COTA providing accessible transport to vaccination appointments

The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) is announcing multiple efforts to provide transportation for thousands of people to COVID-19 vaccination sites across COTA’s service area. 

COTA says the funding for its vaccine transportation initiatives and partnerships is provided by the Ohio Department of Transportation with the specific goal to help underserved communities have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Customers must have a scheduled appointment to access these transportation opportunities.

COTA has partnered with dozens of non-profit organisations to provide transportation access to vaccination sites for thousands of Central Ohioans at no cost to them. This week, COTA says it delivered more than 10,000 one-day transit passes to nearly 30 non-profit organisations. The authority says those passes will be distributed to people in need to provide transit access to and from any vaccination location in COTA’s service area.  

COTA says it is working with other local non-profit partners to address any transportation needs to any vaccination site in the COTA service area. 

COTA is also providing transportation assistance to get people to appointments at the pop-up mass vaccination clinic at St. John Arena in Columbus.

The mass vaccination site will be open from 9 am. to 7 pm, April 8-11. People who have scheduled their vaccination can book a trip to and from St. John Arena at no charge through the COTA Mainstream On-Demand service. COTA says customers can schedule their trips now or at least one hour before the trip. A Mainstream On-Demand vehicle will pick the customer up at their home and take them to St. John Arena. After the vaccination, customers will need to call when they are ready to be picked up.

Alternatively, South Columbus residents can take advantage of COTA//Plus on vaccination days at no charge. COTA//Plus is an on-demand microtransit service that can be hailed via an app or by calling COTA’s Customer Care hotline.