Cotacrimes.blogspot.com returns -- with a vengeance!

Nothing like a couple of unsavory experiences on the Central Ohio Transit Authority buses to get my dander rising, and get me back to the blog. Just a quick update:

-- We dodged a proposed fare increase that was skedded for Jan. 1 (my monthly pass would have gone from $62 to $69; individual fares would have risen from $2 to $2.25), and the CBus, the vanity coach that takes High Street, German Village, and Arena District revelers around those areas (and anyone else who needs to go there, but it's mostly ridden by partiers and hipsters) remains free, at least until May 3 (at this writing on May 2, it appears it will remain free for the time being).

-- Ugly new bus stops have been built downtown, and several downtown stops have been consolidated (in other words, closed). At least some of the new shelters have heat, and most actually have the line schedule posted, something I've been bitching about for years. The new shelters are part of a plan to spare tourists, out-of-towners and Statehouse bureaucrats the sight of motley groups of COTA riders who congregate downtown trying to make transfers. Ultimately, riders will be herded to side streets but this has not happened yet. Dayton did something similar, but built a fairly nice station for its riders, complete with electronic timetables that tell you how long you will wait for a bus to arrive. This is something I'd love to see in the COTA system. Still, in the far-flung reaches of the COTA empire, some bus stops are still only signs next to drainage ditches (I plan a photo series this year documenting the sorry state of many of our bus stops that I plan to title, Our Filthy Bus Stops).


Old-school COTA shelter



COTA shelter 2015


-- Some new coaches have been put into service, with smooth vinyl seats replacing the icky, fabric-covered ones of yore (see previous post: Of Bedbugs and COTA). I can't wait until all of the seats are changed so that passengers won't use the plastic grocery bags COTA inexplicably provides for customers to toss their trash into as plastic seat covers (I'll be addressing this in an upcoming entry). To its credit, COTA also has been putting hybrids into service, doing its part of cut down on the dangerous diesel pollution buses generate.

-- Still, many of the buses remain filthy (I blame riders for this mostly), and while on-time performance has improved, the system still can't handle large downtown events like today's Capitol City Half-Marathon, which caused sheer pandemonium and chaos for the system (see subsequent entry: Marathon Madness!). Drivers have generally been friendlier, at least to me, but many still can't tell you where and for what bus you can make transfers. Also, timetables are not aligned well enough to effect transfers; I can't tell you how many times I've approached the Hamilton Road/East Main Street intersection hoping to catch my transfer, only to see it pull away as I watched helplessly from the bus as it approached the intersection. Surely COTA planners could alleviate this. And drivers SIMPLY REFUSE to wait for approaching buses to allow riders to make transfers.

-- I don't know how many folks actually read this--I have almost 1,000 "views", probably about 500 are my own--but I did receive my first piece of fan mail, which I will address in the next entry.

I Heard It on COTA....

Well, actually not ON COTA, but at the bus stop at Gibson Avenue and East Main Street, yesterday afternoon: Bundled up five- or six-year-old waiting for the Eastbound #2 to wide-eyed, incredulous, and equally bundled-up younger tot: "I saw a little dog POOP, and then a big dog came and ATE IT!" I guess times are tough all over....

I heard it on COTA....

Oh, I love little children, especially those who are taught the F-word in public by their adoring parents. This charming scene occurred a couple of weeks ago on the eastbound No. 2, headed to Reynoldsburg. I heard the adorable little tyke saying, "Fuh! Fuh!" to the laughter of his mother, and two or three friends. "What's he saying?" one asked. "Fuck," the mother replied matter-of-factly. Laughter ensued. By the time the quartet reached their stop, the toddler had graduated to "Fuh you!" To the mother's credit, she did tell her friends to stop prompting the child to say the word. But I bet by now, it's firmly ensconced in his nascent vocabulary.

Of bedbugs and buses

A couple of weeks ago, I swore I saw a COTA rider tweak a bedbug off his shirt and squeeze it to death. This observation underlies one of the my basest fears of life in general, and of COTA, in particular: getting and having to deal with an infestation of bedbugs!

This event occurred just a couple of weeks from my return from New York City, which was all a-twitter about the discovery of bedbugs on several Brooklyn lines, which resulted in the trains being taken out of service.

I don't know how high the incidence of bedbug infestation might be on COTA buses, but you can damn well bet that they are there. COTA serves the Columbus underclass--those hit hard by poverty, unemployment, less than hygienic living conditions, as well as scores of homeless folks. However, as we well know, you can be living on Riverside Drive and find you have picked up bedbugs. But the demographic of COTA's ridership would appear to make it more likely you might run into the little bastards. So you know they are there, lurking in the cracks and crevices of the seats and windows.

According to Orkin, the nation's top pest-control company, Columbus is No. 3 in its 2014 list of the nation's Top 10 cities for bedbugs, based on calls for service they receive for treatments. In fact, Columbus moved up three spots from its No. 6 standing in 2013. Perhaps even more ominous for all Ohioans, four of the Top 10 are Ohio cities: Cincinnati (No. 5), the Cleveland/Akron/Canton metroplex (No. 6), and Dayton (No. 7). Only Chicago and Los Angeles top the Capitol City.

I don't know what kind of precautions COTA takes to prevent bedbug infestation, but I bet they are minimal--after all, not much stops them except for the banned insecticide DDT (I've often wondered whether the current explosion of bedbugs in the U.S. is linked some nefarious terrorist plot). The buses don't seem to be cleaned too often for any reason, let alone for bedbugs. I suppose I could call them to find out some answers, but I'd blow my cover, and I don't want to do that yet. However, I have noticed that new buses have black vinyl seat coverings, which makes it easier to see the little buggers. I still cringe when I have to sit on the fabric-covered seats, and always look around for creepy crawlers (and stains, chewing gum, and other evidence of "wet spots"). I shake my stuff when I get off the bus--and then just pray!

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

I've been away for awhile, well almost 18 months, as a matter of fact. I left Columbus for a year to finish a professional program, and I moved to Dayton, Ohio. I thought about continuing the blog there, as I did ride the Dayton Regional Transit Authority conveyances most of the time. They still have a lot of electric cable-car type buses there, and I generally found service pretty good. Also, they ran late on Sundays, something COTA does not do (more on that in a subsequent post). But I'm back in Columbus now, and still victim to COTA's crimes against commuters. I hope you'll read this blog, and comment. You don't have to be a COTA "consumer" to enjoy it. I try to mix a little griping about service and such, with observations of human behavior that I observe while riding. So, if you are a former reader, welcome back. I'll try to keep you informed and entertained. If a new reader, enjoy. And by all means, COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT. After all, someone is reading this: I clocked over 500 views (some of them mine) during May 2012!

Out of town.... In Dayton!

Hey, kids! Sorry I've been out of touch! I have been out of town trying to wrap up my long-aborning higher education. I have been in DAYTON! Where the bus system, while usually on time, can be even more exasperating! I have walked home (about a half mile) three times so far after missing the last bus. I have missed the bus several times because they have come earlier than the schedule listed. The bus depot downtown, built just a couple of years ago, is like the bazaar of a decaying middle eastern town, full of crazy folk, ex-cons, current cons, homeless, and just average folk like me trying to brave the Rust Belt Jungle to get home safe just one more night. Plusses of the Dayton Regional Transit Authority: It has the town pretty well covered. I runs later than COTA, and this on more than one line. It runs later on Sundays, allowing people to be out until at least 11 P.M. if they need to be (COTA, are you listening?). It has computerized timetable displays that let you know when the next bus is (or isn't) coming, and heated waiting areas at the downtown bus depot. You are well advised to keep your valuables close and hidden when forced to change buses though. It appears I've gotten a few look-sees on this blog, but no comments. Please do! I was in Columbus over the Thanksgiving holiday and I rode COTA a couple of times. I had the misfortune of boarding around 3:30 P.M., the Saturday of the OSU-Michigan game. It took over half-an-hour to go from South Campus Gateway to Lane Avenue. But I can't blame COTA for that. Once we got through that human morass, things sailed fairly smoothly. I even thanked the driver (instead of cursing him under my breath)for his fortitude in dealing with post-game traffic. I hope to return to central Ohio in the spring, and most likely, I'll still not be able to afford a car, so it will be back to bitching about COTA.

STRIKE!!!

Day Two of the Great COTA Strike of 2012, and I will have some thoughts about this very soon. I live in Clintonville, where much of the neighborhood still is without power five days after El Derecho blew threw town, turning lives and trees upside down....