The typical transit bus is 40 ft. suggesting 40 passengers if only seats are used and 70 if folks are standing too. He counted 146 large transits. The total capacity of the public transit buses (just the transit!) in the New Orleans photos is between 5,840 and 10,220 people. He also calculated they would each have enough fuel for a trip to Houston with fuel to spare. On the school buses, he counted around 246 buses and not assuming maximum capacity of 3 children per seat but rather only 50 adults per bus, he calculated a capacity to move 12,300 adults with only seats utilized. However, these buses may have fuel issues for a long haul. CNG (Natural Gas) requires close to 1 hr for refueling and such buses are comparable to 4 miles per gallon. Refueling might be very difficult if CNG isn't readily available en route. Diesel would be better with slightly better fuel efficiency and far less fuel time as well as being more readily available.
Thus the two major bus fleets at the mayor's disposal could've moved 18,000 to 22,500 people from New Orleans WITHOUT maximizing transport capacity.
The school board had agreed to allow the buses to be used in transporting/evacuating N O er's w/o transportation in June of this year.
Minutes From June 5 2005, Meeting Of Orleans Parish School Board: Using School Buses In Evacs
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Meeting Minutes June 9, 2005
• Hurricane Preparedness Ms. Bartholomew: President Sanders indicated that he wanted this on the agenda because of the Hurricane season. Last year when schools needed to be closed, department heads were unclear because a lot of our school records are still in paper format and not in electronic format. So they didn’t know the proper procedure to follow with maintaining records. In addition, President Sanders also indicated that the City would like us to work with them. If a hurricane should come to the City in order to save the school buses, those assets, the City had asked if we would loan the school buses to be utilized for those persons in New Orleans. A lot of the citizens of New Orleans do not have transportation and have no way of evacuating from the City if a hurricane should come this way. He had been talking with Dr. Kevin Stephens from the Health Department because the Red Cross said that they would not commit to opening any shelters in the City of New Orleans if a hurricane comes this way. It would be all for naught.
They wanted to utilize school buses in order to transport those persons out of the City. I believe that the City had agreed to indemnify and hold harmless the School Board if any of those persons got hurt on the buses because that was one of my concerns. But after
speaking with Ms. Bowers, who had spoken with certain persons at the City as well, they indicated they would release us of any liability. He wanted the Board to be aware of what the City is doing with hurricane preparedness and I guess initiate the proceeding
for the Administration to start taking steps now before we get on the door steps of a hurricane.
How are we going to preserve students records? If you cannot come back to the City, the children will need those records to go into new schools in other States
or other Parishes. She is here now; he can speak to it. Mr. Sanders: I first noticed that this current policy, 3651R, a 16 page policy, looks like it was drafted in July 1989. I don’t know if it has been reviewed since 1989 but it probably could withstand review on that sake along. It has a lot of titles in here Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes June 9, 2005 12 in terms of people in positions and I wonder if those same titles and positions are still operable. The larger issue is not with the records and that is a major issue.
The children are even more important in terms of making sure they are safe. We know many of our children and families don’t have transportation and even though it is a City responsibility to plan for emergencies and hurricane preparedness, we need to look at working even more cooperatively or seeking a more cooperative relationship with the City on behalf of the students that we serve. I did talk with Dr. Kevin Stephens in the Health Department of the City. It is our interest to get buses and other vehicles that we may own out of the City in the event it is being evacuated. So those buses should not be empty.
It was also his suggestion and call that they should be filled with families and children that may need a ride out of City and may perhaps designate certain high schools in different neighborhoods as staging grounds for families to go to should the need arise for an evacuation. The City is working on arrangements with different Civic Centers in Houma and depending on where the hurricane is coming from, where we need to go. They are making arrangements with institutions in those areas such as Baton Rouge, Mississippi, or Hammond to wait out the hurricane. I just wanted to bring that to your attention.
In the last two years we had evacuations and with
this season it is predicted to be another big one. With last year’s storm, Mr. Jerome Smith over in the Treme’ area said there were a lot kids who were just stuck there.
They were going to break into or were willing to get in one of our schools in order to be safe. We completely understand. I informed him that a school would not have been a good place to be if a hurricane did come. Only about four or five of our schools would really withstand a category three or higher hurricane. Using our schools as shelters is really not an option. Getting out of the City is the best option.
We need to find ways to facilitate that for the kids we serve. Even though it is not our primary responsibility, as such, we need to facilitate those relationships. Mrs. Landrieu: I just wanted to remind you that if we are going to include buses, which are not part of this plan, then we need to include the personnel and communication with personnel. Ms. Bowers: We have been meeting with City entities about the hurricane preparedness and we have talked to them about our buses. We still have not defined how many they
want. They have agreed to indemnify the School Board for using the buses. They said if our bus drivers volunteer then they will make arrangements to take the families of the bus drivers and offer them secure places. They are talking about having City Officers on buses also. There is a good bit of planning that is underway.
Benita Cochran and the head of transportation and the head of Security have been participating in these meetings, too. We are trying to stay on top it. This does need review. Ms. Cochran is reviewing the Facilities plan.