Not a single New Orleans party bus in legal status, Cantrell administration says

On any given Saturday night, the party buses and trailers roll through New Orleans. Often outfitted with disco lights and blaring bounce music, and filled with screaming revelers, the vehicles are a rollicking, raucous jamboree.

But most of those buses could get kicked to the curb if Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration has anything to do with it, officials said, unless those buses get into compliance with city party bus regulations. Zach Smith, the city’s director of Safety and Permits, said that out of dozens of party buses operating in the city not a single one has the required Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience, or CPNC, to do so.

“We’ve contacted a lot of people to ask them to come in and get checked out ... The phone clicks down or ‘we’ll get back to you,’” and then no one ever does, Smith said. “As of this phone call there’s not a charter party vehicle” operating with a CPNC.

Smith said there are some party buses that could obtain the certificates with proof of proper insurance, registration and “minimal modifications.” According to rules the city issued in 2017, party buses are considered “Charter Party Carriers" and must have working fire extinguishers and display the CPNC number on the back of the vehicle.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/politics/2019/04/not-a-single-new-orleans-party-bus-in-legal-status-cantrell-administration-says.html