Things are moving quickly now! Just three weeks after 22 transit riding New Orleanians were appointed to the Regional Transit Authority’s Riders Advisory Committee, the kick-off meeting was held on July 21st.
About half of the newly minted committee members were in attendance and there was tremendous energy and excitement from the group to share their wisdom and vision for the future of New Orleans transportation.
The committee meeting kicked-off with introductions of RTA Board Member Flozell Daniels, various TransDev staff who manage the day-to-day RTA operations and the diverse committee members who represented areas from all across the city. A review of the committee’s guidelines and code of conduct and it was explained that the Riders’ Advisory Committee is not a place to make complaints against individual RTA employees or discuss issues regarding the union’s collective bargaining between the RTA. Here you can read the policy in it’s entirety and understand the specific the legal guidelines.
RTA leaders committed to providing committee members with training opportunities to better understand how transit is funded, managed, operated and more. The committee members then laid out their wish list for a training agenda and areas that they’d like to focus their work. The highlights include:
- Real time GPS bus and streetcar tracking;
- Understanding route changes and fare structures;
- The RTA’s budget process;
- Federal grant opportunities;
- Relationships and coordination with schools and after school programming;
- Late and early transit service;
- Operator training and customer service;
- Inter-agency cooperation specifically with Jefferson Parish; and
- Better service for the elderly.
Look out for these items to appear on future agendas. The RTA has appointed Head of Operations Gerard Guter to serve as as the main staff contact and Commissioner Flozell Daniels as the Board Liaison to the Riders Advisory Committee.
The Riders Advisory Committee will meet every first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 PM at the RTA Headquarters (2817 Canal Street). All meetings going forward will be open to the public.