Case Study: COTA achieves optimized COVID-19 transit rerouting and improved decision-making with Waycare analytics

COTA Engages Waycare’s Analysis Tools for Improved Decision-Making

COTA (Central Ohio Transit Authority) faced a sudden operational challenge in late March when COVID-19 social distancing rules limited vehicle loads to 20 passengers, forcing the agency to deploy smaller dynamic-service vehicles and adapt fixed routes to ensure access to essential destinations like food, healthcare and jobs. To understand shifting demand and balance rider and employee safety, COTA engaged Waycare and its analysis tools to build a data-driven, dynamic response.

Waycare developed a route-urgency score using passenger counts, time-of-day patterns, proximity to essential locations, and “pass-up” events, and delivered an online dashboard with heat maps, hourly breakdowns, passenger reports and an operational analysis identifying the top twelve most essential routes. Waycare’s analytics enabled COTA to prioritize routes and allocate dynamic service more effectively, giving the agency clear, actionable insight to allocate resources and maintain safe, efficient access to essential destinations.

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