People have noted nearly everywhere that one of the main factors that contributed to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in New Orleans right now is the lack of options for poor people seeking to evacuate. If you don't have a car and you are worried about getting fired for not returning to work in time after the storm, you're not likely to leave.
Transit agencies are the transportation safety net for millions of people and should thus be at the forefront of preparations and response. So, how come neither Nexis nor Google News find any mention of New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA)?
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rj3 | 1:37 PM |
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I was just about to post on this very issue on my own blog. What an important lesson for urban planners. Not only does public transport make urban life for livable, it also makes mass evacuation more feasible. How simple might the evacuation have been if the entire city could make their way to local subway stops and be shuttled out of town BEFORE the disaster. It would have relieved the congestion on the main highways out of town, which looked like traffic jams in the photos I've seen.
I guess the real question is how many people stayed because they didn't have tp out of NO, as opposed to the number of people who wouldn't have left even if free bus service (or whatever) was available?
Given the overhyping of hurricanes in the past, as well as the fact that this had never happened before, sticking around probably seemed like a rational option for quite a few people for quite a while.
Forget about NORTA. Where is Greyhound? Where are the neighboring transit agencies?
According to a lot of reports I've read, Greyhound shut down Saturday night.
Tim: Actually, I was just watching CNN, and there seem to be a few Greyhound buses outside the N.O. convention center. Mayor Nagin demanded these in a now-famous radio interview last night, and at least some have arrived.
Matt: As for the "false alarm" problem, one might expect the reaction to be more serious on the part of citizens if all the city buses went on their regular routes with signs that said "evacuation bus" or some such and then, at the end of the route, got out of town.
Here in Miami Beach there are evacuation buses. When an evacuation order goes out, they stop at publicized spots marked by signs that stay up year-round. The buses have signs that say "Emergency Evacuation", and they pick people up and bring them to shelters further inland. There are twenty of these stops in my neighborhood alone.
As to how well they implement this, I have no idea. But the theory behind it all seems quite sound.
