Streetcars have been part of the public transportation network of New Orleans since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of the city's streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world. Today, the streetcars are operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA).
New Orleans currently has five operating streetcar lines: St. Charles, Riverfront, Canal (with two branches), and Rampart–Loyola. The St. Charles Avenue Line is the only line that has operated continuously throughout New Orleans' streetcar history (though service was interrupted after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and resumed only in part in December 2006, as noted below), All other lines were replaced by bus service between the late 1940s and early 1960s. Preservationists were unable to save streetcar service on Canal Street, but succeeded in securing historic landmark protection for the St. Charles Avenue Line.
Interest in rail transit revived in the late 20th century. The newly constructed Riverfront Line began service in 1988, and streetcar service returned to Canal Street in 2004, forty years after it had been discontinued. A new line on Loyola Avenue opened in 2013 and was extended onto Rampart Street in 2016.
In , the streetcar system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
History
Beginnings On April 23, 1831, the Pontchartrain Railroad Company (PRR) established the first rail service in New Orleans along a line running north on Elysian Fields Avenue from the Mississippi River toward Lake Pontchartrain. These first trains, however, were pulled by horses because the engines had not yet arrived from England. The PRR received its first working steam engine the next year, and first put it into service on September 27, 1832. Service continued in a mixed fashion, running sometimes with locomotives, and at other times with horse traction. A round trip fare at that time was seventy-five cents.
Those first operations included inter-city and suburban railroad lines, and horse-drawn or mule-drawn omnibus lines. The first lines of city rail service were created by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, which in 1835 opened three lines. In the first week of January, the company opened its Poydras-Magazine horse-drawn line on its namesake streets (Poydras Street and Magazine Street), the first true street railway line in the city. New York City was the only place to precede New Orleans with street railway service. Then a horse-drawn line to the suburb of Lafayette, which was centered on Jackson Avenue, opened on January 13. In September, the New Orleans and Carrollton started operating its third line, a steam-powered line along present-day St. Charles Avenue, then called Nayades, connecting the city with the suburb of Carrollton, and terminating near the present-day intersection of St. Charles Avenue and Carrollton Avenue. The Poydras-Magazine line ceased operation in March or April 1836, about the time that a new La Course Street line was opened along that street (now named Race Street). That line ended in the 1840s, but the Lafayette and Carrollton lines continued, eventually becoming the Jackson and St. Charles streetcar lines.
As the area upriver (uptown) from the city began to be built up—much of the new development along the Nayades (St. Charles Avenue) corridor—additional lines were created by the New Orleans and Carrollton. On February 4, 1850, branch lines were opened on Louisiana and Napoleon Avenues. Like the Jackson line, these were horse- or mule-drawn cars, operating from Nayades Avenue to the river along their namesake streets. The Louisiana line was lightly patronized, and was discontinued in 1878. The Napoleon line continued into the next century.
Up until about 1860, omnibus lines provided the only public transit outside the area serviced by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad. The need was felt for a true citywide street railway service. Toward this end, the New Orleans City RR was chartered on June 15, 1860. The first line, Rampart and Esplanade (later called simply Esplanade), opened June 1, 1861, followed in quick succession by the Magazine, Camp and Prytania (later called Prytania), Canal, Rampart and Dauphine (later Dauphine), and finally Bayou Bridge and City Park. Despite the beginnings of war, the company opened and continued service on its new lines. A few other efforts were attempted during the Civil War, but progress resumed soon after the war's end.
In 1866, several additional street railway companies made their appearance in New Orleans. The first was the Magazine Street Railroad Company, which soon merged with the second, the Crescent City Railroad Co. The St. Charles Street Railroad Company was next, followed in 1867 by the Canal and Claiborne Streets Railroad Company and in 1868 by the Orleans Railroad Company. The horsecar lines of these companies covered different parts of the city, overlapping in some areas. The City RR even operated a steam railroad to Lake Pontchartrain, the West End line, which eventually became part of the city streetcar system.
Desegregation protests Streetcars in New Orleans had been segregated since they were introduced. A few separate cars marked with stars were designated for black people — the so-called "star car" system.
In April 1867, William Nichols got onto a white-only car and was forced out. In the following weeks, thousands of African Americans engaged in protests and some riots broke out. Fearing the repetition of violence seen in previous years, the city, by May 8, desegregated the streetcar system. The chief of police told his officers: “Have no interference with negroes riding in cars of any kind. No passenger, has a right to eject any other passenger, no matter what his color.”
The streetcar system remained integrated until 1902.Streetcar Protest 1867, April 28, 1867.
Horsecar companies and lines operated In the late 1800s, several streetcar companies operated various lines throughout New Orleans:
The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Company operated the Carrollton, Jackson, Louisiana, and Napoleon lines.
The New Orleans City Railroad Company managed a larger network that included the Esplanade, Canal, Magazine, Prytania, Dauphine, Bayou Bridge and City Park, Barracks and Slaughter House, French Market, Levee and Barracks, and West End lines.
The Crescent City Railroad Company operated the Annunciation, Coliseum, South Peters, and Tchoupitoulas lines.
The St. Charles Street Railroad Company ran the Clio, Carondelet, and Dryades lines.
The Canal and Claiborne Streets Railroad Company operated the Claiborne (North), Tulane, and Girod and Poydras lines.
The Orleans Railroad Company operated the Bayou St. John, Broad, City Park, and French Market lines.
The coming of electrification
A number of experiments were tried out over the next few decades in an attempt to find a better method than horses or mules for propulsion of streetcars. These included an overhead cable car system (an underground cable, such as was eventually developed in San Francisco, was impossible because of the high water table under New Orleans); a walking beam system; pneumatic propulsion; an ammonia locomotive; a "Thermo-specific" system using super-heated water; and the Lamm Fireless engine. Lamm engines were actually adopted and used for a time on the New Orleans and Carrollton line, which had previously used steam locomotives. That line gradually gave up steam locomotives because of the objections of residents along the line to the smoke, soot, and noise. The area between the town of Carrollton and the City of New Orleans was sparsely populated with large swaths of agricultural land when the line was laid out in the 1830s; by the latter 19th century it was almost completely urbanized. Carrollton was annexed to New Orleans in 1874. Due to this increased urbanization, horsecars were used on the entire line.
Electrical propulsion of streetcars finally won out over all the other experimental methods. Electric powered streetcars made their first appearance in New Orleans on the Carrollton line on February 1, 1893. The line was also extended out Carrollton Avenue and renamed St. Charles.
Other companies followed suit. Over the next few years, almost all the streetcar lines of all six companies were electrified, including the West End steam line; the few lines that remained animal powered, such as the Girod and Poydras, were discontinued. Also, operations of the six companies began to be consolidated at this time, beginning with formation of the New Orleans Traction Company, which took over operation of the New Orleans City and Lake RR (an 1883 renaming of the New Orleans City RR) and the Crescent City RR in 1892. New Orleans Traction became the New Orleans City RR in 1899, the second company to use that name. The Canal and Claiborne company was merged into the New Orleans and Carrollton in 1899. Then in 1902, New Orleans Railways Company took over operation of all city streetcars, and in 1905 the operating company became New Orleans Railway and Light Company Final consolidation of ownership as well as operation finally became reality in 1922 with the formation of New Orleans Public Service Incorporated (commonly abbreviated NOPSI, never NOPS).
Electric streetcars under consolidated operation Labor problems began to occupy the attention of street railway officials as consolidation progressed. At first, each of the street railway companies had its own agreement with its operating personnel. New Orleans Railways tried to maintain those separate agreements, but labor representatives insisted on one agreement for the entire company. They also demanded an increase in pay and recognition of their union, Division 194 of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America. The union struck on September 27, 1902. After about two weeks of strife, a settlement was reached, and in early 1903, the company signed a contract and recognized the union.
In 1902, there were protests when the Louisiana legislature mandated that public transportation must enforce racial segregation. At first this was objected to by both white and black riders as an inconvenience, and by the streetcar companies on grounds of both added expense and the difficulties of determining the racial background of some New Orleanians.
Consolidation of operations under a single company had the advantage of untangling and rationalizing some streetcar lines. As an extreme example, consider the Coliseum line, which had the nickname Snake Line, because it wandered all over uptown New Orleans. Its early name Canal and Coliseum and Upper Magazine gives an idea of the route. Under consolidation, Coliseum was pretty much limited to service on its namesake street, with trackage on upper Magazine Street turned over to the Magazine line, as one might expect. Other efficiencies were instituted, such as reducing the number of streetcar lines operating over long stretches of Canal Street.
There was another strike beginning July 1, 1920. This one was settled around the end of July with a new contract.
In the early 1920s, several extensions and rearrangements of service resulted in the inauguration of the famous Desire line, the Freret line, the Gentilly line, and the St. Claude line.
In 1929, there was a widespread strike by transit workers demanding better pay, which was widely supported by much of the public. Sandwiches on baguettes were given to the "poor boys" on strike, said to be the origin of the local name of "po' boy" sandwiches. There was much rioting and animosity. Several streetcars were burned, and several people were killed. Service was gradually restored, with the strike ending in October.
The same year, the last of the tracks were converted to (Pennsylvania trolley gauge) to match the rest of the streetcar lines.