Regional transit agencies, already forced to make cuts, are calling for state funding to help them maintain service and access federal grant opportunities.
New Orleans transit riders are suffering from severely reduced service since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, according to an analysis from RIDE New Orleans, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), and Jefferson Parish Transit. “At the moment, the average Orleans Parish resident can access only 35% of jobs in the region within 60 minutes on public transit,” notes Blake Paterson in the Times-Picayune.
Although many New Orleans buses used to run every 10 minutes, the region’s agencies now offer just 60 percent of the service they did in 2004. “Both the RTA and Jefferson Parish Transit are expected to face shortfalls in revenue in the coming years that will make maintaining existing levels of service difficult. And Jefferson Parish is in the process of exiting the RTA, leaving Orleans Parish as the sole participant in what was supposed to be a multi-parish public transit agency.”
RIDE estimates that the agencies need roughly $55 million per year for operating revenues to return to pre-Katrina service levels. Transit officials are calling for more support from the state to supplement local funding, which could help meet federal matching requirements and unlock grant dollars. As of 2022, Louisiana ranked 43rd in the nation for per-capita transit spending.
Read the full story: Is New Orleans public transit at a crossroads? Advocates call for massive investment
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Oregon’s largest transit agency plans to cut 10% of its services in the next year.
SEPTA to Cut 1/5 of Service Starting Aug 24
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
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Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
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Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
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