COTA
reviews and complaints

Drivers on COTA are not safe. They take up two lanes for no reason. This happens often. Also, the pick-up points change and almost caused an accident when a bus tried to turn at an intersection because people were picked up there. This is very unsafe, especially when it's a blind turn.

I'm on bus 2022, route 31, and I gotta say, this driver is somethin' else. It's hotter than a jalapeño out here, but this dude won't turn on the AC. Why, you ask? 'Cause some fool didn't pay their fare. So now we all gotta suffer? Eventually he turned it on, but still, not cool man. Then, this guy pulls the string to get off, but the driver just keeps on truckin'. When the passenger complains, the driver blames him for not pullin' it fast enough. He says he didn't wanna break the bus. What a load of bull! The poor guy had to walk all the way back. And the driver didn't even say sorry. What a nutjob!

COTA is the worst bus service ever! They're so lazy and racist, always putting all the work on the passengers. Their website, cota.com, is terrible and not user-friendly. You used to be able to print off bus schedules from a PDF file, but not anymore. It's impossible to find information about regular bus schedules or the COTA Plus bus. The customer service reps are clueless, especially the black women and foreign ones who are rude and prejudiced. I hate sanctuary states! And why do you need a credit card on file for the COTA Plus bus when it's supposed to be free from stop to stop? Some foreign woman discriminated against me because I'm black and disabled. I talked to JT and *** on Friday, and they told me all I needed was my rider number to book a trip on the COTA Plus bus, which is supposed to be open from 5am to 12am every day. But when I talked to a different foreign woman on Saturday, she contradicted everything they said and refused to make a reservation for me. She said my COTA Plus account was invalid, which *** and *** never mentioned. It's a mess!

The driver Jordan was very rude to the point I was ready to end my ride whenever all because I asked if he was dropping me off at the bus stop or at the school like the other drivers then this man says I DONT CARE WHAT OTHER DRIVERS FOR YOU IM WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT I DONT WANT TO TALK AND I WILL LET YOU HAVE THE LAST WORD and I said well you don't have to get smart because I didn't get smart and then he said IM NOT TALKING AND I DIDNT GET SMART

so if this situation is not handled I am taking the issue elsewhere cause this will be the last time anyone on cota plus talks to me any type of way and talk about it I'm tired of being disrespected by the drivers that have not been raised with respect the fact that it was me my girlfriend and my 2 year old daughter on the bus makes it worse cause I teach her violence not good but Jordan almost had me jump out of character like I'm from my home state so please and I mean please fix it cause I have no issue fixing anything myself

I was so mad, I had to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus to come. When it finally arrived, the driver was nice and got me to my destination on time. Overall, COTA is okay, but they need to make sure their drivers are paying attention to passengers waiting at the bus stop.

I ride the #9 bus to and from work almost every day, but lately, there have been issues with the bus at least twice a week. My only problem is that if they know the buses break down a lot, they should run them more often. When the bus doesn't come, we have to wait a whole hour for the next one.

I waited for an hour and a half, but they didn't seem to care. They had no empathy or sympathy. The dispatcher was very rude and transferred me to a supervisor who didn't answer the phone. When I told her I was going to complain, she just said "okay" and hung up. I have heart failure and wasn't feeling well, but they wouldn't send anyone to get me.

COTA is not good. The bus drivers pass people randomly or don't stop long enough for anyone to grab their stuff. I missed the last bus home three times because of these ignorant people. They are rude and have no respect for the people they move around without us. There's no reason to skip people. I'm very irritated with COTA.

I was stuck in North Columbus 'cause bus route #4 didn't show up for the last route downtown. I complained on May 24th and haven't heard anything from cota. I had to pay $23 to get an Uber home 'cause of their mistake. Today a bus didn't show up on its scheduled route time. I'm gonna miss a half hour of work and be late 'cause of cota's mistake.

I booked a round trip ticket from Columbus to Youngstown. The original bus station closed and it gave an address to go to for the greyhound which was at a gas station. There is a sign on the side of the gas station that says Bus Terminal really big in black and white. The bus never came. I later found out the bus was leaving from the COTA station and it doesnt give that information. I missed the bus and didnt make my trip.

I bought a monthly bus pass from COTA on April 13, but I didn't know that they weren't charging fares because of COVID-19. They told me to keep the pass until they figured out what to do. I've been talking to COTA on the phone and through email, but it's been almost a year and I still haven't gotten my money back for the pass I couldn't use. I want my money back because I have a car now and don't need the pass anymore. It doesn't seem like they're in a hurry to fix this.

I had a problem with a COTA driver on April 7th at 12:45pm. I was at North High and Broad Streets. The driver was an African American/Black female with shoulder length dreadlocks. She was unprofessional and rude to me. I said something about her nice water bottle and she rolled her eyes and yelled at me to leave her alone. I told her I was just making a comment about her water bottle. I did tell her she had a bad attitude. When coach # *** arrived, she told me I couldn't ride her bus. I was on my phone and she said she didn't care if I was calling COTA. This driver needs some coaching and retraining. She represented COTA in ways that are not company policy. She came off as hostile and a little crazy over a comment about a water bottle. I did report it over the phone.

I tried to use the COTA Plus app to get a ride on September 2 at 1:00 PM, but it said there were no seats available. I kept trying until 4:30 PM, and I even called customer service a bunch of times, but they didn't do anything to help me. I had to wait for 3.5 hours for a bus that should have only taken 10-20 minutes to arrive. COTA Plus buses are never that busy, so I knew something was wrong with the app. Finally, around 4:45 PM, they gave me a different ride to my destination at 1000 E. Dublin-Granville Rd. But even then, the driver's app froze on the entrance ramp to I-71 South. It was a frustrating experience, and I hope COTA can fix their app so this doesn't happen again.

My transit account has been giving me trouble lately. I've been calling COTA customer service for the past few days because my account says there's not enough funds, even though I know there should be. The customer service reps kept telling me it was a system error and that I should just get on the bus and my card should work fine since I paid $31.00 for a low income pass. But when I went down to the COTA office, they told me that since I used both the card and the app, it wasn't tracking my spending correctly and I needed to add more money to my card. This is not what the call center told me! Sameka, the supervisor, wanted me to pay more than $31.00 for my pass. COTA offers a low income pass, but they don't seem to want to honor it. The transit app and smart card should track my spending history, but Sameka doesn't seem to care about helping low income people. I'm going to end up paying double for my low income bus pass because customer service didn't tell me that I couldn't use both the card and the app, even though the money comes out of the same account either way. COTA doesn't seem to care about its customers, especially at the downtown office. They're going to argue with me over a simple credit when they know I'm correct about how much money I spent. They need to make it right and credit my account. Shameka, the COTA downtown supervisor, needs to help low income people like me who need to feed our babies.

I was at Livingstone and Courtrite Rd waiting for the #1 bus to Reynoldsburg on Dec 14, 2022. I got there around 4:45pm. It was cold and rainy, about 40 degrees, and there was no shelter at the stop. I waited for 30 minutes, but no buses came. They're supposed to come every 15 minutes. Finally, I saw two buses coming, but the one that stopped at my stop wouldn't open the doors for me to get on. He let a passenger off and motioned for me to get on the bus behind him. But that bus never stopped. I had to yell at the driver of the stopped bus to let me on before he drove away. This kind of thing happens too often on this route. If the bus has already stopped to let someone off, why can't they just let people on who are waiting in the cold and rain? I'm almost 60 years old and this is not acceptable. I've complained to COTA many times, but nothing changes. I tried to call and text them today, but their phone doesn't work and their website won't load. So I'm complaining to you guys instead. Thanks.

I bought a Cota pass from their app, Cota Connector, on 3/5/2022. I called Cota to ask about transfer tickets and they said to buy the pass from Transit app instead. I asked about refunds and they said it was no problem and took my email address. They said it would take 5-7 business days but it didn't come. I called again and they said it would take 7-10 business days. It still didn't come so I called again and they said they couldn't find my email address and couldn't help me. I'm an old lady on a fixed income and I feel like they're taking advantage of me. They said they had all the info they needed but now they don't.

It's almost midnight on Wednesday, October 19, 2023, and I'm a disabled woman stuck in the cold at a COTA bus stop. I had some trouble with a COTA radio center employee earlier, who seemed to be inconveniencing me on purpose. I was waiting for the CMAX bus at the Cleveland Ave & Community Center Park stop, but it never came. I called the radio station's direct number, but it went to voicemail. When I left a message, the same woman who had been giving me trouble called me back with an attitude, asking why I wasn't at the Community Park stop. I explained that I had caught the CMAX bus around the corner, and now I was at the Shrock Road stop. She blamed me for not being where I was supposed to be, and then sent a COTA plus bus in the wrong direction. When I called again to tell her what was happening, she blamed me again and said it was my fault for not being where the bus driver went. As I was talking to her, a multicolored COTA plus bus drove past me and stopped at the Cleveland Ave & Shrock Rd intersection.