Today, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) held an unveiling ceremony for the agency’s 22 newly designed 35’ New Flyer buses that will begin to enter service on Thursday, May 6th. The unveiling featured the Warren Easton Charter School band and included an inaugural processional down Canal Street. The agency purchased 22 vehicles to replace vehicles that are at the end of their useful life, many which were purchased after Hurricane Katrina. The new purple and grey buses which don the phrase “laissez les bons temps rouler,” were designed to better maintain the external cleanliness of the buses.    

“Introducing the new buses brings the RTA another step closer to delivering a world class transit system New Orleanians deserve,” said Alex Z. Wiggins, RTA CEO. “RTA is excited to introduce our new buses into service with a new design and color scheme that not only reflects the culture of New Orleans, but also a new era of the agency which is now under local control and management.”  

“Today’s announcement is a testament to the RTA making good on its commitment to improving service reliability and rider experience by replacing vehicles that have been in revenue past their FTA defined, useful life.”  said Mark Raymond, Jr, RTA Vice Chair. “As chair of the RTA Finance and Administration Committee, I am pleased by the RTA’s ability to leverage federal funding to make these critical improvements to our bus fleet and service delivery.  

The 22 new buses are funded by a $7,246,315 grant award from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) FY2019 Bus and Bus Facility competitive grant program as well as an FTA FY2020 Bus and Bus Facilities annual appropriation in the amount of $1,115,771 plus an additional $2,507,012 derived from revenue from the local one cent sales tax.    

“RTA’s new vehicles are a beacon of mobility in the city,” said Fred Neal Jr., RTA Commissioner. “The RTA Board of Commissioners understand the importance of access through equitable, reliable transportation and why today is just the beginning of great things to come for our riders.”