Additional garages, remote lots, and additional park and rides, rejected in favor of free bus passes.
(Mountain Lakes, NJ, October 5, 2017) — A pilot program providing free bus passes to select downtown employees has been successful enough to inspire a broader, four-year program offering free public transit to all city center workers in Columbus, OH.
In 2015, the Capital Crossroads & Discovery Special Improvement Districts won a grant from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission to provide four downtown companies with unlimited bus passes for an 18-month pilot program.
Passes were made available to all employees in some companies, and to specific divisions within others.
Over the first three months, the percentage of the pilot program employees using the bus jumped from 6.4 to 12.2 percent. "These results were really encouraging to our board and advisory committee," says Kacey Brankamp, director of strategic initiatives for the SID.
To move forward with a broader program, district members agreed to an additional assessment of three cents per square foot for certain classes of properties.
The remainder of the funding need will be met through a corporate fundraising campaign and a grant writing/under-writing campaign.
The full article including funding details appears in the October issue of Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter.
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For over 50 years, the Downtown Development Center has acted as the information clearinghouse on practical strategies and tactics for revitalizing the hearts of our cities and towns.
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