The first-ever Mayor’s Office of Transportation, officially established in 2018, was designed to ensure communication among departments and external partners to promote transportation priorities that encourage safety, equity, regional connectivity and multi-modal accommodations to provide for the future prosperity of the City and its citizens.
In summer 2022, the Mayor's Office of Transportation was merged with the Office of Resilience & Sustainability to align with the City's 2022 Climate Action Plan.
ORS works closely with groups like the Regional Planning Commission, Transit Authority, Airport, and Department of Transportation, as well as updates the Mayor on opportunities to improve transportation.
ORS has four main transportation goals that prioritize safety, fairness, connections, and efficiency:
- Focus on people first when planning streets to improve quality of life
- Make transit equitable so citizens can access jobs and services
- Connect to surrounding areas so people and goods can move easily to help the economy
- Use city streets wisely to benefit citizens
Learn more about our current programs:
Blue Bikes Program Complete Streets Program
Safe Streets for All Slow Streets Initiative
New Links Project
The Regional Planning Commission, in partnership with the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), Jefferson Transit (JeT) and the City of New Orleans has completed the New Links project, an 18-month project to study regional transit and develop recommendations for a transit network redesign with the goal of improving the frequency, reliability, and connectivity of public transit in Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard Parishes.
Final Recommendations
In February 2021, the New Links project team released the final recommendations for a redesigned regional transit network. Learn more about the final recommendations below.
Project Archive
The following information serves as an archive of information shared during the process. The full details of summary contained in the final report from February 2021.
About the Process
The project was conducted in three phases:
- Data Collection and Analysis (Spring-Fall 2019): Beginning the week of March 11th, surveyors engaed riders on buses, streetcars, and ferries. These surveyors gathered data on transit usage by interviewing riders to understand where and how riders use public transportation. The project team hosted public meetings in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes to gather feedback on rider priorities for transit improvement.
- Evaluation and Development of Draft Recommendations and Scenarios (Fall 2019 - Spring 2020): The New Links team developed service scenarios for future transit networks based on information gathered through research, surveys, and public input sessions. The project team hosted public meetings to evaluate and refine these scenarios and allow for further feedback.
- Final Recommendations and Design (Summer 2020 - Winter 2021); Information gathered in the previous phases was used to develop final recommendations to be presented to the Regional Transit Authority.