New Orleans to open streetcar extension

[TomNelligan]

The New Orleans RTA is now listing October 2nd as the opening day for the extension of heritage streetcar service along the North Rampart Street trackage that has been under construction for the past year. The line will be operated as an extension of the current Loyola Avenue line, running crosstown from New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Elysian Fields Avenue and connecting with the Canal Street line at roughly the midpoint. An updated map and system schedule is now on the RTA website.

http://www.norta.com/getattachment/Maps ... 6.pdf.aspx

There has been discussion of further extending this line towards the river to tie in with the Riverfront line, but a potential grade crossing with a Norfolk Southern freight branch has been an issue. Last I heard, NS was demanding a grade-separated crossing, which is impractical due to local geography.

[Tadman]

I'm a bit baffled by this expansion. It's one mile long, tacked on the half-mile NOUPT branch. It has crummy headways. It's parallel to the Riverfront line which runs half-mile away.

That's a lot of dang money to build a low-frequency streetcar that is adjacent and parallel to another streetcar with high frequency.

Seriously, there is no point waiting and waiting and waiting for the cars on this line when you can walk anywhere faster. Like you can be at destination before the car arrives.

Now this isn't an indictment of the entire system. I love riding the Saint Charles line, which goes probably 4-5 miles through neighborhoods and universities. But I'm not about to ride the expansion from one end of the quarter to the other when I can walk faster.

[electricron]

I'm a bit baffled by this expansion. It's one mile long, tacked on the half-mile NOUPT branch. It has crummy headways. It's parallel to the Riverfront line which runs half-mile away.

That's a lot of dang money to build a low-frequency streetcar that is adjacent and parallel to another streetcar with high frequency.

Seriously, there is no point waiting and waiting and waiting for the cars on this line when you can walk anywhere faster. Like you can be at destination before the car arrives.

Now this isn't an indictment of the entire system. I love riding the Saint Charles line, which goes probably 4-5 miles through neighborhoods and universities. But I'm not about to ride the expansion from one end of the quarter to the other when I can walk faster.

You obviously haven’t walked the city streets of New Orleans during the hot, humid, muggy months of summer.

There's a reason why Southerners live life at a much slower pace, and waiting for a streetcar on a bench curbside under a shade tree fits the local culture better than walking at a brisk pace to get to a destination faster. That reason is the climate!

[AgentSkelly]

I'm a bit baffled by this expansion. It's one mile long, tacked on the half-mile NOUPT branch. It has crummy headways. It's parallel to the Riverfront line which runs half-mile away.

That's a lot of dang money to build a low-frequency streetcar that is adjacent and parallel to another streetcar with high frequency.

Seriously, there is no point waiting and waiting and waiting for the cars on this line when you can walk anywhere faster. Like you can be at destination before the car arrives.

Now this isn't an indictment of the entire system. I love riding the Saint Charles line, which goes probably 4-5 miles through neighborhoods and universities. But I'm not about to ride the expansion from one end of the quarter to the other when I can walk faster.

You obviously haven’t walked the city streets of New Orleans during the hot, humid, muggy months of summer.

There's a reason why Southerners live life at a much slower pace, and waiting for a streetcar on a bench curbside under a shade tree fits the local culture better than walking at a brisk pace to get to a destination faster. That reason is the climate!

HA! its like why in Dubai, the bus stops have AC...

[TomNelligan]

The long term plan for the Rampart Street line is to extend it farther east and/or loop it down toward the river to tie in with the Riverfront line near the French Market. When I rode it last fall, a few weeks after it opened, midday patronage was in fact rather light, as in five or six riders per trip, but it may have picked up by now. I think the real problem at the moment is that it runs as an east-west line with no direct service to the riverfront tourist district, which probably limits ridership by out-of-towners who aren't streetcar aficionados. You have to change cars where the NOUPT/Rampart line crosses Canal Street.

[Passenger]

Is the re-opening of the Desire Line (or whatever it was officially called) in play at all?

Just wondering.