Below is a proposed convention to how bus routes are numbered in the COTA system.

It’s a small change from the legacy convention underlying COTA’s existing practices for assigning bus line numbers to its fixed-service routes.

Purpose

Avoid navigational errors in which user unknowingly takes incorrect bus route branch when traveling outbound, possibly resulting in significant delays and stranded riders.

Convention Proposed

  • Trunk: where all trips share the same route, the bus line maintains its assigned numbers.

  • Branches: after a split (traveling outbound), each branch is designated by appending a letter to the end, i.e. 7A/7B, 8A/8B

  • Continuity: minimal impact to COTA’s existing bus line number assignment; minimal disruption from implementing this change.