RTA Increases Services

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority has expanded its services. Having started in January, the changes provide more bus operations in Orleans Parish.

Service increases provide more late-evening trips for Morrison Express, Lake Forest Express, Galvez, St. Claude, Jackson/Esplanade, Algiers Owl Loop and General De Gaulle–Sullen routes. Patrons can also take advantage of additional Saturday trips on Morrison Express, Broad and some St. Bernard routes. Weekday commutes for Franklin, South Claiborne and Lake Forest Express routes will also increase. Additionally, some of the timetables have changed, so riders should verify service routes and times.

These changes come as the RTA continues improvements to the streetcar track along St. Charles Avenue. RTA is also working on the French Quarter Expansion, a new streetcar line built with the goal of connecting local residents to employment opportunities in the French Quarter and CBD. The line will run Canal Street, to Rampart Street, along the edge of the French Quarter, to St. Claude Avenue and to Press Street in the Bywater, with another segment that will turn off St. Claude Avenue down Elysian Fields Avenue toward the river, where it will meet the Riverfront streetcar line.

The New Orleans RTA has collected responses from survey participants about the late-evening services to better understand what improvements riders would like to see. The project resulted from public meetings about service changes. In anticipation of the LSU/VA joint medical campus, the project seeks to understand the future needs of local and regional hospitality and health care workers.

Another recent improvement for riders is a transit tracker, launched in 2012, which allows riders to text to get scheduled arrival times for a given RTA stop.
 

Digital Sponsors

Become a MyNewOrleans.com sponsor ...

Sign up for our FREE

New Orleans Magazine email newsletter

Get the the best in New Orleans dining, shopping, events and more delivered to your inbox.