Riders could soon be paying higher bus fares if increases are approved by the Central Ohio Transit Authority. Fare adjustments are taken up by COTA trustees once every three years. COTA spokesman Marty Stutz says local and express routes would go up by a 25 cents iof the increases are approved. Our base local fare would go from $2.00 to two-and-a-quarter, Stutz says.
Express fares would rise to $3.00 if approved. And fares might soon be charged for the popular downtown circulator known as the C-Bus, though COTA is still looking for businesses and organizations that would underwrite the service.
Stutz says COTA is working to implement fares based on a ratio with taxpayers subsidizing 80 percent of the fares and riders the remaining 20 percent.
We want to make sure that the customer is paying a fair share of the cost to provide the service and that the taxpayers are subsidizing the rest of that cost at a fair rate, Stutz says. If approved, the increases would take effect January 1st.