COTA Line Review: 61 Grove City

i love reverse commutes

The 61 is yet another rush-hour-only route. It connects the rather large southwestern suburb of Grove City to downtown Columbus, with both regular and reverse commute services.

okay, where does it go

park and ride in grove city

We started in Grove City, at the Grove City Park & Ride on Stringtown Road. This park and ride is not too close to Grove City, however, you can take another bus (the 3) to connect from the center of Grove City to the Park & Ride. Ridership was pretty low. On an evening reverse commute trip into downtown, we had two people.

We left the park and ride and went east on Stringtown Road, stopping at a few street intersections before we turned north onto I-71. This part of the route was largely uninteresting, just going down a highway.

going up i-71

We turned off of I-71 and onto Greenlawn, then north onto S High. We stopped at exactly one place in German Village, S High & E Hoster. We went further up S High into downtown, traveling along Main then 4th. Turning west off of 4th onto Spring, we terminated at the Spring Street Terminal at the intersection of Spring and High, perfect for the hockey game I was going to.

spring street terminal

so what

This route is just another suburban express route with very little distinguishing it. It’s very similar to the 45 New Albany, running essentially the exact same schedule, but the problem with this is that Grove City is much larger than New Albany. More people would mean more buses, but apparently that’s not the case here.

final rating

I’ll give the 61 Grove City a 5/10; the park and ride is almost a 40 minute walk to the center of the suburb, but the scenery going through German Village sorta makes up for it. The frequency isn’t anything special, but it isn’t terrible either.

how would i improve this

Grove City is a big suburb!! They deserve more than once a day in each direction!! Bring the peak direction schedule to at least three a day and keep the reverse peak where it is. Also, extend it into the center of Grove City along Stringtown Road and Columbus Street.