Central Ohio Transit Authority
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| Founded | 1971 |
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| Headquarters | 33 N. High St, Columbus, Ohio |
| Service area | Franklin County and portions of Delaware, Fairfield, Union and Licking counties |
| Service type | bus service |
| Stops | 4,030 = |
| Fleet | 308 |
| Fuel type | Diesel, Diesel-electric hybrid, compressed natural gas (CNG) |
| Chief executive | W. Curtis Stitt |
| Website | cota.com |
The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) is a public sector transit agency serving Franklin County and the rest of the central Ohio area, which includes Columbus, as well as Bexley, Gahanna, Grandview Heights, Grove City, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, Westerville, Whitehall, Dublin and Worthington. Currently, COTA only manages bus service, though light-rail or streetcar service has been discussed several times in recent years.
COTA's administrative offices, as well as its bus garages are located in downtown Columbus. It is managed by President and CEO W. Curtis Stitt, effective February 1, 2012, as well as a 13-member board of trustees. COTA is funded by a permanent 0.25% sales tax as well as another 10-year, 0.25% sales tax which went into effect January 1, 2008.
Prior to COTA, the bus service in the area was managed by the Columbus Transit Company (CTC). In 1971 the CTC was in the midst of budget problems, so in order to maintain bus service in the area, the local governments of central Ohio created COTA. COTA acquired the assets from the CTC On January 1, 1974 and began operations the same day. COTA acquired the CTC bus service for $4.8 million. In mid-1974 COTA established its Park N Ride program and sets up the first routes at area shopping centers. At that time, cash fares were 50 cents.
In 1975, COTA launched the Key Card program, which provided a discount fare for those passengers with disabilities. By the summer of 1976, COTA had established 50 bus shelters. In 1977, COTA started the Commuter Club that offers unlimited riding for $20 a month. One of the first express bus services, the Beeline, was introduced in 1979 giving passengers a speedy ride up and down High Street. That same year, planning a construction began on COTA's 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m2) operations center on McKinley Ave. One year later in 1980, COTA began to provide transportation for Red, White & BOOM! In 1992, the DayPass was introduced to allow riders unlimited trips to local and crosstown routes provided by COTA's new lift-equipped buses.
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