Even the ones who didn't work (and unlike some here I will continue to believe, until proven wrong, that most NO citizens had jobs and were not welfare leaches) would have had money for bus fare.
And if not, the Mayor could have made the buses free for special one-way trips out of town to the west and northwest. Somebody here has mentioned that the city did offer something like this but there were few takers.
I believe median income for NO is something like 24,000. And I dont know where to go to look up the percentage of NO residents who were on assistance (not including the richer Jeff parish)
Do you know anything about NO or have you visited? Why don't you ask Tiger Smack about the city?