Central Ohio Transit Authority ridership is up 11% in recent weeks. COTA officials believe one reason is the skyrocketing price of gas.
For example, COTA's popular No. 2 route, the North High/East Main line, is averaging 475 more passengers each weekday, which is a 9 % increase.
Line 34 along Morse Road through the Northland area and Easton is averaging 252 more riders. That's an 18% increase.
Line 22, which connects Ohio State University to Rickenbacker International Airport, has seen 190 more passengers on average daily, which is a 14% increase.
All those numbers come from the two-week period beginning April 20 and ending May 4.
"We expected ridership to increase when gas prices exceeded $4, and it certainly has," COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin said in an email.
Stevie Pasamonte chairs the advocacy group Transit Columbus.
"I think high gas prices absolutely have a big role to play in the shift that we're seeing. I think in general car ownership is really expensive for Columbus households," Pasamonte said.
"We may see more people who are single car households or are just trying to cut down and not even totally eliminate car usage, taking those trips on COTA is going to save a lot of money," she said.
But Pasamonte said she thinks it's more than just high gas prices driving ridership.
"COTA has been increasing its service, and I think as a result of that I have seen more ridership because when you have a bus that comes every 15 minutes instead of every 20, it's gonna be more usable," Pasamonte said.
The average price for regular gas in metro Columbus metro on Friday is $4.81 per gallon, according to AAA.
