It's been nearly 20 years since the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Katrina, and pockets of the city and region are experiencing rapid growth and wealth creation. However, many services still lag in New Orleans, and lower-income and historically disadvantaged local residents face obstacles that diminish their access to opportunity. Access to frequent and reliable transit is one of those obstacles.
An analysis of regional job accessibility via transit and via a car clearly illustrates this point. The average New Orleanian with a car can access 89 percent of the region's jobs in 30 minutes or less. If the same New Orleanian relies on transit, she can access only 12 percent of the region's jobs in the same 30-minute period. In a city with both a high poverty rate and a high carlessness rate, that is unacceptable.
Recent Projects: The Opportunity Pass Program - We advocated and won funding for a 1-year pilot program offering free transit for Orleans Parish youth ages 16-24.
Transit Literacy Training- In our outreach, RIDE created a robust and curated workshop to help youth, seniors, and other vulnerable populations ride transit with confidence.