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Nine years after Katrina, New Orleans’ public transit is still rebuilt for wealthy whites
http://urbanful.org/2014/09/02/nine-years-katrina-new-orleans-public-transit-still-rebuilt-wealthy-whites/Four out of five New Orleans residents have moved back to the city nine years after the hurricane that devastated it. But just over a third of public transit service has been restored, and it’s serving mostly wealthy, white areas, according to new analyses by non-profit public transit advocacy group Ride New Orleans.
“We took a close look at the city’s transit service on a neighborhood by neighborhood level and were shocked to find that neighborhoods that need transit the most, that have low-income populations, communities of color, and where access to vehicles is not a given have seen the least amount of transit restored,” Rachel Heiligman, Executive Director of Ride New Orleans, told Next City.
What’s restored? Streetcars that take visitors from uptown to the French Quarter. What’s not? City buses in many other neighborhoods. In Hollygrove, a largely black, low-income neighborhood, 83 percent of residents have returned, but transit has been cut by 95 percent. In another neighborhood, there isn’t a single bus. And in many outlying neighborhoods, according to Ride New Orleans, you’ll have to wait at least 30 minutes for a bus during peak hours, more than 60 minutes in the most far-flung parts.
RTA has said in the past that it doesn’t have the resources to provide service like it did before the storm, and it has to prioritize areas with the most riders.
“We took a close look at the city’s transit service on a neighborhood by neighborhood level and were shocked to find that neighborhoods that need transit the most, that have low-income populations, communities of color, and where access to vehicles is not a given have seen the least amount of transit restored,” Rachel Heiligman, Executive Director of Ride New Orleans, told Next City.
What’s restored? Streetcars that take visitors from uptown to the French Quarter. What’s not? City buses in many other neighborhoods. In Hollygrove, a largely black, low-income neighborhood, 83 percent of residents have returned, but transit has been cut by 95 percent. In another neighborhood, there isn’t a single bus. And in many outlying neighborhoods, according to Ride New Orleans, you’ll have to wait at least 30 minutes for a bus during peak hours, more than 60 minutes in the most far-flung parts.
RTA has said in the past that it doesn’t have the resources to provide service like it did before the storm, and it has to prioritize areas with the most riders.
