COTA Line Review: 21 Hilliard Rome
why does this bus not have more ridership ??? oh right cause it runs every hour
what is this
The 21 is quite the route. It serves the far western suburbs of Columbus, providing vital north-south connections where the vast majority of the routes run east to west.
okay, where does it go
We started at the intersection of N Murray Hill & Beacon Hill in Lincoln Village. We looped around the block and turned east on Broad Street before turning south off of it onto Georgesville Road. We turned west onto Sullivant, then north onto Hilliard Rome, making a loop around Lincoln Village. I was the only person on the bus at this point. This part of town was full of a combination of single-family homes and industrial buildings.
Continuing north along Hilliard Rome, we passed by mostly strip malls and single-family homes (although there were a few apartment complexes here and there).
We had two people get on the bus in this area as we entered Hilliard. We turned east onto Cemetery, exiting Hilliard. The density slowly dropped, and by the time we turned north onto Britton Parkway the density was all but gone. We passed by some entrances to small neighborhoods, but there was little to nothing in between.
The density picked back up as we turned east onto Tuttle Crossing, passing by the Tuttle Mall and turning south onto Frantz. By now, I was yet again the only person on the bus.
We crossed over the Scioto (which was notably wide at this point) and entered northwest Columbus. We terminated at the intersection of Pickforde & Bethel, at Carriage Place.
so what
I feel like this route would be a lot more popular if it ran more often. I am not familiar with the area, but I would assume that people from Hilliard often go to Lincoln Village (and probably more so in the other direction). Based on the rest of the route, I can see why COTA decided to run it every hour. It gets very rural at times.
final rating
This route gets a 5/10. I feel like it could be much better, but the sheer lack of frequency is terrible. It’s a good starting point for what could be a great route.
Something else I’ve noticed is that transit in northwest Columbus just seems to be worse than in the northeast. I have no idea why this is, but it may be due to not having a rather large mall with an adjacent transit center. Either way, transit in northwest Columbus needs to be improved!