On March 8, 2016, the fourth general assembly of the Student Senate, passed a bill that allows current capital students to ride Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) buses free of charge.
The bill, introduced by then first year political science student Blake Hillard, states that Mike Horan, vice president of business and finance, will match any funds allocated by the Senate up to $5,000.
The bill’s passage allows all full-time students to take advantage of this opportunity with the presentation of his or her student ID.
It is important to note that not all student ID’s are compatible with the bus system. Only those printed after July 15th are already encoded. According to Tracy Severson, executive administrative assistant of business and finance, that is only about 15% of first year student ID’s.
There are two locations on campus that can encode ID’s free of charge. The first and most accessible is the IT desk in Blackmore Library. The second is the Office of Student and Community Engagement, which may have very limited hours. Anyone who is not sure if their card is already encoded or not can visit the IT desk and have it checked.
COTA has programmed its bus schedules to coincide with Capital’s break schedules. This means that students cannot ride the bus for free during time off (i.e. spring break, etc.). If, for whatever reason, a student must stay on campus during any break, he or she may contact Jon Geyer to receive special accommodations.
Any questions regarding IDs and the COTA bus system that the IT desk cannot answer can be directed to Tracy Severson at tseverson@capital.edu.
For a full list of COTA stops, and schedules can be found at cota.com.
