Category Archives: RTA

Action Alert – RTA Public Workshops and Hearing on Major Service Reforms

Posted on 1 October 2012 by | 3 Comments

Major changes to 20 of the Regional Transit Authority’s streetcar and bus lines will be considered at an October 10, 2012 public hearing and a series of public workshops are underway.   The  proposed service changes are described below.

  1. Make Canal Street between Marais and N. Robertson Streets the permanent transfer station for all downtown routes.  This site currently serves as the temporarily relocated transfer station that previously was located at Tulane Avenue and Elks Place and prior to that at Canal Street and N. Rampart Street.
  2. Combine the #24 Napoleon and #28 Martin Luther King buses into one line and terminating the new line at Union Passenger Terminal requiring passengers traveling to Canal Street to transfer to the Loyola Streetcar.
  3. Terminate the #15 Freret bus line at Union Passenger Terminal requiring passengers traveling to Canal Street to transfer to the Loyola Streetcar.
  4. Introducing the Loyola Streetcar line that will run between the foot of Canal Street and Union Passenger Terminal on weekdays and between the French Market and Union Passenger Terminal on weekends.
  5. Extend the #84 Galvez bus to connect to St. Claude Avenue.

Transport for NOLA has significant concerns with the RTA’s proposals– most of which stem from the changes proposed to the CBD transfer station.  More than 14,000 transit riders pass through transfer point daily.  The RTA’s system is designed so that the majority of routes do not cross Canal Street making transfers between uptown and downtown lines a necessity for most transit riders.  Transport for NOLA believes that the CBD transfer station should be centrally located, facilitate easy connections to Jefferson Parish Transit buses and the new Loyola Streetcar line, and include design features such as ample shade and seating, information kiosks, next bus arrival signage, restrooms, concession areas and more.  Specifically, our concerns are listed below:

  • Inferior Location. The proposed permanent transfer station location was initially established as a detour route while construction on the Loyola Streetcar line displaced transit riders.  It sits at the very edge of the CBD in a location surrounded by large surface parking lots and few nearby services or destinations.  Maintaining the transfer station in this location will make it difficult for transit riders to reach jobs and other destinations in the CBD and French Quarter without walking significant distances or transferring to the already overcrowded Canal Streetcar line.
  • Overcrowding of Canal Streetcar.  Because of the inferior location, more transit riders will have to transfer to the Canal Streetcar line to get to their destinations.  The Canal Streetcar line had more than 250,000 riders in June 2012 and is one of the RTA’s most traveled lines.  It also suffers from overcrowding, poor on-time performance, slow travel through the CBD and lengthy boarding due to the number of riders that board in the CBD.
  • Eliminates easy transfers between JeT and RTA.  Jefferson Parish Transit bus lines terminate at Poydras Street or Tulane Avenue and do not continue to Canal Street eliminating easy transfers between JeT and RTA lines.
  • Unsafe crossings.  The proposed location requires transit riders connecting between bus lines and the Canal Streetcar to cross Canal Street without high visibility crosswalks or traffic signals at N. Villere and N. Robertson streets to ensure transit rider safety.
  • Inadequate design.  While the proposed transfer station location features wide sidewalks and is equipped with six bus shelters, it does not include design features to accommodate the volume of transit riders that pass through there daily.  It lacks the ample shade and seating, information kiosks, restrooms and concession areas that transfer stations in similarly sized cities provide.
  • Misses connection to Loyola Streetcar.  The Loyola Streetcar line is just the first phase of a larger downtown streetcar corridor that will bring streetcar service along N. Rampart St. and St. Claude Ave.  The transfer station at Marais and N. Robertson Streets completely misses the opportunity to sync up existing transit service with the new streetcar line.
  • Makes multiple transfers necessary.  Rides on the #15 Freret bus and the new combined #24 Napoleon and #38 Martin Luther King bus line will terminate at Union Passenger Terminal.  For riders that want to connect to a downtown bus line, they would first have to transfer to the Loyola Streetcar line, walk or ride the Canal Streetcar line to get to the proposed transfer station and then connect to a downtown bus line.

Transport for NOLA encourages transit riders to learn more and take action by showing up at the public workshops and the October 10th RTA public hearing.

Finding information about the public workshops, public hearings and proposal details on the RTA’s website is difficult which is why we’ve scanned in the ‘Rider Alert’ and are providing direct links to the RTA presentation on the changes.  Additionally, proposed route timetables and other information can be found here.

The RTA is holding public workshops and a public hearing on the following days and times:

Monday, October 1

  • 7:00am – 10:00am, Canal and Marais Street bus stop
  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm, Norman Mayer Library, 3001 Gentilly Blvd.

Tuesday, October 2

  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm, East New Orleans Library, 5641 Read Blvd.

Wednesday, October 3

  • 7:00am – 10:00am, Cemeteries Streetcar stop
  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm, New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 Saint Claude Avenue, Room 254

Thursday, October 4

  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm, Trinity Lutheran Church, 5227 N. Claiborne avenue

Monday, October 8

  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm Rosa Keller Library, 4300 S. Broad Street

Tuesday, October 9

  • 7:00am – 10:00am, Canal and N. Villere bus stop
  • 4:30pm – 7:00pm, Algiers Regional Library, 3014 Holiday Drive

Wednesday October 10, 2012

  • PUBLIC HEARING – 6:00pm, RTA Headquarters, 2817 Canal Street

Comments to the Regional Transit Authority can be emailed to stefan.marks@veoliatransdev.com

 

Impacted streetcar and bus lines:

  • Loyola Avenue Streetcar
  • Canal Streetcar
  • Riverfront Streetcar
  • #15 Freret Bus
  • #24 Napoleon Bus
  • #28 Martin Luther King Bus
  • #39 Tulane Bus
  • #51 and 52 St. Bernard Bus
  • #84 Galvez
  • #88 St. Claude
  • #100 Algiers Owl
  • #101 Algiers Loop
  • #102 General Meyer
  • #114 and #115 General De Gaulle

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Get Involved, RTA

Open Transit Data!

Posted on 2 August 2012 by | Leave a comment

Transport for NOLA  has been working with the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) for the past several months to call for and subsequently support the opening of their transit data.  In March – the RTA released their GTFS (map / schedule data) and I’m thrilled to announce that in the coming days, the RTA will release the real-time location data for all buses and streetcars in their fleet.  We’ve seen developers do a lot of exciting things with this data in other cities – check out how open transit data has been used in Portland and Boston.

To access the data, register for a MyRTA account at http://www.norta.com and then follow the links to ‘Data Subscription’.

Next week, TfN and the RTA are hosting a meeting for developers on the newly opened transit data – please join us:

What:  RTA Open Transit Data Training Forum

When:  Thursday, August 9, 2012 @ 5:30pm

Where:  RTA Headquarters – 2817 Canal Street

Why:  To learn from the RTA’s data gurus the ins and outs of using their GTFS and real-time data

Now that the data is open – the rest is up to our tech community.  Come out, learn about the data and create useful websites, apps, text services and more to make riding transit easier in New Orleans!

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in RTA

UNO Students Experience the Grunge and Glamour of Running a Transit Agency

Posted on 30 July 2012 by | 1 Comment


By:  Peter Duffy Bennett, Guest Contributor

There are seven new transit planners in New Orleans, armed with big ideas and a strong dose of reality.

This summer, I sat in on a graduate level course on transit operations and management taught by Stefan Marks, Director of Planning and Scheduling at the Regional Transit Authority. Our small group of students got a peek into what happens behind the scenes at 2817 Canal Street. We learned the basics behind how the routes and frequencies for buses and streetcars are determined, how to plan for delays, how to write a schedule, and what drivers need to keep the system running. By reading works by Jarrett Walker, Mark Aesch, and Robert Cevero, we learned about what other cities have done to improve their transit systems, or simply stay afloat in tough times.

After eight weeks, the students had a chance to try their hand at a real-world problem. Given the current transit system in New Orleans, what would they change? Here are the ideas they presented on a Thursday evening at the RTA headquarters.

Jon Dodson proposed a new transit center in New Orleans East. With a new Wal-Mart store being built at the site of the former Lakeland Hospital, there is an opportunity to connect several bus lines at the same location. He studied transit centers in other cities that have been built in suburban retail locations.

Bobby Evans examined the U-Pass, a program that would work with universities to provide each student with a transit pass. The benefits extend further than just the lucky students: guaranteed revenue for the RTA, increased ridership and service across the system, and cost savings on expensive parking lots.

John Green profiled the transit riders in the Lower Ninth Ward. Ridership has dropped with population, but is showing a resurgence. The Galvez line that serves the area has a lower subsidy than comparable services, and is now running every 40 minutes (compared to every 70 minutes two years ago). However, this is a far cry from the service before Katrina, with 7-minute headways and ridership higher than some light rail services elsewhere.

Lawrence Guimont also looked at a bus line that changed drastically due to Katrina – the Louisa. Although it runs parallel to the Franklin line, the two services play very different roles. He identified that the redevelopment of the Gentilly Woods shopping center could bring new riders, and encouraged making a connection to the Broad line.

Kevin Harrison proposed a restructuring of the buses traveling across the Crescent City Connection. Both RTA and JeT buses currently cross the bridge, sometimes at the exact same time, and terminate in the same location in the CBD. He rerouted these buses to the Wilty Terminal on the West Bank, and created a connector service across the bridge that would run every 7 minutes. By writing a schedule, he showed how this could actually save operating hours for both agencies.

Stephen Kroll created a new bus line along Carrollton Avenue. Currently, a rider must take four vehicles to travel from Riverbend to NOMA without walking, or use the infrequent Leonidas line. His service used one bus to run a route from Claiborne to the Museum and the Cemeteries. He recommended the RTA run the service on a one-year trial basis.

Jill Zimmerman reported on the public schools in New Orleans, and whether the RTA could provide bus service for their students. Despite accessibility benefits, she found many constraints and costs as open enrollment has led to students coming from neighborhoods across the city. In other cities, transit passes for schoolchildren have been successful, including in Nashville, where a student ID card is also a transit pass, lunch debit card, and public library card.

These graduate students are well aware of the tough decisions that would go into implementing any of these ideas. As a public service, transit must meet the needs of many different constituencies, leading to trade-offs that the RTA faces every day. But without the planners’ ideas, there would be no vision for transit in New Orleans. Each student successfully qualified their proposals with the tools they learned during the course, from schedule spreadsheets to Title VI compliance. Having met these standards, their ideas deserve to be given due consideration, and maybe even a chance at becoming a reality.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Buses, RTA, Streetcars

TIGER Reflections: Can we get the streetcar to Poland Avenue without federal funding?

Posted on 3 July 2012 by | 1 Comment

By:  Rachel Heiligman, Transport for NOLA

Despite the outpouring of community support for extending the streetcar to Poland Avenue, we learned last week that the RTA’s federal TIGER IV grant application was unsuccessful.  The project would have created a cohesive transit corridor connecting downtown neighborhoods with the CBD and Union Passenger Terminal along St. Claude, N. Rampart and Loyola while promoting multi-modal connections between several bus routes, Amtrak, Megabus, LA Swift and Greyhound.

There’s a lot of speculation as to why this project was overlooked.  Some point to the RTA already receiving TIGER funding for the Loyola phase of the streetcar expansion program.  This phase is still under construction and at a recent RTA Board meeting, CEO Justin Augustine suggested that the RTA is unlikely to receive a second TIGER award until the RTA successfully completes construction of the first phase.

Another reason could be that despite selling $75 million in local bonds to finance the second phase of the extension along N. Rampart, the RTA has made little progress in advancing that project over the last several months.  It’s possible that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) sees the slow movement on this project as indicative of a lack of capacity at the RTA.

Or perhaps the federal government has concerns that the streetcar design will not result in improved transit service over the bus routes that the streetcar will likely replace.  Basic design principles such as putting the streetcar into a dedicated transit lane, spacing stations farther apart so the streetcar can reach higher speeds, and giving the streetcar signal prioritization so that it never sits at a red light would ensure that the new streetcar line results in fast and efficient service.  But the RTA and City have not committed to these design principles despite the persistent requests of multiple community leaders.

The good news is that the RTA remains committed to the project.  Augustine indicated that the RTA will continue to pursue TIGER funding in the next grant cycle.  But perhaps it’s time to develop alternative strategies for the RTA to fund this project.

In addition to TIGER grants, the USDOT also offers federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit through their TIFIA program.  Local revenue sources should also be explored.  Tax increment financing, special assessment districts, and parking, sales, property, and gas taxes are just a few of the methods that should be considered.  With a disappointing new federal transportation bill now in place, creating local revenue sources for transit becomes all the more critical.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in RTA, Streetcars

RTA’s Open Data – New Transit Tools and the Long Anticipated Real-Time Data Release

Posted on 3 July 2012 by | Leave a comment

By:  Rachel Heiligman, Transport for NOLA

Earlier this year, the RTA committed to release their transit data for use by third parties.  In March, the RTA made their map and schedule data public.  Planning your transit trips became much easier when Google Maps picked up the data and began offering directions by transit.  Google continues to innovate – now their maps feature every bus and streetcar stop.  By clicking on the stop, you can access a list of the routes that service that stop and their upcoming departure times.

New transit stops feature in Google Maps

Have you ever wondered how far you can get riding public transit in a given amount of time? Mapnificent makes it possible to map that distance while changing the length of time and time of day.  From UNO, a 30-minute bus ride will get you to New Orleans East, Mid-City, Lakeview and the Marigny.

Where transit takes you from UNO in 30 minutes

These tools are just the beginning.  On July 12, a new tool for bike and transit riders will be unveiled at the GOOD Ideas for New Orleans event.

We’re still waiting for the RTA to follow up with their release of real-time bus and streetcar data.  They’ve put out their own ETA tool in a limited release to get feedback on the data’s reliability.  Transport for NOLA continues to support the real-time release by connecting the RTA with local software developers.  At the RTA’s June Board meeting, we offered a $30,000 challenge grant to help the RTA overcome technical hurdles in getting the data out and setting a target release date of August 10th.  We remain a committed partner of the RTA’s and look forward to sharing news of the release and even more transit tools with you in the near future.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in RTA

More ways to support the streetcar to Poland Avenue

Posted on 19 March 2012 by | Leave a comment

Thanks to your enthusiastic outpouring of support, Transport for NOLA was able to strengthen the RTA’s application for TIGER IV funding to extend the St. Claude streetcar to Poland Ave.  Our online petition gathering 2,316 signatures blowing our initial goal of 1,000 signatures out of the water!  And with our good friends and partners over at Neighborland, we took the campaign to St. Claude Avenue with a mobile billboard that read, “I want the streetcar to go to Poland Avenue!”.  More than 3,000 matching stickers were given out and you all turned out in force for our streetcar rally with Councilmember Kristin Gisleson-Palmer.

TIGER IV is a competitive grant and over 500 applications are expected making it important for us to continue to demonstrate support for the St. Claude streetcar.  You can help by writing letters and making calls to the US Secretary of Transportation and your U.S. Senators and Representatives – their contact information is below:

  • Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation
, (202) 366-4000 or E-mail
  • Mary Landrieu, Senator, (202) 224-5824 or Web Form
  • David Vitter, Senator, (202) 224-4623 or Web Form
  • Jeff Landry, Representative (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee) (202) 225-4031 or E-mail
  • Steve Scalise, Representative, (202) 225-3015 or Web Form
  • Cedric Richmond, Representative, (202) 225-6636 or Web Form

→ Leave a comment

Posted in RTA, Streetcars

How to support a streetcar down St. Claude Ave.

Posted on 24 February 2012 by | 2 Comments

The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving out $500 million in TIGER IV grants for transportation projects across the country and we want some of that money for New Orleans.  The City of New Orleans and the Regional Transit Authority want to bring a streetcar down St. Claude Avenue to Poland Avenue and they’ve got their eye on the TIGER.  The more community support that exists for the RTA’s application, the more likely it is to be awarded funding.

Help support the TIGER IV application by signing our petition.  And spread the word to your neighbors, friends and family!  The deadline is March 14th and we’re aiming for at least 1,000 signatures.

Want to do even more to help?  We’re collecting letters of support for the application as well – just submit your letter via email to rachel@transportfornola.org by March 14th.  Address your letter to:  Justin Augustine, Chief Executive Officer – New Orleans Regional Transit Authority.  Be sure to mention that you support the RTA’s TIGER IV application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for St. Claude streetcar service.

To learn more about the TIGER program, click here.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in RTA, Streetcars

Petition the RTA!

Posted on 13 December 2011 by | Leave a comment

Transport for NOLA is accelerating its work in 2012. In fact, we are moving so fast we can’t wait for the new year—we need your support starting now.

Today we are launching our first official petition of the Regional Transit Authority. The RTA has installed GPS transmitters on all streetcars, buses, and new stop signs but don’t release the data to the public.

We want the publicly-funded public transportation agency to make its data open to the public.

People in cities across America have successfully lobbied transit agencies to open their data. With open data, citizens can develop creative ways to make public transportation more predictable, dependable and easier to use–San Francisco’s BART has over 30 different apps that track the system.

The RTA needs to release their data to the public so New Orleanians can have the same opportunity. Sign our petition at change.org and share it with your family, friends and colleagues. Open data facilitates better transit service, which in turn facilitates a more prosperous New Orleans.

Sign and share the petition now!

Learn more about how this petition got started at Neighborland, and learn more about open transit data in the video below:

A Case for Open Data in Transit from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in RTA

Transit Week 2011

Posted on 23 October 2011 by | Leave a comment

Transit Week 2011 is November 6th – 12th!

Can you pledge to ride transit one or more days during Transit Week? Fill out the form below.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Get Involved, RTA, Streetcars, Transit Week

Letter to the Editor on LED Lights on Streetcar

Posted on 21 June 2011 by | 2 Comments

Jackie Dadakis recently submitted a letter to the editor at the Times-Picayune expressing Transport for NOLA’s support for the RTA’s new LED headlights and flashing lights (queue Kanye?) on the St. Charles streetcar line, which have improved the safety and visibility of the streetcars. The LED issue also drives to the heart of a larger issue that the RTA and Veolia are confronting: the tension between modernizing the St. Charles streetcars while abiding by the regulations placed on the streetcar as a result of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The Times-Picayune published the letter here.

Dear Sir:

In response to the letter concerning the LED lights on the St Charles Streetcars, I respectfully disagree with the author about maintaining the historic nature of the line. Landmarking the St. Charles line as an historic landmark was an innovative tool for preserving the transit system in an era when highways were king. It is not, however, an effective policy for guiding safety and operating decisions on the current line.

The new LED lights and the signs urging drivers to look both ways are steps the RTA took to reduce the number of vehicular, bike, and human accidents that occur on the line. The new features make the streetcars much more visible to the other traffic and they thus improve the safety and performance of the line. Since introducing these safety measures, the system has experienced a decline from 20 to 11 accidents/100,000 miles, a nearly 50% reduction.

To insist that the system remain static puts an undue operating burden on the transit system. Moreover, the insistence that we maintain the St. Charles Streetcar as is discriminates against disabled citizens, reduces the total capacity of the system by using smaller outdated cars, and affects on-time performance because the cars lack modern equipment like radios and defoggers.

I am proud that New Orleans is home to the longest running streetcar line in the world. To maintain that record, we must allow the system to embrace modern technology that improves safety and efficiency so the line can remain viable for another 100 years.

Jacquelyn Dadakis

Board Member

Transport for NOLA

20110716-062109.jpg

→ 2 Comments

Posted in In the News, RTA, Streetcars