Central Ohio Transit Authority leverages inCitu for Transit Planning Engagement

Update: on November 5, 2024, Ohio voters approved Central Ohio Transit Authority's LinkUS transit plan, improving mobility and accessibility across the region.

Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) is promoting a bus rapid transit corridor as part of the LinkUS transportation plan. The West Broad St. corridor will include bike lanes and other enhancements alongside bus transit to further improve walkability. The investment aims to create a more connected and accessible community, providing better access to jobs, businesses, schools, and healthcare for all residents of one of the fastest growing metro areas of the US.

To get support for this transformative project, the public needed to be able to visualize not just how the infrastructure would impact the streets, but how it might transform neighborhoods and the experience of commuting between historic neighborhoods like Hilltop and Downtown Columbus.

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Augmented Reality: Bridging Present and Future‍

inCitu and LinkUS worked together to bring a new vision of public transit to life in West Columbus, Ohio. To bring this vision to life, COTA and their communication partners Murphy Epson designed an immersive bus tour experience for stakeholders, sharing a narrative of several hypothetical future bus riders as they navigate from the Westland Mall area towards downtown. COTA used inCitu’s platform to bring to life three parts of the proposed vision: Bus Rapid Transit station; Micro mobility hubs; and increased density and Mixed Use developments along the West Broad Street route.

By overlaying AR visualizations onto real-world locations, the project aimed to provide Columbus residents an accessible platform to see and interact with the proposed changes, as well as build an enduring sense of ownership and participation among community members.

This innovative approach allowed stakeholders and the public to see the proposed BRT infrastructure and its impact on the area from their own perspective and share screenshots and video with friends and family on social media. The collaboration aims to get the public excited about improved regional connectivity and accessibility, sustainable development, and how expected population growth in the area might lead to thriving, transit connected neighborhoods instead of congestion.

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From Transformational Experiences to Transmedia Engagement

The LinkUS team took skillful advantage of mobile AR’s power to attract bystanders. Regular bus tours for stakeholders and the public anchored the experience, providing regular clusters of viewers who in turn activated bystanders, curious to see over the shoulder views of transit infrastructure and transit oriented development in AR. Compared to one-off events in conference rooms, on-site AR activations have the power to attract a broader slice of the community, including busy, hard to engage locals. Another advantage is that those who experience the activation directly can bring friends and family back to share the experience.

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Amplifying Impact 

Beyond on-site experiences, the campaign can reach an even wider audience via AR screenshots and recordings shared over social media. Compared to flat, non-representative figures from architectural renderings, AR recordings often include recognizable local leaders and community members, enhancing immersion and trust in the planning process. LinkUS public relations partner Murphy Epson arranged an augmented reality photo op with Columbus mayor Andrew J. Ginther shared via his public Instagram account.

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Besides social media, the LinkUS website features a map powered by Esri’s ArcGIS Online, where users are able to take a self-guided version of the AR tour and experience key locations along West Broad Street, including the Westland Mall, South Westgate Avenue, and Belle Street COTA bus stops.

The map guides users to explore and experience future developments interactively, via interactive, room-scale augmented reality or visits to the sites in person.

So far the AR tours alone have engaged over 1500+ viewers directly, and caught the attention of various stakeholders, including local government officials. 

For inCitu, this project also helped inspire a series of ArcGIS integrations currently in development, including seamless cross-publishing between ArcGIS Online 3D Feature Layers and the inCitu AR project dashboard, with additional support planned for CityEngine and ArcGIS Urban.

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A Broader Vision for Regional Connectivity

The West Broad Street BRT corridor is just one part of the larger LinkUS plan, which includes five more rapid bus transit corridors. These corridors are part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance regional connectivity, reduce traffic congestion, and promote sustainable growth. Besides the BRT routes, the plan includes improvements to sidewalks, bikeways, and trails, as well as the expansion of COTA’s rideshare program, COTA Plus. With the successful launch of the West Broad Street campaign, project partners are exploring further activations across the city.

As the region prepares for significant population growth, COTA’s transit plans aim to provide connected, convenient, and safe transportation options for all residents. By using inCitu AR technology within a larger experiential storytelling campaign, the LinkUS team helped make these complex and diffuse upgrades more tangible and show the public that by integrating various modes of transportation, the LinkUS plan can support a more livable and sustainable urban environment. 

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