By Tony Jones
MEMPHIS, TN — Can a city like Memphis survive without strong public transportation? It’s terrible to contemplate, but it’s not a far-fetched notion as the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) embarked on a city wide town hall tour to inform riders of proposed route changes for city buses.
Broadcast live and available on MATA’s Facebook page, the tour began Monday, October 16 at Officer Geoffrey Redd Library. Required by law to have at least one public meeting when major changes are announced, MATA’s Community Engagement Manager, Chandra Smith said that 12 sessions were planned to ensure the public was well informed. Cleared of minority impact and civil rights violations as required by federal Title VI law, the final adjustments will have to be approved by MATA’s board before taking effect Sunday, December 3. That board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24.
The big question was immediately addressed. “Why are we making a service change when we just made them in August? This change is specifically designed to give our buses a fighting chance to maintain schedules as our system is critically impacted by our shortage of mechanics, which causes us to be short of working vehicles to provide the service that is needed by our community,” she said.
Keeping MATA alive and thriving continues to be an uphill battle, one that could be seen as another component of historic infrastructure disinvestment that plagues Memphis’s grassroots communities and the working poor. Regular riders, of which this writer can be included, regularly comment that service seems to be getting worse daily, and woe be unto you if you’re trying to get home at night and you miss one.
Regular rider Pamela Jameson encapsulates the hurdles bus riders now face. She rode the 12 Mallory on her home leg to Lauderdale and Mallory, which is also serviced by the 13 Lauderdale, when it comes. It’s the same bus I ride from the office twice a week, but it didn’t show on the scheduled times today so we ended up on the same bus.
She said, “I started riding again last year after wrecking my car after work. I usually ride the 13, but if the 12 didn’t show up, my son would have picked me up. He lives in Wolfchase but takes me wherever I need to go.”
This past June, the Memphis City Council rejected a 29 cent property tax increase, of which the majority portion, $11 million would be allocated to MATA. They had requested $15 million to stay properly afloat. They were allocated $3 million.
“Without (increased funding), I’m afraid there would be service cuts making it harder for people to get to work,” said Councilman Martavious Jones. He advocated for full funding, but was voted down. “If you look at the tenor of some of the budget discussions, I think some of my colleagues have shared the sentiment that I have that the budget was not presented in a fashion for us to address the immediate needs in our city.”
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