Streetcars in New Orleans
You can now enjoy a wonderful ride down the entire length of New Orleans’ celebrated St. Charles Avenue and through the neighborhoods of South Carrollton to Claiborne Avenue. The St. Charles Streetcar travels a 13 mile route, delighting passengers with breathtaking views of uptown New Orleans as it passes Tulane and Loyola Universities, Audubon Park and impressive mansions.
Streetcar service also runs between Canal Street and Carrollton and Claiborne Avenues, seven days a week. Cars operate every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on weekends during daytime hours. (Click here to see evening hours.)
The main boarding point of the St. Charles streetcar is the intersection of Carondelet and Canal Street. Streetcar stops are every two blocks, and the regular fare of $1.25 will be charged at this stop or at any point along the line. Transfers are available during boarding for a quarter. When passengers get to the end of the line at South Carrollton Avenue to South Claiborne Avenue, they must deboard and pay an additional fare of $1.25 to return to St. Charles Avenue for the ride back to the Central Business District. If passengers deboard at any stop along the line, an additional fare of $1.25 will be charged to reboard.
There are actually three streetcar lines in New Orleans. All are accessible from the French Quarter and downtown. The most historic and well-known is the St. Charles Avenue line which runs from Canal Street, through the American Sector, to the old city of Carrollton. The cars on this line are green.
The second is the Riverfront line. It runs along the Mississippi River from Esplanade Avenue, at the far end of the French Quarter, to the Convention Center. The cars on this line are red.
The third is the Canal Street line. It runs from the foot of Canal Street at the Mississippi River, along Canal Street, to Carrollton Avenue. An extension of this line runs to New Orleans City Park for access to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
One-day and three day VisiTour passes are available for five dollars and twelve dollars, respectively. With your VisiTour pass, you may board RTA buses and streetcars as often as you like. No need to worry about exact fare - just show your validated VisiTour Pass to the operator.
Perley A. Thomas cars remain in use on the Riverfront and Canal streetcar lines.
Streetcar Tips
- To signal to the conductor that your stop is approaching and you want to get off, pull the wire that runs over the windows. This will ring a bell in the front of the car. The conductor will stop at the next stop.
- The streetcars run twenty-four hours a day, except during Mardi Gras parades. During peak hours, they come along about every five minutes.
- Keep your head and limbs inside the car at all times, because they pass within inches of telephone poles and trees.
- The seat backs reverse, so you can adjust them to face your companions.
- To stop the streetcar, pull the overhead wire. The conductors are usually happy to call out your stop if you tell them where you want to go.