Tulane’s forum on public transit exposes frustration of commuters
12th December 2016 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
At Tulane University’s Hillel House, panelists addressed questions of how New Orleans can create more accessible and more efficient public transit in the forum “Intersection: Public Transit, Jobs, and Prosperity in NOLA” on November 2.
The discussion included a mixture of ideas on how to improve local transit and discussion of the frustrations commuters and local administrators face on a regular basis.
Panelist Pamela Legge, a member of the RTA Citizen Advisory Committee, moved to New Orleans from Buffalo in 2008. She said the buses in Buffalo were efficient and easy to use. But Legge, who lives in Lakeview, said it takes her an hour to get to her job in City Hall via bus. Coming home, it can take two hours because of the infrequency of connections. As a result, she will often hitch a ride with a coworker who lives nearby, which only takes ten minutes.
The frustrations for Legge aren’t limited to her work commute, either. She recently had a doctor’s appointment at Ochsner Hospital on Jefferson Highway. From Legge’s home near the cemeteries on Canal to Ochsner is less than five miles. But the trip required her to take four buses to make that journey.
A lack of regionalization was a common frustration cited by the panel. The Regional Transit Authority (RTA) was founded in the late 1970s, but it’s regional in name only. Parishes had the opportunity to opt in or opt out. As a result, New Orleans’ suburban parishes don’t have buses that go into the city.
In the early days of the RTA, the suburbs had a higher concentration of middle-class or affluent citizens. But as young professional increasingly flock to Orleans Parish neighborhoods like Mid-City, Bywater, or Gentilly, working class and poor people are being pushed to the suburbs.
“Our suburbs are as diverse as they’ve ever been,” said Jeff Sch-wartz, panelist and executive director of Broad Community Connec-tions, a local non-profit organization.
This makes it difficult for low-income service industry workers to make it to their jobs in the CBD if they live in Jefferson Parish, or even neighborhoods like the Lower 9th Ward and New Orleans East, which are underserved by public transit. And for those who still live in the city, it can be an arduous chore to reach Jefferson Parish job centers like Ochsner, Elmwood, or Causeway.
“The CBD is our largest job center, but others (job centers) are in Jefferson Parish and the River Parishes,” Schwartz said. “Why are we not doing a better job of connecting people in the area to job centers?”
Schwartz singled out the Tulane-Airline corridor as one that made perfect sense for a single bus route. With the new University Medical Center, Ochsner, and Elmwood all positioned along that stretch of highway, a parish-crossing bus would be ideal.
Justin Augustine, RTA general manager and vice president of Transdev, agreed that this was a good idea.
“The issue is getting the political leadership to let the barriers come down,” Augustine said. “You think a bus can’t cross a parish line? Of course it can.”
Public transit doesn’t just affect employees; it impacts employers, too. Val Grubb, an operations consultant and recruiter, recently moved to New Orleans from New York City. She said that corporations are more likely to move to a city if they feel there are viable public transit options.
“I want a big pool of people to choose from and I need them to be able to reliably get to my office and reliably get home,” Grubb said. “Public transit gives you access to way more people.”
Grubb added that corporations don’t mind contributing money to improve public transit if they feel the money will be well-spent. But New Orleans’ reputation for crooked politics hinders it in this regard.
“Corporations would be willing to put in money, but they want to be sure it will go in the right places and make a difference,” Grubb said.
Public transit also affects a person’s decision to move to a city. Grubb mentioned that millennials constitute one-third of the country’s workforce. Drivers licenses and car ownership is down among that age bracket. When they look for neighborhoods and cities to move to, they want easy access to jobs and amenities.
“This is a generation that does not want to drive,” Grubb said. “You’ve got to figure out public transit. That’s how they’re getting around.”
When discussing obstacles to improving public transit, Augustine spoke of many. Katrina had a devastating effect on the number of city buses. There were 482 in service before the disaster and now there are 138. Rebuilding and maintaining the fleet would require significant financial capital.
“There’s never enough money to go around,” Augustine said.
Raising that money is a challenge. Streetcar fares have remained stagnant at $1.25 for the past 16 years. Unlike other cities, where the transit authorities have the power to raise fares, in New Orleans, the city council makes that decision.
Augustine said he understood many residents’ frustrations. He encouraged citizens to continue voicing their opinions and suggestions as the city works on its master plan for public transit in the coming year.
“Your voice makes a difference,” Augustine said.
This article originally published in the December 12, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
