A Central Ohio Transit Authority bus parked outside the agency‘s Customer Experience Center on Tuesday, November 26, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. [Joshua A. Bickel/Dispatch file photo] ▲

COTA had considered dropping North High Street route because of decreasing ridership.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority announced Tuesday that it has decided to keep the Night Owl route with no changes at this time.

The Night Owl runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday along North High Street between Downtown and Clintonville, making 35 stops from West Broad Street to Blenheim Road. The service runs every half-hour beginning at 8:15 p.m. northbound and running until 4:24 a.m. southbound.

The possibility of eliminating the Night Owl service due to declining ridership was first raised by the agency at public-comment meetings in January. COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin said riders immediately raised concerns.

"COTA really looked at the feedback from our customers, and our team made the decision based on that feedback that Night Owl will remain part of our service," Pullin said in an email to The Dispatch.

"... Glad to say Night Owl is sticking around," he said.

COTA has seen a steady decline in riders on the Night Owl route, which began in 2009 and has declined from about 47,000 riders in 2012 to about 29,000 in 2019, Pullin said.

The agency believes the decline is the result of two things: the introduction of ride-share services Uber and Lyft and of scooters, and the availability of several other COTA bus-line options on High Street as a result of the Transit System Redesign in 2017.

For example, Pullin said, people can use the 1, 2, 5, 31 and 102 buses until about midnight, and Night Owl is also available at that time.

Those other routes "are certainly utilized during the early hours of Night Owl," he said.

Pullin said COTA will discuss with businesses along the Night Owl line what is needed.

"If we ever consider discontinuing Night Owl in the future, we would consider enhancing other lines in that area to fill any gaps," he said. "At the end of the day, we want to make sure we are using our service hours wisely and we still provide the best service to our customers."

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik