Skip to Content
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

Why Transit Agencies Expand Even When They Struggle to Provide Service

Frequent transit in New Orleans is scarce: The transit routes in red run less frequently than once every 30 minutes at peak hour, while only the routes in green run at least every 15 minutes. Image: Ride New Orleans via Transport Politic
false

New Orleans transit is in bad shape, as we reported recently. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority has never recovered from Hurricane Katrina and service is at about 36 percent of pre-storm levels despite the region's population rebound.

New Orleans' frequent service lines have been slashed dramatically. Even newly built streetcar lines are running infrequently.

So why is New Orleans planning a major expansion that would dramatically expand the streetcar system, as well as add light rail and bus rapid transit? As Yonah Freemark recently pointed out at the Transport Politic, despite its inability to deliver frequent along its existing routes, NORTA plans to pour $3.5 billion into construction.

This case, Freemark explains, illustrates problematic incentives embedded in federal policy. Namely, the federal government makes money available for expansion projects but not for day-to-day service:

Because transit support from Washington, D.C. explicitly prevents spending on operations for most cities, it would be a mistake for New Orleans to pass up on the funds available for new construction.

Indeed, from a budgetary perspective, there is nothing about plans for new transit expansions that either prevent better operations or encourage it; operations and capital budgets might as well be coming from different agencies altogether.

This does not serve transit riders well, Freemark says. Current transit users in New Orleans have substandard service, and new lines could very well suffer the same fate.

Freemark says perhaps the federal government should require some type of guarantee from transit agencies considering expansions that the service would be adequate to warrant the initial investment. Or perhaps greater flexibility -- letting federal funds be spent on operations as well as capital expenses in poorer regions, like New Orleans, for instance -- would help produce better, more equitable outcomes.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog San Francisco

Op-Ed: It’s Time to Extend the Central Subway to North Beach

There are abandoned tunnels under Stockton Street: here’s how they could transform San Francisco’s subway system.

May 8, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: ‘Normal’ is Not Correct, Someone Died Here

After a crash, the debris is quickly cleaned up and everyone moves on (usually too quickly). But these two experts are asking us to all slow down.

May 8, 2025

LA Metro Names Former SFPD Chief Bill Scott as Chief of Police

Chief Scott and Metro leadership emphasized that keeping Metro transit safe would require a multi-faceted approach that included the deployment of officers as well as collaboration with the community, ambassadors, and service providers. "Sometimes enforcement is the answer," Scott said. "Sometimes it's not."

May 7, 2025
See all posts