NOLA public transport June 3 edition (Part 3 of 5 Uptown — Connecting St. Charles to Canal/Mid-City — #32 Leonidas/#11 Magazine/#39 Tulane/#27 Louisiana #16 Claiborneplus affecting #91 Esplanade & Jet’s E3, and affecting service to City park & Cemeteries )

Ok, I think that there is a better way to both serve the far uptown area, and better connect Uptown to Mid-City.

First, what is the point of the #32 Leonidas bus?

Second, we NEED a St. Charles (end) <—> Canal Connector

Ok with the #32, it connects Magazine to city park/NOMA, enters a ton of neighborhoods along the way along with connecting to the following lines #11 Magazine, The St. Charles Street Car, #39 Tulane, #27 Louisiana, The Canal Street Car (both to City Park & The Cemeteries), #91 Esplanade, and JeT’s E3 Jefferson Hwy(?).

I call it the handicap line better served by a ‘lil easy’. I suppose I can’t really comment since I’ve never taken it. It may have great ridership numbers, but its image sure prevents it from being ridden by me.

The reason I write this….

I was heading up to the end of the Canal Street Car line from Broadway and Willow. I head up to Claiborne and Carrolton to catch the #39 Tulane bus, and tell him I want to catch the #27 Washington. The driver says I should transfer to the Leonidas (does not pickup at Claiborne/Carrolton), and then Transfer to The Canal Street Car. I think not. The #27 heads out a few minutes after the #39, it drops off 100 feet from the end of The Canal Street Car line, and it involves only one transfer.

Here is the reasoning the #32 tries to do too much, and thus its service “sucks” according to the system map published on the web page, its frequency is 70 minutes and only runs on weekdays.

I am sorry I am not waiting more than an hour to catch a bus. Especially when we have a highly tourist line the St. Charles line that should connect with another highly tourist line the Canal line. Each with a published frequency of 8-15 minutes. That is 4-8/hour. Sometimes they run in pairs (officially). I think I saw a press release once (Spring 2011) saying the St. Charles frequently has 12+ cars per hour, and before Katrina it was up to 20 or so per hour.  Canal St. is a bit more fixed(?) on its times?

Either way, if a bus were to run from the end of the St. Charles line to Canal street. it would pick up the slack from #32 plus #39 (runs every 20-30 minutes) , #27 (running every 20-70 minutes), and helps tourism that rides the two streetcar lines. –Or are you trying to hide the tourists from the locals???, and suggesting they only ride the streetcars (and Magazine)? (BAD BAD BAD RTA!!!)

With this St. Charles/Canal Connector, the distance is 1.7 miles 1.9 with turn arounds. We are talking 5-10 minutes with traffic but no stops. Two busses can easily make 4 trips an hour each with stops. i.e. every 15 minutes. Add Layovers, breaks, and a buffer, and we are talking every twenty minutes 3 trips each direction.

If you don’t think you can count on Claiborne not being too crowded? The risk is already taken with the #39, and can be reduced if you use smart lights as I have talked about for years, and suggested here over 6 months ago.

How do you do this? One, Since this overlaps the #32& #39, you can cut out half of each of those lines. On the 32 that would free up 2 busses (the two needed for the connector). Then, it allows the #32 to run twice as often, and even pick up slack from the last 10 blocks of the #39.

I don’t need the #32 to run everywhere. If I can wait 70 minutes for a bus, let it do the job of winding through and serving the neighborhoods. Let it take us to a main line If I get the opportunity to wait only 30 minutes, I can wait the other 10 for a main line bus.

Oh and the St. Charles/Canal Connector would also connect the #16 Claiborne to mid-city something you currently have to transfer to the #39 and transfer to #32 (if its running) or #27 to get to …. or ride the #16 back into the city.

 

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