Outreach
Engaging within our communities
At COTA, outreach is more than a program — it’s our promise to connect with, listen to and support the communities we serve. In 2024, our Community Relations team led powerful initiatives that moved lives forward across Central Ohio. From sponsoring vital nonprofits to expanding access to transit through thousands of promotional passes, their work made a measurable difference.
Now, we’re proud to share the full story.
Get a detailed look at our outreach efforts, strategic partnerships and community-driven programs.
See the highlights and key data at a glance.
Including You Makes Us Better
To ensure we’re delivering the best service and truly helping all our communities move forward, COTA continually engages in a variety of outreach activities. This means we not only work to give the community more features and services, we also focus on on finding opportunities to connect with everyone to better understand what is needed. Some of our outreach efforts include:
- offering extra services
- providing service for special events
- conducting public meetings
- keeping the community informed
In 2017, we held a number of events and provided a variety of informative messages when we worked on our Transit System Redesign (TSR), which features simplified routes, increased frequency, provided connections to more places and reduced bus congestion downtown. During that network redesign, we planned and executed a robust customer and stakeholder outreach campaign. Those efforts included:
- Signage at every bus stop notifying customers of the upcoming changes
- Visits to elected officials, area commissions, neighborhood leaders and community groups to share information about the new network
- Public meetings to help customers learn how their routes would change
Another example of our Outreach efforts is our Travel Training program, an educational tool that helps new customers understand how to use COTA. If you, an organization or someone you know could benefit from travel training, please reach out to us at 614-308-4355. You can also visit our Travel Training page to learn more.
- You can learn more about how we offer extra options for certain events and venues by visiting our Special Events page.
- To find out how you can attend a variety of meetings concerning COTA business, you can visit the Public Meetings page.
- You can stay up-to-date on the latest happenings by visiting our News & Updates page.