Downtown Columbus Workers to Get Free Transit Passes

"About 43,000 Downtown [Columbus] workers will be eligible for bus passes, free to them, starting next summer under a unique program drawing national interest," reports Kimball Perry.

The free transit passes are intended to provide a viable alternative to solo commutes—which downtown stakeholders hope will ease the area's expensive reliance on parking. Local businesses are helping to fund the free transit pass program, which backs up an argument for the economic viability of transit subsidies. According to Perry, "the 550 owners of Downtown property in a Special Improvement District agreed to pay 3 cents per square foot of space per year to help fund the program. That will raise about half of the $5 million needed to pay for the COTA passes for eligible Downtown workers. The rest will come from grants and other fundraising."

The board of directors of Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District voted to approve the program last week, after first making news for considering the program back in March 2017.