| Number: | 2 E Main / N High |
| Bgcolor: |
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| Titlecolor: | white |
| Operator: | Central Ohio Transit Authority |
| Vehicle: | Gillig Low Floor CNG-fueled, 40-ft buses |
| Status: | In service |
| Routetype: | Frequent local service |
| Locale: | Columbus, Ohio |
| Communities: | Clintonville, Old North Columbus, University District, The Short North, Downtown Columbus, Near East Side, Bexley, East Columbus, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg |
| Start: | N. High & Fenway (Clintonville) |
| Via: | High St. E. Mound St. E. Main St. |
| End: | Hanson & E. Main (Reynoldsburg) |
| Frequency: | 15 minutes or better |
| Day: | 7 days per week |
| Timetable Link: | 2 E Main/N High timetable |
| Map State: | collapsed |
The 2 E Main / N High is a Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) bus service in Columbus, Ohio. The line operates on High Street, the city's main north-south thoroughfare.
The 2 replaced High and Main Streets streetcar lines, both of which were early streetcars line in Columbus. These lines initially served Columbus with horsecars, and horse-drawn omnibuses followed a similar route. The horsecars were replaced with electric streetcars around the 1890s, and later with trolleybuses. In the mid-20th century, the trolleybus line was replaced with a bus line similar to the modern-day 2 E Main / N High.
The 2 route was the highest-trafficked in 1987[1] and 1999.[2]
In 2008, facing overcrowding, service was doubled on the line.[3] and expanded again in 2019.[4]
The Night Owl line (formerly 21 Night Owl[5]) supplements 2 E Main / N High with late-night service along High Street,[6] while the 102 (formerly 2L) provides limited-stop service from Broad and High north to Westerville.
The route is frequented by Ohio State University students, as the campus is on the transit line. In 2000, about a fifth of the average weekday riders on the routes were OSU students.[7]
The first mass transit in Columbus was a horsecar line, which operated along a two-mile stretch on High Street beginning in 1863. The line ran from Union Station at Naughten Street (now Nationwide Boulevard) south to Livingston Avenue.[8]
An initiative from about 2006 to 2009 proposed to bring streetcars back to Columbus. The Columbus Streetcar was proposed for three different routes; the most popular would have been a 2.1-mile route from German Village to the Short North via High Street (the same route the CBUS utilizes today). The Great Recession affected the city's budget, and paired with a failure to acquire state or federal funding, forced the plan to be cut.[9]