. According to The Columbus Dispatch on October 21, more than 4,200 high school students currently rely on district yellow buses, including 740 charter and private school students. Of the 9,200 students the district is responsible for transporting, 73 percent could reach school in a single ride, 24 percent would need one transfer, and only 3 percent, or 276 students, would need two or more transfers or are outside COTA's service range.
Administrators presented three options: cancel all high school busing without providing COTA passes, saving an estimated $7.2 million; cancel busing but provide COTA passes, saving about $5 million; or keep yellow buses only for students with multiple transfers or no bus access, saving about $4.8 million. Reliability is the biggest obstacle: the Dispatch reported in September that COTA missed more than 32,000 of its more than 497,000 trips in the first eight months of this year, or 6.4 percent, largely because its 50 electric buses, about 17 percent of the fleet, are under a New Flyer battery-defect recall and can be charged only to about 75 percent, contributing only about 3 percent of service hours.
In December 2025, two measures to cancel high school busing outright failed after contentious debate, and the board instead voted unanimously to form a work group to develop a plan with COTA and other leaders; the administration must present a formal plan to the board by the end of December. Aslyne Rodriguez, COTA's director of regional partnerships, said student safety, accessibility and readiness remain the priority. (GSM, based on The Columbus Dispatch reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Columbus 市中心 COTA 巴士资料图。图片：中央俄亥俄交通局（COTA）官网 cota.com。 / A COTA bus in downtown Columbus, file photo. Photo: Central Ohio Transit Authority, via cota.com.
