A Scathing Review of Public Transit in New Orleans Since Katrina | The Atlantic Citylab

Despite that imbalance, transit leaders are still entertaining notions of a massive, billion-dollar streetcar expansion, even as they overlook suggestions on how to enhance the bus system, Rachel Heiligman, executive director of Ride New Orleans, tells CityLab. The group calls on transit leaders to discard the ad hoc, streetcar-heavy service upgrades that have defined post-Katrina transit and craft a coordinated, balanced mobility vision for the city.

A decade after Katrina, every New Orleans neighborhood save one has seen a decline in transit service—with the hardest-hit areas having a fraction of their buses and trolleys back to normal, according to the new report. That’s an unacceptable state of affairs for a city where nearly one-fifth of all households lack access to a car. But the indictment of post-Katrina service centers on the local Regional Transit Authority’s prioritization of streetcars over buses.

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