New Orleans Regional Transit Authority
Most of the RTA's standard buses and streetcars are equipped to serve disabled riders. Some riders, however, may have a temporary or permanent disability that prevents them from using the standard RTA system. For these customers, the RTA offers paratransit rides, as required by law under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
If you are a qualified paratransit rider, a bus or van will pick up you up at the curb in front of most any address and drop you off at the curb at almost any other address within Orleans Parish. This service is different than a taxi service, because you share the paratransit bus or van with other riders. You also need to reserve your ride in advance. See Reservations below.
All qualified paratransit riders need to have an RTA Paratransit Card. For information on eligibility and applying for an RTA Paratransit Card, visit the Eligibility for Paratransit page.
A one-way ride on the RTA Paratransit Service costs $2.00.
If you have an RTA Paratransit Card, you can ride standard RTA buses and streetcars for free.
The RTA Paratransit Service operates every day of the year. Hours are from 4:00 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday, and 5:00 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.
To make a reservation to ride the RTA Paratransit Service, call the reservation line. The reservation line number is (504) 827-7433.
Phones are answered from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.
When you call, please make sure you have:
When considering the times you wish to travel, remember that at least one hour must pass between trips. For example, if you are scheduled to be dropped off at an address at 1:00 p.m., you can not request a pick up at 1:30 p.m. Instead, you need to schedule your pick up at 2:00 p.m. or later.
Also when considering the times you wish to travel, remember that the paratransit bus is shared between you and other riders. It may make several stops before you arrive at your destination. The length of your trip will depend on the number of other riders sharing the bus with you. Although rides are typically much shorter, your trip could take as long as 90 minutes.
One friend or family member can travel with you on a paratransit bus. Your companion does not need an RTA Paratransit Service Card but will need to pay a $2.00 fare each way.
Please tell the phone operator that someone is coming with you when you make your reservation.
Your RTA Paratransit Service Card may say that you need a personal care attendant to travel with you. This need will have been determined during your evaluation when you applied for paratransit eligibility.
If the RTA has indeed determined that you require a personal care attendant to travel with you, the personal care attendant will ride free of charge. In addition, you may still have one companion travel with you for a $2.00 fare.
If your RTA Paratransit Service Card does not say that you require a personal care attendant but you still wish have one ride with you, he or she may accompany you as your one companion for a $2.00 fare.
When you make your reservation, please tell the phone operator who will be coming with you.
We use modern buses equipped with wheelchair lifts and mini-vans equipped with ramps to provide paratransit transportation. Sometimes our passengers ask for a particular type of vehicle for their rides, but the RTA cannot honor these requests. You can rest assured that a vehicle appropriate for your disability will arrive to take you to where you need to go.
The RTA bus or mini-van will pick you up and drop you off at a sidewalk curb. The curb location will be as close as safely possible to the pick-up and drop-off addresses you gave the phone operator when you made your reservation.
Driver Assistance
Drivers can help passengers in certain ways. They may, upon your request, push your manual wheelchair between the curb and the vehicle, lend a steady arm to help you get in or get out of a vehicle, and point you in the right direction or act as a sighted guide if you have a vision disability.
On the other hand, our drivers cannot escort any passengers into or out of homes or buildings. They need to stay with their vehicles. In addition, drivers may not operate or push your electric wheelchair or scooter, may not push your manual wheelchairs up or down stairs or steep inclines, may not lift or carry any passenger, and may not carry packages or other items for you. As part of their job training, drivers are told they must not do any of these things, so please do not ask them to do anything they are not allowed to do.
If you need more assistance than drivers are able to give, you should make arrangements to have an attendant ready to help you at your pick-up and drop-off locations.
When Your Attendant Is Not There
If an attendant is supposed to meet you at a drop-off point but no one is there, the driver will wait for five minutes. If the attendant still doesn’t show, the driver will call into the RTA office about the problem and continue his or her route with you on board. Meanwhile, the RTA will attempt to contact the person who is supposed to meet you.
Eventually, we may notify the police to help us locate a responsible party. In these cases in which paratransit passengers cannot be dropped off at their destinations because no one is there to assist them, the RTA may consider suspending or ending their rights to use paratransit services.
Children who are six years old and older, who weigh 60 pounds or more, and who have an RTA Paratransit Card ride the same as other paratransit riders do.
Children who are under the age of six and who have an RTA Paratransit Card need to travel with an adult. In addition, children who are under six years old or who weigh less than 60 pounds must be secured in a child car seat that the adult passenger provides. The seat requirement remains the same no matter if the child is the paratransit-eligible rider or if the child is accompanying a paratransit-eligible adult.
If you bring a stroller with you, you should collapse it and put it somewhere out of the way of other passengers. Non-collapsible strollers are not allowed on board. For safety reasons, children who are able to sit on their own should sit in their own seat and not on an adult’s lap.
Service animals are welcome, and they ride free of charge. Service animals have to sit on your lap or on the floor by your feet. They may not occupy a passenger seat.
When you make your reservation, please tell the phone operator that a service animal will be coming with you.
Share this:
