An article from the Columbus Dispatch is full of information regarding the Central Ohio Transit Authority:
http://www.dispatch....es-on-road.html
COTA will add 62,000 hours of service, hire 28 more bus drivers and begin a move to a natural-gas-powered fleet in the coming year.
The 2013 budget, approved yesterday by the Central Ohio Transit Authority’s board of trustees, also includes a new website that will be smartphone friendly. The new Cota.com could launch by late summer, said spokesman Marty Stutz. In the future, that website could allow riders to track buses in real time. . .
COTA will expand the schedules on existing routes and increase pickup frequency, but it will not add routes, said Doug Moore, COTA’s vice president of planning and development. . .
The coming year’s budget includes 30 new buses fueled by natural gas. Over the course of 12 years or so, COTA plans to replace its entire fixed-route fleet of more than 300 diesel buses with natural-gas models, Stutz said.
The new buses are more expensive; $470,000 each as opposed to $431,000 for a diesel bus. A federal grant will pay the difference in price next year.
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http://www.cota.com/...s%20Minutes.pdf
This document says that in February 2012, the COTA Board of Trustees approved a five-year contract with Gillig, LLC for the purchase of heavy-duty transit coaches, spare parts and training. The resolution also authorized the first year purchase of twelve, thirty-five foot (35’) buses and eighteen, forty- foot (40’) buses. These will be delivered in 2013.