NOPSI Buses
Canal Street, late 1960s (Aaron Handy III photo)
NOPSI Buses on Canal Street
NOPSI buses and not much streetcar action in this #StreetcarMonday photo. That’s because it’s from the 1970s. The St. Charles Line operated solo from 1964 to 1988. Buses ran on all the other lines.
The appeal of buses
New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated (NOPSI) operated the New Orleans public transit system from 1923 until 1984. NOPSI was a private corporation. Middle South Utilities owned NOPSI. A holding company owned by General Electric, Electric Bond and Share Company (EBASCO) owned MSU. So, essentially, NOPSI belonged to General Electric. The power company owning the transit system made sense when streetcars dominated. They needed electricity, after all.
There are a number of reasons transit companies adopted buses over streetcars. NOPSI switched over a number of lines before World War II. The government forbade further conversion during the war. The War Department wanted the rubber used for bus tires for the war effort. After WWII, conversion to buses resumed. Most of the remaining streetcar lines converted to buses between 1948 and 1952. That left only Canal Street and St. Charles. In the early 1960s, Air-conditioned NOPSI buses tempted riders from Lakeview with a cool ride downtown. When buses took over Canal Street in 1964, that left only streetcars on St. Charles.
Buses on Canal
From the river to Claiborne Avenue, Canal Street buses ran in the street’s neutral ground. Three lines named “Canal” and two Express lines serviced Canal Street:
- Cemeteries
- Lake Vista via Canal Blvd.
- Lakeshore via Pontchartrain Blvd.
- Express 80 (Lake Vista)
- Express 81 (Lakeshore)
So, all three Canal lines stopped at every stop from the river to City Park Avenue. NOPSI buses on Express lines picked up passengers until Claiborne Avenue. So, from Claiborne to City Park Avenue, they did not stop. Riders paid an extra nickel (in addition to the quarter base fare) for Express service.
When Canal-Lake Vista and Express 80 reached City Park Avenue, both lines turned onto Canal Blvd. From there the route was:
- Canal Blvd (all stops)
- Right turn on to Robert E. Lee Blvd. to Marconi Drive
- Left turn onto Marconi to Lakeshore Drive
- Lakeshore Drive to Beauregard Avenue
- Right turn onto Beauregard to Robert E. Lee
Therefore, the inbound run began at Robert E. Lee and Beauregard
The Canal-Lakeshore and Express 81 route, from City Park Avenue:
- Left turn onto City Park
- Right turn onto Pontchartrain Blvd.
- Curve along Pontchartrain Blvd, continuing on Academy Drive
- Continue under I-10 at the 17th Street Canal, where street becomes Frontage Road
- Left turn from Frontage Road onto Fleur de Lis Avenue
- Fleur-de-Lis to Veterans Blvd.
- Right on Veterans to West End Blvd.
- Left on West End to Robert E. Lee Blvd.
- Right on Robert E. Lee to Canal Blvd.
- Left on Canal Blvd. to the end of the line at Lakeshore Drive.
Inbound run started at Lakeshore Drive.
One block of streetcar track
NOPSI 972, at the left of the photo, runs outbound on the single block of streetcar track remaining on Canal Street. The streetcars turned right onto St. Charles from Canal, for their outbound run to S. Claiborne.
Recent Comments