Hilliard residents have a direct bus to Ohio State University's campus and downtown Columbus for the first time.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) launched Line 30 on Sept. 7, connecting Hilliard to Upper Arlington, OSU and downtown with no transfer required. Buses run every 30 minutes, seven days a week.

The route stops at Kingsdale Shopping Center, the Wexner Medical Center and OSU's Carmenton Innovation District before continuing downtown via Neil Avenue, according to Columbus Navigator. It is the first time Hilliard has had a direct daily bus to campus or downtown.

COTA built the route after reviewing data showing OSU students and staff live in Hilliard, Dublin and Upper Arlington. Riders previously needed two or three transfers to reach campus, according to WOSU.

"We see this is an opportunity to connect some of our customers who might have had to take two or three different lines to get to campus, and this is a way to get them directly there," Jeff Pullin, COTA's director of public relations, said in June 2025 when the agency first proposed the route.

A COTA survey conducted before the route was finalized found respondents said they would ride a bus for the first time once Line 30 opened, Pullin said in the same June 2025 announcement.

Line 30 takes over the western stretch of the old Line 32 route. Line 32 runs only between Kingsdale Shopping Center and the Easton Transit Center, still every 60 minutes.

COTA calls Line 30 one of the first routes shaped by its Short-Range Transit Plan, a roadmap for bus service from 2027 to 2031. That plan calls for a 30 percent increase in service, including an express line to the airport by 2028 and 24-hour service by the end of 2031, according to 10TV.

The launch is part of COTA's broader LinkUS initiative, which Central Ohio voters and Franklin County voters approved in November 2024 to expand public transit across central Ohio.

Just 0.3 percent of Hilliard residents used public transit to commute to work as of 2019, according to the Hilliard Community Plan. That figure predates LinkUS and the new route.

Because Sept. 7 falls on Labor Day, COTA advised riders to check schedules before heading out. Riders can track Line 30 in real time using the Transit app.

COTA holds public comment meetings for its next round of service changes on Sept. 17 and Sept. 22. Full route and schedule details are available on COTA's service changes page.