Transportation Services Provided To Hurricane Evacuees
Release Date: December 27, 2006
Release Number: 1603-589
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BATON ROUGE, La. -- ‘LA Moves’ is a new transportation program set to begin on Jan. 1, 2007 that will be offered to evacuees living at many commercial and group sites. Regularly scheduled bus service will provide transportation to essential services such as banks, pharmacies and grocery stores.
The LA Moves program gives FEMA considerable flexibility in providing or eliminating routes from commercial and group sites, which allows the service to expand and contract in line with applicant needs. The program will incorporate many of the routes that fell under the Statewide Emergency Transportation Plan and services provided through FEMA’s support of the New Orleans Area Regional Transit System (RTA) and the Baton Rouge Capital Transit Authority (CATS).
Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Southern Louisiana, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided funding for transportation services to residents affected by the storms. FEMA has provided 100 percent of the funding for three major public transportation programs: LA Swift, the Statewide Emergency Transportation Plan and special assistance to the public transportation systems in Orleans and East Baton Rouge parishes.
The Statewide Emergency Transportation Plan reimbursed parish public transportation systems for transportation of FEMA applicants through fixed routes in urban areas and on-demand services in rural areas. In addition the Statewide Emergency Transportation Plan reimbursed parish public transportation systems for paratransit (i.e., transportation of applicants who require ADA compliant transportation assistance). The reimbursement under the Statewide Emergency Transportation Plan, which began on Jan. 19, 2006 and ends on Dec. 31, 2006, is available to all parishes in the state with the exception of Orleans and East Baton Rouge.
FEMA provided assistance to the RTA and CATS to allow the RTA to recover from the devastating damage to its fleet of vehicles and accommodate the influx of new residents to Baton Rouge. While New Orleans was recovering, FEMA provided funding to RTA and CATS to supplement their bus routes and expand services and routes in Baton Rouge, which ended on Nov. 30, 2006. FEMA provided both fixed route service and on-demand paratransit services in both parishes. FEMA will continue to fund paratransit services to remote group sites in East Baton Rouge Parish to allow ADA riders access to essential services. These temporary services will act as a transition to longer-term funding by state and local governments.
Finally, FEMA provided commuter bus services between Baton Rouge and New Orleans through the LA Swift bus service. FEMA began funding the service on Oct. 31, 2005 and has extended the service several times. On Dec. 1, 2006, the Federal Transportation Authority began providing funding to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development in order for the service to continue.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident, initiates mitigation activities and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA works closely with state and local emergency managers, law enforcement personnel, firefighters and other first responders. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Dec-2006 16:52:12