Blanco buses on the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4210646.stm ^ | 9/3/2005 | 9/3/2005

[usmcobra]

Bump

[SouthTexas]

Those belonging to rich Republicans do! The big bad corporate automakers won't sell them to poor dims.

[feefee]

my god

if those are the rest of them, so many vehicles available, jabbar (sp?) proved anyone can drive a bus, not just bus drivers.

[WoofDog123]

you bring up a good point...hurricane fatigue would LONG have taught NO residents to simply ignore the buses that come to take them away a couple of times a year or risk their homes being robbed, etc. On the other hand, by saturday night I think the evacuation should have been ordered, regardless of who heeded it. Waiting until less than 24 hours before landfall, on a sunday, is pathetic.

I think the bigger failure was the failure to declare martial law or the napoleonic equivalent and send the LNG into new orleans immediately on monday post-storm. No excuse for that at all. The LA governor is going to fall over this.

[feefee]

I'm trying out that noaa site again, to see if the image is any different from the one google provides.

Ran into this one, below, I wonder what those transit/school buses are doing there, at the top of the pic. There are more school buses about 3/4 of the way down the left-hand side of the page.

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24428420.jpg

[feefee]

...New Orleans officials told the Times-Picayune in July of this year that they would dedicate 64 city buses and 10 lift vans, as well as potentially school buses and Amtrak trains, to help people flee the city in the event of a serious hurricane threat. But they also acknowledged that would not meet the potential need.

According to the Louisiana Transit Resource Guide...New Orleans has 364 city buses in its fleet. Why officials did not plan to dedicate more buses to an evacuation effort was not explained to the Times-Picayune.

Instead, in July, public officials began videotaping messages for distribution by DVD warning residents to begin making their own advance plans for emergency evacuation in case of a hurricane. According to the Times-Picayune, the messages, which were to be released this September, informed New Orleans residents that they were to be largely responsible for their own safety.

I would include more of the article, but I'm not familiar with the copyright stuff. The link is below, yet again, you need to copy and paste it. Nice of them to prepare DVD's with evacuation information. I'm really beginning to wonder about the RTA, I have a link around here somewhere concerning a federal investigation into the money down there.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2322

[sayfer bullets]

It's a shame Al Sharpton only does 110 in Texas.

Hmmm. 110? Always 110? Or 220?

Whatever it takes...

Ron Richardson: Yeah? Are you gonna make it all 220?

Jack Butler: Yeah. 220... 221, whatever it takes.

[feefee]

bus pic ping

[usmcobra]

What follows is from a NOLA. Com article

KATRINA TAKES AIM
Sunday, August 28, 2005
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer

(snip)


Nagin spokeswoman Tami Frazier stressed that the mayor does not want citizens to plan on staying in the Dome -- instead, they should make arrangements to leave the city if possible.

"We don't anticipate having to turn people away," Frazier said. "But (staying in the Dome) should not be a situation that you're counting on."

Nagin added, "No weapons, no large items, and bring small quantities of food for three or four days, to be safe."

The Regional Transit Authority will deploy 10 buses equipped with a special lift to help handicapped residents get to the Superdome this morning, RTA spokeswoman Rosalind Blanco Cook said.

Once at the Dome, residents' needs will be assessed. Those who are critically ill will be taken by ambulance to a medical facility in Baton Rouge, she said. Others will be brought to Baton Rouge in the paratransit buses.

Beginning at noon, as officials prepare to open the Dome as a shelter of last resort, the RTA will begin ferrying passengers to the facility from 12 locations around the city. Those locations are:

-- Arthur Monday Senior Citizens Center, 1111 Newton St.

-- E.J. Morris Senior Center, 1616 Caffin Ave.

-- Eleanor McMain Magnet Secondary School, 5712 S. Claiborne Ave.

-- Warren Easton Fundamental High School, 3019 Canal St.

-- Sylvanie F. Williams School, 3127 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

-- Israel Augustine Middle School, 425 S. Broad St.

-- Sarah T. Reed High School, 5316 Michoud Blvd.

-- Marion Abramson Senior High School, 5552 Read Blvd.

-- L.E. Rabouin Career Magnet School, 727 Carondelet St.

-- O. Perry Walker High School, 2832 Gen. Meyer Ave.

-- New Orleans Mission, 1130 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

-- William Frantz School, 3811 N. Galvez St.

Cook also said streetcar service on St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street will be replaced by buses in case power goes out.

Generally, RTA regular service will continue until the weather doesn't allow it or a curfew is imposed by city officials, she said.

(snip)

Without having to be told, The RTA went into action and followed plans it had been given and did what it was supposed to do.

Had the mayor thought more about the safety of the residents of his city then that of himself and his family(flown out on sunday to Baton Rouge) he could have sent the RTA and the Orleans Parish schools buses to Baton Rouge or elsewhere as well.

[ChadGore]

bump

[usmcobra]

Today a CNN news babe was walking around New Orleans and came across two RTA buses in which several families were living, they had taken them from the RTA lot and were sleeping in them with the air conditioning on.

It was so cold at night they had to use blankets.

[feefee]

do you remember which show it was on or about what time, so i can look it up and see if i can find some kind of video online?

i cannot express what i'm feeling right now, in appropriate terms, concerning the families living in the buses...but they figured out the master dial :)

i was thinking about it earlier, and if i was 50, and had been driving my bus for 20 or so years, what else would i be comfortable doing? the bus operators and bus mechanics, from the RTA and other local transit providers, are out of jobs for the time being, there are no people to carry to jobs, to schools, to stores, to anywhere.

off hand, just because i'm interested in knowing, do you know how long a bus can idle on a full or mostly full tank? orion high floors 35' and 40' have a 125 and 150 gallon capacity, low floors have 125 gallon (hybrids have 100 gallon tanks). i'm using orion as a reference b/c i've seen orion pics from down there. i can't get into NTD right now to see if there is a more detailed listing (i get an error message).

i'm figuring if they were parked saturday or early sunday, the tank would be full or mostly full, most places service the vehicles at the end of the day, to get them ready for the next day's service.

[usmcobra]

I would guess that the RTA buses have a standard size tank and can be driven at least twelve hours straight on one tank.

At idle the same tank could be stretched out for almost a week running it only during say late at night or off and on during the day long enough to cool the interior.

As for the reporterette She was asian and I believe not a regular, obviously since she was doing the grunt work of running around town, looking for human interest stories. I didn't catch her name but the segment ran about 7:30 EST.

[shezza]

The New Orleans Rapid Transit Authority (RTA) also had an additional 426 city buses, in addition to the school buses. Add that to your total.

[shezza]

See here for the official documentation from 2004 of the number of RTA (public transport) municipal buses New Orleans had in its fleet.

[Yeti]

Cool! If you adjust the contrast, you can see all the FEMA guys swarming into them, in an effort to hurry up and save the day!

[TheForceOfOne]

I'm starting to believe there were more buses than water in NOLA.

[usmcobra]

http://www.loep.state.la.us/newsrelated/katrinaroars.htm

"Conceding that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport, the city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome.

Nagin also dispatched police and firefighters to rouse people out with sirens and bullhorns, and even gave them the authority to commandeer vehicles to aid in the evacuation."

[feefee]

The RTA operates a fleet of 367 buses on a system of regular routes and schedules and a fleet of 42 rail vehicles on two separate rail lines. The RTA also operates 36 vehicles in a demand responsive service, designed to serve customers pursuant to ADA, and contracts for the operation of an additional 26 vehicles in demand responsive service. All RTA services are operated and maintained from three operating facilities and administered from a headquarters facility.

Thanks for the updated information on the RTA vehicles, I was figuring 364 fixed route, due to a 2002 report.

I would not automatically add the 36 RTA ADA/complimentary paratransit nor the contracted 26 vehicles for ADA/complimentary paratransit service to the total number of buses NORTA had in the fleet available to evacuate mass numbers of people.

Paratransit vehicles are the smaller, body-on-chassis vehicles used to transport those folks unable to utilize the regular fixed-route service. Depending on the size of the vehicle, they are designed to carry maybe around 20-30 passengers.

They can be considered a bus, but in terms of evacuating X amount of people/vehicle, these vehicles shouldn't be entered into the general equation. The capacity of these vehicles depends on the number of passengers in wheelchairs, etc. These vehicles are the ones that were supposed to transport folks up to Baton Rouge after their arrival at the SuperDome, if medically necessary.

You can fit more than the 20-30 passengers on this type of vehicle, but the aisle is smaller than a regular fixed route bus, so depending on size, maybe 30-40 (with 10 seated in the aisle, very few personal possessions, and no passengers in wheelchairs).