TRANSIT: LADOTD shutting down federally funded bus program

With federal funding about to cease, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) announced last week that the LA Swift bus program would shut down all operations effective June 30, 2013.

Enacted in 2005 and funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), LA Swift was designed as a federally funded, temporary service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In the absence of that federal money, LADOTD would need $750,000 a year from local sources to keep the service going past June 30.

The service received additional funding via a $5-per-passenger charge per one-way trip. While LADOTD could simply increase the charge, that money could not be put toward the local fund match required by FTA regulations.