In July 2019, the agency's customer service center at its headquarters closed for renovations. The project involved creating a larger, more inviting space, installing new ticket machines and a large display with transit information, and redesigning part of the building's exterior. The agency opened the new Customer Experience Center in November 2019. In the first "tactical urbanism" project COTA and the City of Columbus operated a temporary busway on Third Street in downtown Columbus from July 22 to August 2, 2019 in an area heavily congested during rush hour. The results were significantly decreased travel times, the average dropping over two minutes from Long Street to Noble Street. The project was inspired by the city of Boston converting a bike lane and on street parking into a temporary busway. Also in 2019, COTA introduced the COTA Connector system for fare payments. The system includes a smart card that is available for purchase and refills, and a digital wallet through a smartphone app, allowing the use of displayed QR codes to pay when boarding buses.