COTA Line Review: 45 New Albany

zoom zoom

what is this

The 45 is a rush-hour route. Rush-hour routes are very convenient. The 45 is even more convenient because it runs multiple times per day, for both regular commuters and reverse commuters (commuting to the suburbs). The 45 provides a direct link between downtown Columbus and New Albany, with the reverse commute also stopping at the Easton Transit Center in lieu of the 44 Easton not serving the reverse commute.

where does it go

the downtown cota transit terminal. why doesn’t this have heating?

We started at the COTA Transit Terminal downtown at the intersection of High & Main. We left the transit terminal and went along Main Street, passing by the Statehouse. We then turned west to run along Long (downtown-bound buses run along Spring instead of Long).

on a highway

After running along Long for a while, we got on I-670 E, then I-270 N (reverse commute gets off the highway to stop at the Easton Transit Center here). We then turned onto SR-161. We got off of 161 at the Johnstown Road exit and proceeded to run northeast along Johnstown until we arrived at the New Albany Park & Ride.

new albany park and ride (shelter not visible in photo)

This park & ride is nowhere near anything useful in New Albany. It is most useful for reverse commuters who need to get to businesses in the eastern side of New Albany, and the 201 and 202 New Albany SmartRide Shuttles can take you to quite a few of those businesses. However, for New Albany commuters to downtown, it is miles away from most residences, and nowhere near the center of town at Market Square.

so what

This route gets low ridership. I was the only person on the bus, and when I took the reverse commute, I was one of three. Otherwise, like most other commuter routes, it’s a very convenient route if you want to go at a specific time.

final rating

I will give the 45 a 6/10. It runs twice a day (in the morning and in the evening in each direction) which boosts the score. It’s a solid commuter route, and surprised it still runs at all after the 35 was introduced to link New Albany to Easton and Northland.

unrelated notes but still relevant

I will be doing an “Every COTA Transit Facility” series! This will cover all transit centers, both downtown transit terminals, and maybe even all 20+ COTA Park & Rides if I feel like it. This will be posted in a tab similar to the “Every COTA Route Review” tab. The tab will be posted within 24 hours after this article’s release.

Also, I need some reader commentary - do you like the non-Columbus material? I have lots of route reviews that are queued up to be posted each week, and I have a fair amount of other content I would like to post as well from cities all over the world. If there is not much support for the non-Columbus content, I can taper those articles back and focus on Columbus-specific articles. Let me know in the comments!