New Orleans: airport express bus

Hi Kathy,

I took it years ago and had a very bad experience.

The airport was being remodeled and it was very difficult to find where we picked up the bus. No one was very helpful and we went round and round.

There were several travelers and we all had luggage but it is also a city bus for residents. The residents kept complaining about us travelers and our luggage. They talked about us in the third person such as "they don't know that this is a bus for everyone, not just them" and this went on from the airport until the city which is a very long ride.

Then I offended the bus driver. He was very friendly at the airport and I told him where I was going but after a long ride, I said something to him about "you haven't forgotten my stop, have you" in a nice teasing kind of way and this apparently irritated him. At the next stop, he told me that this was my stop and he pointed out the direction in which I needed to go.

It was not my stop and I had. an extremely long walk until I came to my hotel. He had made me get off before I should have.

I paid extra and took a shuttle bus back to the airport when it was time to leave.

This was sometime after Katrina and maybe things are much better but I suggest that you take a shuttle bus from the airport to your hotel if at all possible.

I did receive an evaluation from the Visitors Bureau after my trip and I did write about this experience with the airport bus. I never heard back.

I would like to go back to New Orleans one day but would take shuttle bus to my hotel unless forced to take the city bus.

I took this bus; it is indeed a "locals" bus but, as long as you pay your fare, I wouldn't worry about the other passengers. Yes, New Orleans has a lot of poor people and some of them have chips on their shoulders (and some are pretty jovial), but taking the public bus is the most local of all experiences. Know your stop and don't be afraid to take the bus. By the way, the art museum and sculpture garden is excellent, don't miss it! I took their trolleys around and one was so slow, that I ended up just getting off and walking (but not the one to the art museum).

One thing I was surprised about was how crappy the airport and the airport food was - I barely managed to eat something almost totally inedible....that's a shame in such a food-rich city!

Thanks for your responses, Phil and Agnes. Phil, I scrapped the idea of a shared shuttle as the reviews out there on TA and Yelp are pretty bad, and because this express bus apparently has only 2 stops, one of them apparently in view of our rental, we wouldn't have to ride around/sit around while other visitors are being dropped off at their respective hotels. There's some noise out there regarding pretty ugly surge pricing for Uber/Lyft so scrapped that too.

Anyway, to Agnes point, I figure this is one of those "local experiences", although riders would be limited to folks going to/from the airport. LOL, the Circumvesuviana in Naples/Sorrento didn't frighten us, nor did the "L" in Chicago, nor did most public transit in some other cities we've taken so I think we'd be OK on this thing. :O)

Agnes, the last trip to NOLA was 2 months before Katrina. We did the art museum/sculpture garden that time and enjoyed it very much; looking forward to a return visit! We've also done St. Louis Cemetery #1 (with a walking history tour), Lafayette Cemetery #1 (by myself), St Louis Cathedral, Preservation Hall, The Cabildo, The Presbytère, French Market and some other odds and ends. Will do the WWII Museum and Jazz Museum this time plus various neighborhood walkabouts. May also walk over to Metarie and Holt Cemeteries from the art museum: they look like interesting opportunities for my Canon. Not interested in Swamp, Ghost or Plantation tours. If you (or anyone else) can think of anything to recommend to this art/architecture/history geek, please do?

I've taken lots of buses which are not recommended for tourists because it's assumed - by default - that tourists can't handle mixing with locals (many of whom are totally dependent on buses to get to work and elsewhere) and need private transport like a cab. I don't want to say I felt totally comfortable as a single white person on the bus, but I couldn't care less either and no one gave me a hard time at all. Definitely the airport and that bus ride were not a great intro to the city, but I knew that New Orleans is relatively poor (outside the tourist zones) and mismanaged and it just goes with the territory. Unfortunately, due to the schedule of my flight home, I could not take the bus back to the airport because (if I recall correctly) it wasn't running that early - so I ended up sprinting for an overpriced cab.

I didn't go here, but this may be an interesting museum: https://www.backstreetmuseum.org

I did go listen to live music in a club or two in Marigny and truly enjoyed it: https://snugjazz.com

Kathy,

Perhaps things have changed / improved.

The bus that I took was the only bus offered from the airport to the city. It was not an express bus and there were many stops.

But this was about three years after Katrina and the airport was being remodeled. It was a huge construction project.

I was going to an AARP conference / convention. Most of my time was at the convention center.

I was able to do a. lot of walking around and got to see some of the sights. I went to the aquarium. AARP offered a dinner boat trip on the river. I went to Bourbon Street, the very famous and beautiful Catholic Church (St Louis???) and the famous restaurant where they are known for the coffee and the beignets. Is it called French Market?

As I have said, I would love to go back another time but I only travel once or twice a year usually going to new places.

I stayed at a hotel in the Garden District. I believe that it was on St. Charles Street but on and around the less affluent blocks.

The St Charles Streetcar ran down this street but the line was being reconstructed and the streetcar was not running.

I have heard one of the best ways to see New Orleans is to take the streetcars.

I realize while writing this that it is possible there was a lot of construction going on because of the damage that Katrina did.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Phil! My Other Half was also tied up in a conference part of the time so I did a bit of knocking about on my own. I took a St Charles streetcar out to the Garden District for a nice, self-guided history walk from a brochure obtained from the Tourist Info Center, and explored Lafayette #1. We took the Canal streetcar up to the art museum. Beignets? Yes! Cafe du Monde and Café Beignet; will remember NOT to wear black this time! HA! Audubon Aquarium was a very good idea - we both enjoyed Shedd in Chicago - but it's unfortunately closed until sometime this summer. :O(

I just edited my post above your response to me.

You were there before Katrina and I was there maybe three years after Katrina. As I have said, there was a lot of construction going on which may have been due to the damage that Katrina did.

It seemed that some if not many of the residents resented us visitors even though we were bringing money to them and into their city. We only knew what we read or heard about Katrina but they lived through it and they probably all had PTSD.

I am certain that everything is completely different and hopefully better now.

I stayed on St Charles Street in the Garden District but I stayed on one of the less affluent blocks. St Charles is beautiful but there are about three blocks right in the middle of St Charles that are poorer and rougher. And I did walk up and down St Charles.

And as I said, the St Charles streetcar was under construction. I believe the tracks were being repaired.

I got to hear some excellent music. AARP arranged for a wonderful jazz band to play at the convention center. There was entertainment on the dinner boat, I also heard some music at a park just walking around. Like Austin, there is music everywhere.

I try to take a cruise once a year and am now planning a cruise from Southampton to Lisbon next October.

But I live in Austin and New Orleans is just down the road, more or less. I really need to get back one more time.

The shared shuttle that I took was ok. There were maybe three or four other persons in it. I spent most of my time talking to one woman who told me that she had had an incredible Sunday brunch at her hotel. I can not remember the name unfortunately. It cost $100 and it was years ago. She said that it included everything and I mean everything so if you are interested you might check out Saturday or Sunday brunches at the upscale hotels. I trust there are reviews.

I don't know about the public bus (took taxis on my visits to New Orleans) but did want to respond to the comment that the airport and airport food are bad. Perhaps that commenter last visited before the new terminal opened in Nov. 2019, completely replacing the old, which I agree was not very good? Based on a visit to NO in April 2022, I found the new terminal to be one of the better ones I've used anywhere in the US in all respects, and the food options to be excellent -- in fact I had a shrimp remoulade salad at the Leah's Kitchen branch at the airport which was one of the best meals I had anywhere in the city.

Just a followup here:
We never did take that bus as, between a flight cancellation on one end and the FAA meltdown, complications/last minute rebookings threw a wrench in that plan. Lost 1.5 days of the trip but we enjoyed the 5 days we had left to us! Grin and bear it, eh?

To your point about knowing exactly where the dropoff/pickup stops near us were located, Agnes, I took a look around just out of curiosity and never did locate exactly where those were.

We spent quite a few mid-to-late afternoons at the music clubs in the Marigny (Frenchmen St.) and enjoyed the bands VERY much. It was great to have really good daytime music options available as we're early risers so not really nightlife folks! Agnes, Snug Harbor and Blue Nile were only open at night, and not every night so a no-go there but Spotted Cat, Cafe Negril and Bamboulas all had some good stuff on offer for daylight jazz fans. It was also an easy walk from the French Market area. Highly recommend.

Cemeteries wandered: Metarie, Lafayette #2, and another which is closed to visitors but were allowed in by someone of authority working there for a 15-minute peek. Holt was unfortunately closed the day we were by there (Sunday). Re-visited the art museum but sadly not the sculpture garden 'cause it was pouring (!) rain. Did another swing around the Garden District and a good chunk of a day at the National WWII museum. THAT one is really impressive but a LOT of information to absorb; we were not able to take in everything before our eyes crossed! In hindsight, we should have bought the $7.00 2nd day add-on. Anyway, they do a great job of documenting the war without glorifying it, didn't glaze over some painful subjects, and is all-in-all a worthwhile experience for history buffs: highly recommend.

Thanks again to all who responded!

Thanks for the update and glad that you had five good days of being a visitor.

I want to get back there one of these days and as said, I am close and it might be an easy trip if there are not too many glitches.

Happy New Year and as RS says, Here is to Travel.