Reports and Briefings

Why Public Transit Must Grow:
Funding Public Transit Service in Greater New Orleans
April 2024

Public transit should exist as a reliable and viable transportation option for residents to reach jobs and other services throughout the day. Ride New Orleans believes that true world class transit is possible with the right funding and resources. We’re laying out a vision for that system could look like, and how we can get there.

Fare Free Transit for Youth in New Orleans:
The Case for Investing in New Orleans Youth through a Citywide Fare-Free Program
October 2022

Young people (<18) are a special category of transit users and a vital part of current and future New Orleans. Providing fare-free transit for young people is a win-win with many benefits including economic, environmental, and social. Transit agencies, city government, community partners, and other stakeholders should work together to find a solution that meets the transit needs of youth without compromising services. 

Best Practices in Bus Stop Shelters
April 2022

This report brings together best practices in bus stop shelters. It is based on research and conversations with transit agencies from across the United States. The six cases include cities and systems of varying size, geographies, and ridership, but they are all places that have prioritized bus stop shelters in recent years and made significant progress toward ensuring bus riders have convenient and comfortable places to catch the bus.

2022 New Orleans Hotel Worker Transit Survey

Who makes the New Orleans tourism and hospitality run? And how do they get to work? Ride New Orleans asks these questions in our “2022 New Orleans Hotel Worker Transit Survey.” We find that a huge percentage of workers in this sector rely on transit (about 8x the New Orleans average). While visitors may reach New Orleans hotels by taxi, or Lyft, many of the workers arrive via bus or streetcar. Unfortunately the current transit system is failing these workers. 73% of workers surveyed who take transit say they are regularly late to work because of unreliable transit. The report also finds long commute times and most transit riders paying in cash, meaning they may be overpaying to get to and from work. RIDE believes that the workers in the hotel and hospitality industry are essential and should have fast, efficient, and reliable transit to get to and from their jobs. Transit agencies should work with the City and hotel companies to make this a reality! Click to read the full report.

 

2019 Hotel Workers Transportation Survey

With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Ride New Orleans partnered with the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association (GNOHLA) to survey the transportation needs and experiences of the hotel industry workforce. Over 500 hotel workers from 32 different hotels in the French Quarter and New Orleans CBD took the survey between November 2018 and February 2019. 48 percent of the survey takers said they regularly commute to work via public transit – demonstrating how important effective transit service is for the industry. Read all of the survey findings here. 

The State of Transit 2019 – New Links & Next Steps

Ride New Orleans presents our fifth State of Transit in New Orleans report, an annual examination of how the region is doing in providing bus, streetcar, and ferry service. Read the 2019 State of Transit in New Orleans report to see our key findings.

Regional Transit Report

Our region is not meeting the mobility needs of its residents and businesses. If we are to improve transportation options we need to come together as a region. This white paper outlines a variety of ways other regions have addressed similar regional transportation challenges – including best practices, lessons learned, and models of cooperation in five different regions. Read the Regional Transit report here to learn more.

Recommendations for the New Orleans Office of Transportation and transit priority improvements

Ride New Orleans released this white paper to offer suggestions on how the City of New Orleans can design streets to make buses and streetcars more frequent and reliable without increasing the annual New Orleans Regional Transit (RTA) operating budget.  Read the recommendations here to learn more.

The State of Transit 2018 – From plans to action

Ride New Orleans presents our fifth State of Transit in New Orleans report, an annual examination of how the region is doing in providing bus, streetcar, and ferry service. Read the 2018 State of Transit in New Orleans report to see our key findings.

The State of Transit 2017 – Creating our transit future

Ride New Orleans presents our fourth State of Transit in New Orleans report, an annual examination of how the region is doing in providing bus, streetcar, and ferry service. Read the 2017 State of Transit in New Orleans report to see our key findings.

State of Transit Access for Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel & Casino Employees

We found that that nearly half of transit-reliant hospitality industry employees surveyed are “time-burdened” and have total commute times of 60 minutes or longer. Almost one third of surveyed employees had been late three or more times in the last month due to unreliable transit. You can read the full report here.

The State of Transit 2016 – Access. Accelerate. Achieve.

Ride New Orleans presents our third State of Transit in New Orleans report, an annual examination of how the region is doing in providing bus, streetcar, and ferry service.  Download our report here.

Why New Orleans should invest in a CBD transit hub

Ride New Orleans, in partnership with Tulane City Center, investigated how a CBD Transit Hub could become a valued community asset that bolsters New Orleans’ cultural identity while creating new, smart development opportunities for the thousands of riders who stop in this area. Click here to read our report!

Algiers – Canal Street Ferry

When the State threatened to cut the Algiers-Canal ferry service in 2013, Ride stepped into action surveying riders and working with decision makers. We also issued a report showing that riders use the ferry to get to jobs that they would not be able to reach otherwise. Check out our research report for more information on why this ferry service is vital for our city.