(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . RTA bus service cuts to take effect Sunday [1] ['Bobbi-Jeanne Misick', 'More Bobbi-Jeanne Misick', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-01-12 Transit service cuts that will impact thousands of New Orleans Regional Transit Authority bus riders are set to take effect on Sunday (Jan. 14), under a plan that officials say will make service more consistent. The changes affect 15 of the 30 bus lines serving New Orleans. The RTA has adjusted its schedules with extended wait times — ranging from three minutes to 40 minutes — between bus pickups. Bus riders have been complaining for months about buses failing to meet their schedules. Transit advocates have pointed out that frequent breakdowns of aging vehicles have forced the RTA to take buses offline, leaving people, many elderly, waiting at stops for extended periods of time in order to get to work or meet their appointments. RTA officials, who announced the plan in the fall, say the schedule cuts will help ensure that buses actually meet their marks. “If I tell you the bus is gonna be there at 3 o’clock, it is actually there at 3 o’clock,” RTA CEO Lona Hankins told Verite News in a November interview, when the plan was announced. The bus with the highest ridership that is experiencing schedule changes is the 9 Broad-Napoleon line, which runs from the East New Orleans Regional Library to Napoleon Avenue at Tchoupitoulas Street. The bus carries between 60,000 and 90,000 riders per month, according to recent ridership reports from the RTA. Its scheduled wait times are being extended by three minutes, from 20 minutes between buses to 23 minutes. The most drastic changes are to bus lines that primarily serve New Orleans East and the West Bank – the areas that have been experiencing the longest unscheduled wait times in recent months. Buses on the 66 Haynes Loop, which serves the Little Woods neighborhood, will go from running every 35 minutes to 70 minutes. The line was among the lowest-performing in the system as of the summer, with a 50% on-time performance rate in August. It had improved somewhat, however, to a 70% rate by November. The 67 Michoud Loop will go from running every 30 minutes to every hour. The two New Orleans East lines have relatively low ridership, each carrying between 3,000 and 5,000 passengers per month, but they provide critical connections for people living in the neighborhoods to other routes that run through the city’s job centers. On the West Bank, the 103 General Meyer Local will go from running at every 30 minutes per stop to every 45 minutes per stop. The line will be extended so that the bus runs across the river and to the transit hub at the New Orleans Public Library’s main branch on Loyola Avenue. The line had a 56.3% on-time performance rate in August, which improved to 85.9% by November. Wait times for the 105 Algiers local bus — which had an 83.8% on time performance rate as of November — will double from every 40 minutes to every 80 minutes, the largest wait-time extension system wide. The schedule changes result from a 15% cut that RTA is making to its active bus fleet. Delays that riders have experienced are often due to the RTA’s aging buses and the frequent maintenance and major repairs they need, officials have said. The agency is reducing the number of buses that are available for service. It’s also reducing the number that will be on the street during peak-service times to 70, from the current goal of 87. That’s the second peak-time reduction over the past year. Before spring 2023, the agency’s peak-time goal was 97 buses. RTA staff have been conducting outreach with riders at major transit hubs throughout the city. The agency has launched a ridership satisfaction survey that it intends to manage over the next several months. Staff members have also been meeting with hospitality workers — who are among the agency’s most frequent riders — at some of the city’s largest hotels. On Thursday (Jan. 11) staff members handed out flyers with information about the changes to riders in front of the Main Library on Loyola Avenue. Theone Watts, a Gentilly resident, was waiting for a bus. Watts said it was the first time she’d heard about the changes, which will not affect the number 55 Elysian Fields bus, the route she normally uses. But she did know about the frustrating delays that can result from mechanical problems, having already experienced it herself that day after a bus on her route was pulled offline, forcing her to wait an extra 25 minutes to catch the next one. “I use the bus for a lot of things,” Watts said. “If it comes every hour instead of every half an hour, at least I know it’s gonna be there.” The RTA has purchased 21 new buses with COVID-19 relief funds, but they have not yet been delivered. Hankins previously said assembly on those could begin as early as February and if there are no delays, those new buses could begin rolling into the RTA’s yard by June and on the street by September. The new buses could provide the agency some room to readjust schedules, possibly shortening wait times. But the RTA has yet to say if or when that may happen. Related Stories Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. 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