Marathon Madness!

If it's spring, it must be marathon time in Columbus, an often maddening time for COTA riders in which we haplessly experience delays, reroutes, and scrapped schedules.

In fact, it was an experience during the Columbus Marathon about four years ago that led to the creation of this blog. I absolutely HAD to go to the grocery store one Saturday. Big mistake! The trip back--about 25 blocks--took more than two hours as buses crawled by with "Next Bus Please" or "Not in Service" on their destination zippers--or simply didn't crawl by at all. I couldn't walk--I had bags of groceries. As usual, no one was forewarned; no notices were posted of the upcoming upheaval were posted on the bus in the days prior to the event.

Last Saturday was no different. The Capitol City Half-Marathon was held in the morning, and I boarded the No. 2 East Main Street to downtown, so I could make a transfer to my destination in Franklinton (South Grubb and Rich streets, where stops for the Nos. 3, 6, and 15 are located). I had a home-made potato salad in tow for a potluck being held at my spiritual place of refuge. It was my plan to change downtown for one of three afore-mentioned lines, but COTA had other plans.

The bus already was eight minutes late when I boarded, eliminating the possibility catching two of the transfers, but I could still catch the third in plenty of time. However, as we moved along Grant without making the turn onto State Street, and instead, headed to West Broad Street, I knew something was terribly amiss. It was then I noticed the massive traffic jams all over downtown, and buses going down streets they usually don't go down. We turned onto West Broad Street, apparently where the Broad and High transfer point had been relocated. I jumped off the bus, and saw a West Broad Street No. 10, and jaywalked and dodged traffic to catch it. It was pulling off but the driver kindly allowed me on.

"What's going on?" I asked her.

"A marathon," she told me.

"I didn't know about this. Why weren't notices posted?" I asked.

"We've had notices all week," she said, despite the fact that none were posted anywhere on her bus. Nor did I see any at all during the week on any other bus I ride, and I ride at least two to four times a day.

The driver took us back down Grant, where we sat in traffic for about 15 minutes. A state trooper at the intersection of East Main and Grant stood around looking perplexed but I never him nor any other law enforcement officers directing traffic anywhere along the route she followed. As we headed back toward my neighborhood, I asked her what her route was going to be. After all, she was going east, the opposite direction that would take us to West Broad Street.

"I'm going to the freeway (Interstate 70), to the Rich and Town street exit), where I'll go over to West Broad," she told me.

To her credit, she was pretty calm considering.... I know bus-driving is an occupation in which high-blood pressure and a general nasty demeanor are occupational hazards. Riders also suffer the same afflictions.

"I've learned just to roll with it," she said.

Although my brain was beginning to roil, I took her example and sat down and buried myself in a magazine. I feared the worst because not only was traffic downtown deadlocked, but Interstate 71 north was closed for miles for major reconstruction; I suspected that I-70 was another parking lot. I figured I'd have to throw out my lovingly created potato salad because it would have become warm, increasing the possibility of salmonella poisoning. Fortunately, I-70 wasn't that bad, and I was able to get to where I was going, and the potato salad still had a healthy chill when I arrived. I just barely made lunch.

The usual 20-minute trip took a total of 1 hour, 5 minutes.

My question is why can't COTA adequately warn riders of these delays? I have only on rare occasions seen notices posted on the buses during huge events downtown that involve reroutes and delays. Never knew anything about Saturday's marathon until I enviously watched sweaty runners going where they needed to go as I sat on a bus stuck in traffic. It also would seem that the city and police department might be better prepared as well. Those who drove to the potluck also told of huge traffic jams and delays trying to get there.

While I am all in favor of people competing in marathons, especially if they are raising money for a good cause, the needs of us poor COTA-riding schlubs needs to be considered, too. We have lives: we have to work, go to the grocery, keep appointments. And since we don't drive, we have to factor in bus time for everything we do that involves trying to get somewhere. It often takes twice as long for us to do these things than it does for those with cars.

As the summer festival and outdoor event season begins in earnest, I'll be keeping a wary eye on COTA's performance, both in alerting us to upcoming delays and reroutes, and maintaining service with the least inconvenience possible.

By the way, the potato salad survived, and everyone loved it. As far as I know, no one got food poisoning.