COTA's board of directors now has a blueprint for providing public transportation through 2050.

Within eight years, the $7.45 billion NextGen plan adopted Wednesday also proposes a pilot program to use driverless vehicles for part of the service.

The NextGen plan is aimed to guide COTA as it attempts to provide public transportation more quickly to more people. Between 500,000 and 1 million more residents are expected to call central Ohio home by 2050, when 300,000 more jobs also will be created. The goal over the next 30 years is to help people travel between home and areas where large numbers of jobs are located while leaving more cars at home during peak commute times.

It lays out options COTA can consider rather than specifying what transportation system or mode of transportation should be used. At least 11 high-capacity transit corridors are being considered under the NextGen plan to move riders to hubs where alternative transportation — such as taxis and for-hire services Uber and Lyft — can be used for the last or first mile to the destination.

The estimated cost depends on what options COTA chooses, but the plan estimates the capital cost will be $5.4 billion plus another $2 billion to operate the new system. COTA won't say how the plan will be funded except that the public will pay for it. COTA currently receives $125.2 million annually from two Franklin County sales taxes to help fund its total annual budget of $146 million.

With COTA CEO Curtis Stitt retiring in September, the board also voted Wednesday to name Emile Williams, COTA's vice president of operations, as its interim president beginning Oct. 1. The board hired a private company to conduct a nationwide search for a new president. It also will create a 13-member committee for that search and seek input from the public on what qualities the new president should have.

The replacement for Stitt, whose salary is about $300,000, is expected in "early 2018."

kperry@dispatch.com

@kimballperry