[PRCo] Re: New Orleans Transit Infrastructure

[Bill Robb]

The Times-Picayune has been issuing an electronic
edition from Baton Rouge since being forced out of
their downtown New Orleans premises.  The paper
edition resumed distribution within three days of the
initial storm. But how and where it is being
distributed to, I haven't heard.

Bill Robb

--- Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:

> Because of Herb Brannon's interest in New Orleans,
> I'm posting this  
> article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune to the
> Pittsburgh list.   
> I have no idea if this indicates that the newspaper
> was up and  
> running or only that the editorial department had a
> web site in  
> operation.It needs to be pointed out that the new
> Canal cars needed  
> to be Americans With Disabilities (ADA) compliant
> and NORTA would not  
> even run them on fantrips or with any passengers on
> St. Charles  
> Avenue for fear or because it might comprise the ADA
> historical fleet  
> exemption that applied to the St. Charles line.
> For those who did not hear it, PBS Morning Edition
> news this morning  
> suggested that residents may be allowed back into
> areas of the city  
> that were not flooded within a day.  However there
> was also a  
> suggestion that 160,000 dwellings may be permanently
> uninhabitable.    
> If each on housed a family of three, that would
> total 480,000 people  
> out of a population in Orleans Parish of about a
> half million.  Does  
> not compute does it?   So make your own opinions.  
> I've concluded  
> that there is a hell of lot of wet wood and that if
> I were a young  
> man living in an apartment who had already found a
> job or some good  
> prospects in another city, I wouldn't go back.   If
> I had found a job  
> somewhere else and didn't have flood insurance back
> home, I think I  
> would stay where I am.  If I had been bright enough
> to buy flood  
> insurance, then it might be a toss up.  Depends on
> how good my job  
> had been and if it even exists tomorrow.
> 
> Your guess is as good as mine.  Mine is that several
> hundred thousand  
> people will not return.  If my thoughts hold true,
> NORTA may  
> initially need a larger fleet than they had before
> (because of all  
> the flooded automobiles) but shortly will need fewer
> vehicles owing  
> to fewer people.
> 
> Now you can read on about what happened to the
> trolleys and buses in  
> New Orleans:
> 
> 
> 
> (From the New Orleans Times-Picayune)
> 
> Some streetcars still under water
> Half of buses may be beyond repair
> 
> By Frank Donze
> Staff writer
> 
> Much of New Orleans' public transit infrastructure,
> including the
> brand-new Canal Street streetcars that debuted to
> considerable  
> fanfare in April
> 2004, the riverfront trolleys and at least half of
> the 350 buses in the
> fleet, remain partially submerged in floodwaters and
> may be beyond  
> repair,
> Regional Transit Authority officials said.
> 
> The 24 apple-red streetcars - assembled largely by
> hand by RTA artisans
> as part of a $161 million project that restored rail
> service to Canal
> Street after an absence of nearly 40 years - were
> stored at the A.
> Philip Randolph Operations Facility in the 2800
> block of Canal as
> Hurricane Katrina approached the Louisiana coast.
> 
> The RTA also used the Randolph facility to house
> about 175 buses and
> the seven streetcars that have comprised the
> riverfront line for the
> past 16 years. When transit workers evacuated the
> building nearly two
> weeks ago, water levels in the parking lot had
> already risen "up to the
> steering wheels'' of most of the vehicles.
> 
> "It wasn't a pretty sight,'' said Mark Major, the
> agency's finance
> director. "Those new streetcars have a lot of
> delicate electronics.
> Even if they were sitting in clear pool water, it
> would have caused  
> serious
> problems. The fact that the water is filled with
> gasoline and other
> corrosives is not good news.'He said the same holds
> true for buses.
> 
> In the 16 months since they began operating, the
> Canal streetcars,
> which cost almost $1 million each, became very
> popular among locals and
> visitors, boosting ridership on the line beyond
> expectations.
> 
> Major said the 35 streetcars on the historic St.
> Charles
> Avenue line appear to have escaped serious water
> damage, although the
> condition of the tracks and the bed beneath them,
> the overhead
> electrical system and the power stations is unknown.
> 
> "We're hoping the metal bodies (of the streetcars)
> are OK,'' he said.
> "But until we get a look inside, we won't know what
> can be salvaged.
> Some may be in good shape, some may have damage and
> some may need total
> replacement.''
> 
> While all streetcars and buses are covered by
> insurance, it is unclear
> how much depreciation will play into what the RTA
> can recover and how  
> soon.
> 
> The bottom line, Major said, is that even when New
> Orleans' transit
> system gets back in business, rail service probably
> won't be part of
> the equation at first.
> 
> "Large portions of Canal Street are still sitting in
> water,'' he said.
> "There's a lot that has to be assessed, but we
> believe it's imperative
> to get some kind of rail back in service as soon as
> possible. Our
> streetcars are icons and it's important that our
> citizens see them up
> and running.''
> 
> The RTA did not store any of its buses at the
> agency's headquarters in
> eastern New Orleans, which suffered some of the
> worst flooding in the  
> city.
> 
> Some 150 buses that were moved to the Poland Avenue
> Wharf in the Lower
> Ninth Ward appear to have fared well, but about 70
> of those vehicles
> were commandeered by the police and fire
> departments, the National  
> Guard,
> and in a few cases by individual citizens who used
> them to evacuate  
> family
> members, friends and neighbors.
> 
> The RTA is in the process of recovering those buses
> and other
> unaccounted-for vehicles. The agency has learned
> that two buses wound
> up in Lafayette, one in Opelousas and one in Bunkie.
> Two other buses  
> were
> found in the Ninth Ward, where residents used them
> several days for  
> shelter.
> 
> In what may be the only bit of good news, RTA
> spokeswoman Deslie
> Isidore said it looks like the passengers on the
> pirated buses "did not
> lay a finger on the fareboxes.''
> 
> In the short term, the RTA will offer all
> functioning buses in its
> fleet for use in the recovery effort.
> 
> FEMA officials have asked that some of the buses be
> made available as
> early as next week for transport between Baton Rouge
> and New Orleans
> 
=== message truncated ===


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