How Columbus is reinventing its bus system to go net-zero

[@NealCMH]

Having lived in Columbus for over 40 years, I am very excited about the improvements to COTA. I will be voting FOR the sales tax increase this November. Of course, I am also looking forward to 2030 when we will have Amtrak service.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

YES! Honestly, if by 2030 we have Amtrak and even on BRT line, I'll be so excited.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Great behind the scenes look - not many of us get the opportunity to do that! Any thoughts on the debate about switching to electric buses vs. expanding transit service in terms of being more effective at emissions reduction? You touched upon how electric buses should save money in the long run (which would help improve service later on), but there's an argument for how this transition takes up valuable resources today that could be used for network expansions and service improvements that get more cars off the road

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

There’s certainly up front cost, and I suppose there are some trade off. But at the same time, investing new money in fossil fuel infrastructure at this point is irresponsible and risky. I don’t think we need to choose. The limiting factor on expanding service now is drivers more than buses. So hopefully we can add more buses as we build out the zero carbon infrastructure.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Fair enough, thanks for the perspective@@HeartlandUrbanist

[@TheTransitCamera]

Glad to see the electric bus fleet seems to be working well for COTA so far. Here in Minneapolis we have a fleet of 7 articulated electric buses assigned to operate on the C Line rapid bus. When ordered they were expected to operate about 50% of the C Line trips. Unfortunately they have been fairly problematic with a higher operating cost and more frequent roadcalls compared to their diesel counterparts, and have only been covering 10-25% of the C line trips in recent months. This has meant there aren't enough rapid bus units to operate all the BRT and rapid bus services, so it's fairly common to see 13-14 year old regular route diesel artics running on those services to fill the assignment gaps.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Wow - that's really unfortunate. The COTA team didn't report any issues at all. Do you happen to know which bus provider Metro ordered its electric buses from? I know Indy has had huge issues with its BYD buses, but COTA uses New Flyer.

[@TheTransitCamera]

@@HeartlandUrbanist Metro Transit 8700-8707 (actually 8 units, not 7, my bad) are 2019 New Flyer XE60 model. From what I'm aware a lot of their early issues were related to the charging equipment and infrastructure, those have since been upgraded though. These were also the very first battery-electric articulated buses built by New Flyer for a production order. So that may have something to do with their less than stellar performance. Typically there are 2-4 in service throughout a day so at least they are getting used and not just gathering dust in a garage corner like with some BEB trial fleets. Metro Transit is still trying to add some more electric buses in the coming years. 8 units from Gillig are in the process of being ordered, though the contract hasn't been set yet. And 12 units were expected to be ordered from Proterra, however with that company being broken up in bankruptcy they are looking at other mfgs. (Probably Gillig or New Flyer) We are also supposed to get 5 more New Flyer XE60 this year for use on the new Gold Line BRT. I hope those will be more reliable.

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

Dayton's trackless trolleycoaches: hold our beer.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Yes. I did ask about whether Columbus could use trolly buses, especially on the new BRT routes. They dodged the question and I didn’t push it further. I suspect that the biggest obstacle would be getting all of the municipalities on board.

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

@@HeartlandUrbanist if it ran entirely within Columbus, as Dayton's lines run entirely within that city, no issue with suburbs.

[@tonywalters7298]

@@centredoorplugsthornton4112 I think part of the electrified line on patterson runs into Kettering. the lines on the old route five that ran on OH 48 are coming down ( I think the last time the frolleys ran that line was back in 2011 though)

[@BrysonTheTomato]

great video as always, I really appreciate what you do!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Thank you so much!

[@TheGreatestKeith]

Laketran built the first all electric bus routes in Ohio back in 2021 and have those fun quick chargers at some of their stations. It is very exciting to see the technology rolling out in such a larger network.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Very cool. Yeah, the electric bus program here is small - but I think it's about to be much bigger given the big investments they're making. Very excited for it.

[@BensEcoAdvntr]

Really enjoyed this video, I didn’t know COTA had more than one electric bus. Look forward to hearing more about LinkUS

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

So glad you enjoyed it. I think in the next few years we’ll go from 13 electric buses to around 100 - given how much they’re building out the charging infrastructure. You don’t need 50 depot chargers for 24 buses!

[@Mars-ev7qg]

Washington DC is falling way behind in getting electric buses into service. So far, DC only has a few electric buses in service on one short route as a pilot project for introducing electric buses into service. That has been the case for over a year now, and no progress has been made. Let's hope DC can pick up the pace on this project soon. Diesel smoke from city buses is a serious problem in several low income neighborhoods in DC.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I lived in DC for 7 years, and consider their bus network among the best in the nation (I used it nearly every day), so this is super disappointing.

[@Dtbygu94]

Thank you for your work! This video was very informative for a report I'm working on for the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (nice map in the background btw). I have been tasked with conducting a market analysis on charging equipment as the Authority is looking to upgrade one of our garage facilities with this equipment for the electric buses we're procuring. I'll be sure to reference your video when I include the information about COTA's strategy in my report. I'm sure that the Authority's bus program office will be happy to hear about the pantograph chargers too if they don't already know about them. Very cool and useful equipment. Do you know where I'd be able to find information about which contractors provided and installed the equipment that has been installed in COTA's garages? Any information you can provide would be extremely helpful, thank you!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I lived in DC for 7 years before moving back to Ohio in 2021. I love DC very much. COTA's buses are all New Flyer and they buy the charging infrastructure from ABB - who is apparently recommended by New Flyer.

[@Dtbygu94]

@@HeartlandUrbanist Thank you so much for this information! I appreciate it. I’ve only lived here for about 4 years now, but the city has really taken ahold of my heart. Next time I’m in the Columbus area I’ll make sure to test out one of their electric buses.

[@danonyoutube999]

7:46 One unrelated thing I noticed was the ‘traffic calming’ on the sidewalks in front of the redesigned McKinley COTA facility. Why not make them straight ugh

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Ugh, yeah. I hadn't really noticed that until your comment. The "good news" is that I doubt there's much foot traffic there - it has a 20 walk score.

[@agy234]

Very interested to see how these electric busses work out. Seems like maintenance is a problem, at least with the electric school bus fleets

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Yeah. So far, COTA has had less maintenance for their initial 13 electric buses.

[@joshposey116]

It seems like the obvious solution to the on-route charging is to just use a trolleybus.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I did ask that question - and they dodged it. I think the challenge is likely getting municipalities onboard.

[@Transitfanofohio]

Does this mean COTA will no longer buy CNG buses? Also great video 🎉

[@funnygeorge236]

Dedicated subtitles during the rough audio sections would go a long way I think

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I did add them for the particularly rough patches, but perhaps I should have added them in more spots.

[@hsantanam]

Thanks. Where are these buses made?

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

The manufacturer is based in Canada and has plants all over the US and Canada, including in Minnesota and Florida. I’m not sure where these particular buses were made.

[@hsantanam]

@@HeartlandUrbanist - thanks!

[@peterjaniceforan3080]

⚡️🚉👍

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

💪