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NOLA RTA Unveils Major Service Growth
For the first time since Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of New Orleans more than 10 years ago, the city’s Regional Transit Authority (RTA) introduced extensive service enhancements in mid-April that restored 24-hour operation on some routes, expanded service to the suburbs and added an express bus route to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
RTA Board Chairman Sal Longoria said RTA plans to implement $20 million in improvements over the next 18 months, funded through increased sales tax revenues. He emphasized that “connectivity” among modes—bus, streetcar and ferry—is the main theme behind the authority’s efforts. In addition to extending service hours, RTA has reduced bus wait times and increased the frequency of buses on weekends.
Justin Augustine III, RTA chief executive officer and vice president, Transdev North America, noted that the agency has gone through three phases: recovery following Katrina, restoration of fleets and service and now, revitalization.
Longoria said RTA’s newest streetcar line, the 1.6-mile North Rampart Street/St. Claude Avenue Streetcar Project, will open later this year, connecting five historic neighborhoods. Augustine noted that development totaling $2.7 billion has grown up around the Loyola-UPT Streetcar Line since it entered service in 2013 and sees similar possibilities for Rampart.
“Listening to the community is very important,” Longoria said. “We go all over the city and ask the residents what their needs are. We’re making it a truly interactive process by listening to the people, then putting our plans in place and, soon, on the street.”
Ferries are the newest mode operated by RTA. Augustine said the ferry service was operated by the state until 2014, when it was eliminated by then-Gov. Bobby Jindal. RTA and Transdev took on the service, recently receiving a $5 million FTA grant for replacing the 90-year-old ferry terminal and preparing to integrate ferry service with buses and streetcars with a single integrated pass.
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