BATON ROUGE, La. – The Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced today that LA Swift, the free bus service that transports displaced residents between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, will be extended through June 30, 2007.

The extension of service through the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year will be funded with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds and state emergency relief funds.

Additionally, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has included $7.3 million in her proposed budget for fiscal year 2007-08 to continue service through June 30, 2008. Future funding will also include riders paying a $6 maximum one-way fare.

In addition, LA Swift is making some changes to the bus schedules beginning April 1. Revised schedules will be available March 24 at www.laswift.com. DOTD’s Customer Service Center is also available to provide schedule information. Call 1-877-4LA-DOTD (1-877-452-3683) from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday or 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

LA Swift began on Oct. 31, 2005. Since then, its ridership has grown steadily to average between 800 and 900 riders a day. To date, the service has provided more than 307,000 riders since its inception.

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www.laswift.com