Tag: MATA

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (October 23, 2014) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “Trolley Trials”…

Without the trolleys, it’s like the heart has been ripped out of downtown Memphis. They truly were the heart, soul, and glue that held everything together. The sooner they’re back, the better off everyone will be. It’s sad to read that many businesses are suffering. What makes this really disappointing is this entire episode could’ve been avoided had competent management been in place. I do feel Ron Garrison has a good handle on the situation, and I feel confident in his leadership.

Midtown Mark

About Les Smith’s “At Large” column on MLGW …

Les is spot on. This closely parallels the city administration’s way of handling the “shortfall” in funding the pension. Let’s put it on the backs of the retirees by taking away the health coverage to make up the deficit. Cargill (a PILOT benefactor) cost the city millions in tax revenue, and now MLGW wants to put it on the backs of the customers. Another PILOT recipient that got a free ride and pulled out with no penalty or accountability. And the mayor and council are having a hard time understanding our shrinking tax base? Wake up, Memphis!

Bobcat

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “Beer Me”…

One of the measures on the upcoming ballot will allow voters to determine the availability of wine in grocery stores in municipalities throughout the county. It’s important to clarify a few points about this ballot measure.

The phrase “grocery stores” is extremely misleading. In fact, if this measure passes, wine up to 18 percent alcohol in volume (and products manufactured from wine) will become available at convenience stores, corner markets, and gas stations. In order to qualify to sell wine, an establishment needs only to have a minimum of 1,200 square feet and sell at least 20 percent food products.

Numerous studies indicate a direct link between the number of alcohol outlets and the incidence of violent crime, including domestic violence. Approving this legislation will expand availability of wine from approximately 140 retail stores to more than 600 convenience and grocery stores throughout our community.

There has been little detail from the Alcoholic Beverage Commission as to how they plan on regulating the sale of wine in so many additional stores. Expanding availability of alcohol will dramatically stress the commission’s already taxed resources, increasing the likelihood of underage sales.

Passage of this measure will eliminate local jobs, close retail stores, and move revenue to the hands of large, out-of-state businesses. Our Memphis-area retail store proprietors and store team members are deeply involved in our communities. Vote No to the wine-in-grocery-stores bill.

Josh Hammond

Memphis Area Retailers Association

About the upcoming vote on Amendment 1…

Our state constitution was purposefully designed to be very difficult to change, and with good reason. It takes a two-thirds majority of both houses of legislature to even get an initiative on the ballot, and that is after it has been voted on in two consecutive legislative sessions. Since its adoption in 1870, our constitution has only been amended nine times, yet the Republican-led legislature has placed four amendments on this year’s ballot. Why? Has our constitution been wrong for these 140-plus years? Or is it simply a power grab by those in the majority?

Amendment 1 restricts and removes rights from the constitution — something that has never been done before in the history of the state or federal constitutions. Proponents call it “returning Tennessee to a position of neutrality.” That is just a fancy way of saying they will no longer protect a woman’s right to privacy. Constitutions are meant to enumerate and preserve rights of individuals, not to give them over to whatever political party happens to be in power. They are to protect the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority. People’s rights should never be put on the ballot for a vote. We must be very careful not to advocate taking rights away, because one day the rights they take away may be yours. Vote No on Amendment 1.

Meryl Rice

Categories
Cover Feature News

Trolley Trials

Something’s missing on Main Street.

Music and the smell of food waft over the Main Street mall’s lunchtime crowd. Office workers mill up and down the brick sidewalks, like always. A sign reads: “Pedestrians Yield To Trolley,” but for the past few months, the only traffic along the mall has been horse-drawn tourist carriages or the golf cart delivering Aldo’s Pizza Pies. 

Gone is the familiar rumble of Memphis’ vintage trolley cars — the lumbering vehicles that warned pedestrians to get out of the way with a friendly (or unfriendly) toot or ding. The void is unmistakeable, like a missing tooth. 

“Fire at any given moment … “

Two fires — both on the Madison Line — caused a lengthy shutdown of the Memphis trolleys. Trolley 452 caught fire last November 4th on the I-240 overpass just west of Bellevue. Trolley 553 caught fire on April 7th on the Danny Thomas overpass bridge. They were hauled back to the Main Street trolley barn, and the cause of the fires was investigated. Both were burned beyond repair. 

Trolley service on the Madison Line was suspended after the April fire. The entire trolley system was shut down on June 11th. That decision came after a a review of the system by industry experts who said unless several corrective actions were taken, “fires will happen again.” Furthermore, it was conveyed to Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) management that there could be trolleys currently operating on the lines that “could catch fire at any given moment.” 

Green hybrid buses have since replaced the trolleys. They run the same routes, except for the Main Street Mall and parts of the Riverfront Loop. Bus ridership is rising, officials say, but lots of Memphians want the trolleys back. 

“Disturbing” and “Below Average”

According to an independent report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a Washington, D.C.-based industry group, there are two answers to the question: Why did the trolleys catch fire? 

One is physical, sparks turned to flames when a power surge hit a faulty electrical system. The other is systemic, years of shoddy maintenance procedures and safety processes had become engrained at MATA. 

MATA officials asked the group for an outsider’s look at the trolley trouble in Memphis. The response it got was quite technical and also quite harsh.

The trolley system was governed by “deferred, incomplete, or incorrect practices.” This brought an “environment of higher risk … resulting in an escalation in the number of incidents and accidents.” The system, according the APTA report, made for unreliable trolleys and, therefore, unreliable trolley schedules. MATA’s practices, the report says, were below the average of “today’s street railway industry.”

There was no person at MATA accredited to train trolley operators or maintainers, the report says. There was no safety manager. Several maintenance tasks could only be done by one person. Scant training records existed to show who had received training on what equipment. 

“There appears to be a lack of oversight by management staff to ensure written procedures are being followed,” the APTA report says. 

Oil covered several areas of “the pit,” where the trolleys were repaired, making it slick and dangerous. Worn-out trolley parts were scattered around the trolley maintenance facility on Main Street.  

“There are little or no records on repairs done to the cars,” the report said. 

The records that did exist showed 43 defects on Trolley 553 in the three months before it caught fire in April. Twenty-nine defects were recorded on trolley Number 452 in the three months before it caught fire in November.

There were no manuals on how to maintain the cars’ electrical apparatuses or the air systems. The maintenance staff said they didn’t know how or where to get them.

“Overall, the panel found this to be disturbing,” the report says.

MATA staff interviewed by the panel said they experienced several flashovers, or electrical spark-ups, each year on the trolleys, including one “big” flashover each year. “It would appear that no additional training was provided to the maintenance staff after the fires.”

“This means something to me.”

Ron Garrison, who has led transit systems in

St. Louis; Tallahassee, Florida; and the Washington, D.C. area, was hired as the director of MATA in July. 

His love of trolleys began early, he says, as he rode them growing up in St. Louis. Garrison says the trolleys are important to the vitality of Memphis business as a mobility tool and to tourism as a part of the city’s charm. Garrison says he’s working hard to get the trolleys back on track.

At 9 a.m., it’s almost lunchtime for Garrison. Getting to work early has been part of his routine here. He says he’s usually at work by 3:30 a.m. and jokes that he’s accidentally scared some of the bus mechanics on those early mornings. MATA’s first bus leaves at around 

4:45 a.m., and Garrison wants to be on it, because that’s where the customers are.

“You go talk to them,” Garrison says. “You get on the bus and you ride with them.” 

Garrison told members of the Downtown Memphis Commission the same thing last month, when asked how he would get feedback from the MATA-riding public. 

He then got some laughs when he told the board that he’d have to leave the meeting early because the Memphis Bus Riders Union was picketing a MATA station. The laughs were quickly doused when he told them that enlisting the union’s help as a focus group was another way he’d develop MATA’s future.

Garrison is buttoned-up but casual, comfortable in a suit and tie but easy with a joke. He’s not afraid to admit to city leaders or a scrum of reporters when he does not know the answer to a question. 

He styles himself a “pretty easy-going guy” but also notes that “sometimes you gotta get tough, like in the Navy.” Garrison received the Naval Achievement Medal for his 10 years of service that ended with him as the head of the HFDF Division of U.S. Naval Intelligence. 

After a few years running his own St. Louis insurance company, Garrison started a career in mass transit in 1990 with the St. Louis Metro. Three transit systems and 24 years later, he finds himself in Memphis.

Garrison completely redesigned bus routes in Tallahassee, decentralizing the old hub-and-spoke system there, which made for shorter wait times, more bus routes, and easier transit around the city.

Tallahassee’s StarMetro system won the American Planning Association’s 2013 award for excellence in public transportation. Upon his resignation from the system in 2013, the editorial board of the daily Tallahassee Democrat said of Garrison’s tenure: “… the system works. The city can offer thanks to Mr. Garrison and claim its award with pride.”

Garrison says his appreciation for mass transit began at young age. His grandmother couldn’t walk and got around using one of the first electric wheelchairs. At that time, Garrison recounts, there was no para-transit. To go someplace, you had to call an ambulance.

“I say that to you, because this means something to me,” he says. “I’m not doing this for fun. I’m doing this because I want to do the right thing. I came here because I can feel that this city is changing and doing the right thing.”

Streetcar Desires

Vintage trolley cars clattering along old rail lines through the oldest parts of Memphis may seem like some kind of nostalgia-fueled pet project. But, ironically, the city’s trolley system puts Memphis years ahead of many other major cities in the U.S. 

Streetcar projects are currently underway in Atlanta; Seattle; Milwaukee; Detroit; Cincinnati; Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; Kansas City, Missouri; Tempe, Arizona; Arlington, Virginia; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

As city cores come back to life across the U.S., downtown residents want to be able to walk, bike, and ride public transportation, and they want to live around others who want the same things. They want an authentic and progressive urban lifestyle.

“Streetcars do more than simply improve mobility,” says the website for the Milwaukee Streetcar Project. “By promoting development, raising property values, attracting businesses, and helping to define our contemporary city, streetcars benefit everyone. Streetcars add vitality to an urban setting, increasing commerce and activity around every one of the fixed stations and stops.”

Charlotte’s project is charged with helping to create “a transit-focused and pedestrian-oriented center city.” Tempe says its streetcar project will “increase mobility, strengthen existing neighborhoods and create sustainable development.” Atlanta wants a system that “links communities, improves mobility by enhancing transit access and options, supports projected growth, promotes economic development and encourages strategies to develop livable communities.”

So far, Portland’s streetcar project has led to 140 real estate projects worth $3.5 billion. According to city statistics, property values there rose by 50 percent. After streetcars began running in Seattle, the city saw 3.3 million square feet of new development.   

A major difference between many of these projects and the Memphis trolley system are the cars themselves. Most of the Memphis trolleys were built around the 1920s. They are mobile pieces of antique furniture — worn wooden artwork on heavy steel wheels. In contrast, the Atlanta cars are fast (up to 50 miles per hour) and sleek. Similar cars are being used in Los Angeles, Tempe, and Seattle.

The Unpromised Future

So when will Memphis’ trolleys come back? Garrison isn’t making any promises about it, but three teams of rail and safety experts converged in Memphis last week for another assessment of the trolley system. Once they’re finished, a new system plan for the city will be revealed, possibly as early as November. Presumably, a timeline for renewed trolley service will be part of the plan.

In the meantime, Garrison and MATA officials are working to reimagine and build the future of the trolley system. He envisions a more efficient system. He knows that the trolleys rarely ran on time, which was the top complaint from locals.

MATA is also implementing an “intelligent” transportation system that will give real-time information on buses and trolleys. By December, MATA is expected to launch a website and a mobile app that will show customers exactly where its vehicles are and when they’ll arrive. 

As for the trolleys, another major factor in on-time performance is to keep them from breaking down so often. 

“We want our miles, or our hours, between breakdowns to be, and I’m not exaggerating here, at least 20 times better than what it is now,” Garrison says. “I know if we don’t do that, that’ll be the first thing on people’s minds.”

Garrison says maintenance and safety processes will also be tightened up, adding that a job posting for a dedicated trolley safety manager is forthcoming. 

When the trolleys first come back, it won’t be with the city’s whole fleet of 17. Seven cars — the bigger ones made in Australia — will be the first to roll down Main. “You can get more folks on them,” Garrison says. The rest of the cars and routes will be added later, he says.

The price tag for the trolley fix has been cited at between $6 million and $36 million, a huge gap. The estimates were done before Garrison was hired. He says the higher figure probably includes some new equipment and facility upgrades. 

The figure definitely includes new trolley cars, and they’re not cheap. Vintage trolley cars can cost as much as $1.3 million each and MATA would have to buy 17 of them to replace what it has now.  

Does MATA need new trolleys? Garrison says it’s a possibility and “one of the first things I looked into.” But he says buying new trolleys would require a “community conversation” that could include considering a switch to the kinds of modern streetcars running in other parts of the country. But Garrison is quick to show that he understands why the old trolleys are important.

“The historic trolleys are more open-air; they’re nostalgic,” he says. “They have a certain sound that is romantic and takes people back to another time. I know many people come just to see the trolleys.”

With any luck, they’ll be able to see them again in the near future.

Trolley Stopped

South Main business owners not happy about lack of trolleys.

With the trolleys having been gone a full six months, many South Main business owners says they are seeing their sales decline, mainly due to a lack of tourists. 

“For the past four years that I’ve owned a business on South Main, tourists from all over the world would ride the River Loop Trolley, not even knowing that our district was down here,” says Anna Avant, owner of Hoot + Louise. 

“They would see the district and stop and shop and eat and look around, because the trolleys introduced them to our neighborhood. You just see less traffic down here now, and I can tell you that not one person has gotten off one of those green buses and come into my store.”

Lisa Brumleve, manager of business recruitment and retention at the Downtown Memphis Commission says the lack of trolleys has caused a drop in sales for some South Main businesses. “A few of the retailers in South Main have received grants from the Downtown Memphis Commission, so, they have to send me — twice a year — financial statements, and we’re looking at about 20 percent down [from one year to the next],” Brumleve says.

Not only are business owners upset about the lack of tourists in the area, store owners like Avant worry that the longer the trolleys are away, the less of an issue it will be to the entire city.

MATA has held various meetings to inform the public on the status of the streetcars. Even after the American Public Transportation Association report was released stating that MATA had failed to properly maintain the trolleys, business owners were hopeful that one or two trolleys could still serve the South Main District.

“There was a town meeting that MATA held when they first shut down the trolleys, and most business owners said they felt good leaving the meeting that one or two trolleys might soon be back,” Avant says. “I didn’t know that the trolleys weren’t coming back this year until I read an article last week. I have not personally heard from anyone at MATA, and I don’t expect them to keep in contact with me because I expect them to be working on the trolleys. But it seems like the more time goes by, the more likely it is that people will forget about the trolleys. But I can tell you that no one down here [on South Main] is forgetting.” 

While there are many businesses on South Main that don’t rely on tourists, the exposure the trolleys created helped business. Sarah Worden, owner of the jewelry store Charlotte Ehinger-Schwarz, says the area is more dependent on the trolleys than people might realize.

“My business has been here for 11 years, and my customers have been keeping my business alive during that time, but no one wants to just survive,” Worden says. “Having those tourists come in creates more exposure, and it’s that little extra business that helps you get ahead. As a business owner you can’t ever rely on one segment like tourism, but it sure helps when it’s there. I don’t know that if I have a down year I could blame it exclusively on the trolleys, but I know that because they are gone that this will probably not be a growth year for my business.”

South Main Association President Brian Douglas says he’s confident that the neighborhood will continue to grow, citing three businesses that have opened since the trolleys stopped running in April. But Douglas admits that the trolleys were a good way to show off South Main.

“The trolley is iconic in the way that it draws people to this area — something that we just aren’t seeing with those green buses,” Douglas says. “Before the city started construction on the Chisca Hotel, people would get to that area and not want to go any farther. If they hopped on the trolley, they didn’t really have a choice, and once they got to South Main they realized that this area had a lot going on. 

“Obviously we all want the trolleys back yesterday, and I think MATA does, as well, because that’s more revenue that they could be generating,” Douglas says. “Now that we know what went wrong, all we can do is hope to get it right this time. No one wants them to rush the trolleys back into service only to have another fire or something that causes the trolleys to stop altogether because people are afraid to get on them.”

Still, South Main business owners feel an integral part of their neighborhood is missing. 

“Would I want to leave this area if the trolleys don’t come back? Of course not. I love South Main and downtown, but if they don’t come back, it’s very possible that I would leave this area,” Avant says.

“We are getting into what is normally our busiest time of the year, and it’s just disappointing. We have staples down here that make the neighborhood what it is. There is the Arcade, the Civil Rights Museum, and Ernestine and Hazels — and the trolleys were what tied all of those things together.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Central Station Celebrates 100 Years

CREDIT: Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum

Downtown’s Central Station may not be the passenger hub it was in the heyday of train travel, but it’s still chugging along.

This weekend, October 3rd through 5th, the Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum, located inside Central Station, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the station’s 1914 grand opening with live music, a train memorabilia sale, special exhibits, and more.

“We want the younger generation to have an experience that shows them what it might have been like to be alive in Memphis in the 1900s,” said Joe Oliver, founding director of the museum. “Rail transport and travel is a big part of the Memphis story, part of our history, and our heritage is in danger of being lost because it isn’t as easy to see as it once was.”

On Thursday, October 2nd, the celebration will kick off with a show by country band the Grahams at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday, October 3rd, two train exhibit cars will pull into the station — one displaying the history of Amtrak and another displaying that of Norfolk Southern. Both will be open for tours from noon to

5 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum

Central Station in 1914

“The Norfolk Southern car will have a locomotive simulator. You’re the engineer. You’ll see the countryside pass and the tracks as you’re rolling down. You’ll have to blow the horn when you approach streets,” said Bill Strong, director of the Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum.

On Saturday, October 4th, the official anniversary of the station, the Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum will be open for free. Guest lecturer Milton Winter will talk about the history of Central Station. A train show and sale will be set up in the building’s boardroom, peddling all sorts of rail artifacts and collectibles.

Double J Bar-B-Q will be served in the Amtrak parking lot from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can also board a bus headed to the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) trolley barn on North Main for a tour.

Central Station was constructed for around $1.5 million at the corner of Main and Calhoun (now G.E. Patterson) to replace another train station at that same location. In the station’s heyday, numerous rail lines operated passenger trains there.

By the 1960s, many rail lines began discontinuing passenger trains. On

May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over all inter-city passenger train service. Illinois Central, which was headquartered here, moved their offices out of the station by 1989.

“After Illinois Central moved out, the station became a hull. It was at one time referred to as the worst Amtrak station in America,” Strong said. “People were scared of the neighborhood, and there were drunks passed out in the street.”

In the 1990s, the station was remodeled, and the once-sleazy South Main area was transformed into a thriving arts district.

“In 1991, the Illinois Central railroad sold the station and all the property to the city of Memphis for $10. And the city said, ‘MATA, you’re going to run this building,” Strong said.

Today, Central Station still serves as the Amtrak hub, and it’s home to the Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum. The former Illinois Central office space on the upper floors is now apartments, and parts of the bottom floor is rented out for special events.

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Security Guard Indicted in Passenger Death

Adicus Mitchell

  • Adicus Mitchell

A Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) security guard has been indicted on criminal charges following the death of a passenger who was pushed from a bus.

Adicus Mitchell, a guard for Protech, has been charged with aggravated assault resulting in death for pushing James “Semaj” Gray, 68, off of a bus on May 6th. Gray, a homeless man who suffered from mental illness, had been arguing with Mitchell over bus fare. Witnesses have said Gray landed face down, and blood began streaming from his head. Gray was transported to the Med with a severe head injury.

Gray was hospitalized in a coma and suffered seizures and strokes because of his injury. He was moved to a nursing home in July, but he never recovered from his injury. He died as a result of the injury on August 3rd. Gray preferred to be called “Semaj” rather than his given name “James.” “Semaj” is “James” spelled backward.

Mitchell’s offense carries a punishment of 3 to 15 years in prison. The Memphis Bus Riders Union is calling on MATA to step up sensitivity training for security guards. Since the incident, MATA has dropped its contract with Protech and is now using Ambassador Worldwide Protection Agency for security.

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Chooses New General Manager

Ron Garrison

  • Ron Garrison

Ron Garrison, the head of customer service for a South Carolina-based manufacturer of electric buses, was tapped to become the new general manager of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) at Tuesday night’s MATA board meeting.

Garrison, who currently works for Proterra, will succeed retired MATA general manager Will Hudson, who worked in various roles at the transit authority for 49 years. In the interim, Tom Fox has been serving in MATA’s lead role. MATA’s board started with a list of 13 candidates and narrowed it down to five. Fox was included in the top five, but Garrison ultimately won the vote.

Before working at Proterra, Garrison led the transit system in Tallahassee, Florida. Garrison will be under a three to five year contract.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Car-Free in Memphis!

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

In a city like Memphis, with its busy interstates, urban sprawl, and somewhat sketchy public transit, going without a car for 30 days might sound a little crazy.

But that’s exactly what Kyle Wagenschutz, the bike/pedestrian coordinator for the City of Memphis, proposed with the city’s first “30-Day Car-Free Challenge.” During April, participants were to be as car-free as possible — using public transportation, rideshares, bicycles — anything besides driving their own cars alone. Occasional carpooling was allowed.

Justin Fox Burks

Kyle Wagenschutz

Eighteen participants, including the Flyer‘s Bianca Phillips and Alexandra Pusateri, were chosen as the challenge’s “model citizens.” They were asked to write about their experiences on the city’s Car-Free Challenge blog. The challenge was open to anyone, and a number of people signed up and tweeted about their experiences using the hashtag #carfreememphis.

“There’s this idea that it’s impossible to get around by a bicycle in the city or that you can’t use a bus because you’ll never get there,” Wagenschutz says. “We’ve heard a lot of negative stereotypes about how getting around Memphis without a car is not going to happen, that it’s not physically feasible.”

Through the challenge, Wagenschutz hoped to put those stereotypes to rest.

By 2016, the city plans to extend bike lanes by another 130 miles, Wagenschutz says. Since he began his job in 2010, the city has created 71 miles of lanes.

The city now stripes bike lanes as streets are repaved or resurfaced, but that method can create some bike lanes that end abruptly and leave others seemingly unfinished.

“From a network perspective, it can be challenging where you get small segments of new bike lanes or trails that don’t seem to be connected right now,” Wagenschutz says. “Even if you’re building the network a piece at a time, over time, the network will begin to come together.”

The Challenge didn’t come without, well, challenges for participating cyclists. Some reported debris in bike lanes. Another issue was the fact that many Memphis drivers seem unaware of how to share the road with cyclists.

Some Challenge participants who walked for their commutes complained about the state of some sidewalks around the city. But that’ not the city’s fault. Sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of individual property owners. South Main, as an example, has been redeveloping for years without some sidewalks filled in or improved. Wagenschutz says the city is working with property owners all over Memphis to fix sidewalks.

“It’s not just a South Main problem. It’s a problem all over the city,” he says. “The complication is how the city addresses an issue that is closely linked to property ownership in a way that is fair and equitable.” As for debris, Wagenschutz says cyclists can call the city’s 311 Public Works hotline to report blocked bike lanes or debris.

While the month-long project wasn’t called a challenge for nothing, Wagenschutz believes the benefits of going car-free extend beyond helping the environment, being healthier, and saving money. It also can help change your outlook.

Justin Fox Burks

MATA’s Interim GM Tom Fox

“In a real way, getting out of your car has a great mental benefit of being in the city, experiencing the city at a different pace,” he says. “It really just provides a great sense of civic pride. One of the most independent things you can do is freeing yourself from driving around in your car every day.”

Tom Fox, interim general manager of MATA, agrees. Fox committed to completing 15 days of the Car-Free Challenge, traveling by bike, trolley, and of course, bus.

“I generally hear from people who have bad experiences on the bus, but I took 16 bus rides in the month, and for the most part, my buses were on time,” Fox says. “If they were late, they weren’t really late to the point where I got messed up on a connection.”

But Fox does recognize that MATA lacks service in certain areas of town, which can cause long-lasting trips and long wait times. He says MATA’s $55 million operating budget, which is subject to cuts from city, state, and federal governments, is too tight to expand service into areas with less residential and employment density.

“We have to concentrate our service on the areas where we get the most bang for our buck. We’re always cognizant of serving lower-income areas, where people don’t have alternatives,” Fox says. “With more money, we could serve the transit-dependent population and have a little bit more to track people who do have a choice in those outlying areas. Park ‘n’ Rides, express services — those are the things we could add if we had more money.”

MATA lacks a dedicated funding stream, meaning there is no money coming from a source dedicated to public transportation, such as a sales tax that would earmark money for MATA. A penny gas tax on the local ballot in 2012 would have provided such a dedicated stream for MATA, but it was voted down.

Cities with higher levels of bus service tend to have dedicated funding streams and more advanced trip-planning technology, such as smart phone apps designed to plan bus routes. MATA has the mobile MATA Traveler website, and Fox says a more user-friendly smart phone app is in the works.

One Flyer staffer who participated in the Challenge had a mostly positive MATA experience with one exception — the dirty bathrooms at MATA’s North End Terminal. Fox says he has “experienced the same thing … I’ve been unhappy with those bathrooms.” But change is coming, he says.

“We have some procurements in process to get some of the fixtures replaced in there, and we have manpower assigned to clean those bathrooms throughout the day,” Fox says.

Fox adds that he’s hopeful that the increased exposure from the Car-Free Challenge will convince more people to leave their cars at home and take a bus.

“The more that we can let people know that [public transit] is not just for low-income people and service is relatively convenient, the better,” he says. “And it’s certainly better for the environment.”

Of Blisters and Bicycles:Bianca’s Story

There I was, speed walking down the Main Street Mall in brand-new ballet flats, blisters already forming on my heels as I hustled to make it into the office for the 9:30 a.m. editorial meeting. It was day one of my 30-Day Car-Free Challenge, and I’d already screwed up.

My plan to take trolleys from Midtown to my downtown office started off okay as I boarded the Madison trolley at 8:45 a.m. But I’d failed to check the schedule for the Riverfront Loop, my planned transfer trolley. It doesn’t start running until 9:30 a.m. — when I was supposed to already have my butt in a chair at our meeting. So I hoofed it from Madison to the Flyer offices on Tennessee Street, despite my lack of proper footwear.

“Whew, this is gonna be a rough month,” I thought to myself.

That was one of a few hiccups throughout April, as I attempted to trade my car for buses, trolleys, and my bicycle for 30 days.

I say “attempted” because there were some days when I simply could not be car-free. My line of work often requires me to attend press conferences, public meetings, and interviews all over town, and when one needs to go from downtown to Germantown to Whitehaven in one day, only a car will do.

But my car-free days didn’t turn out to be as bad as I thought they’d be. My main transit of choice was my trusty mint-green Electra Ladies’ Cruiser. On nice days, I’d wake up an hour earlier than usual, strap on my helmet, and take the North Parkway bike lanes in Crosstown down to the Main Street Mall, then head south toward my office.

The morning rides were quiet and, for the most part, uneventful, except for one day when I took a detour on Manassas. I was biking on the far right side of the wide street when a man in a City of Memphis truck honked his horn and motioned for me to get on the sidewalk.

I didn’t budge, since state law gives bicyclists the right to be on the road. Mr. City Employee is supposed to know he has to share the road and give me three feet between his car and my bike.

But that moment was made up for later that day, when I rode home down the Main Street Mall in the beautiful 75-degree afternoon. People were lounging on patios, sipping cocktails. A tourist couple stopped me to ask directions to Beale Street. People nodded and waved, and my quick ride through the water fountains in front of City Hall made me feel like a kid again. You experience the world through different eyes while riding a bike.

I also rode my first city bus last month. My commute by bus takes about an hour, and I can drive to work in 15 minutes. But time aside, my bus experiences were overwhelmingly pleasant. My buses were always on time (or early), and the bus drivers were extremely patient with my newbie questions. Busing may not be a viable option for me to commute on a regular basis, but I can see myself using buses to travel to art walks, festivals, and bars when I know I’ll be having a few drinks and would rather not have to drive.

My only negative MATA experience? The filthy bathrooms in the North End Terminal. On the first day I rode a bus to work, I needed to make a pit stop while I waited for my transfer bus. But much to my horror, every stall in the ladies’ bathroom was, um, well let’s just say, worse than a porta-potty. Meanwhile, a guy was mopping the floor in the terminal’s lobby. Perhaps those bathrooms should have been a janitorial priority.

But potty talk aside, the Car-Free Challenge was an enlightening and empowering experience. I learned to use the city buses, and I burned thousands of calories on bike rides and walks, even if they were done in uncomfortable shoes.

— Bianca Phillips

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Transportation By Any Other Name: Alexandra’s Story

Justin Fox Burks

Alexandra Pusateri rides a trolley

Using public transportation worried me. The idea of independence that comes with driving a car is ingrained within some of us, and I was definitely one of those people.

I grew up in Raleigh and East Memphis, where you can pull into in a parking lot right in front of a building, take care of your business, and leave.

But since moving downtown, where parking is a commodity, I decided I should start to make the best use of public transportation. And hey, maybe I could save some gas money, right?

The city’s 30-Day Car-Free Challenge was right up my alley. I utilized all methods of transport available to me — trolley, bus, bike, and naturally, my two feet. When the challenge began, my favorite mode quickly became the trolley. I particularly enjoyed riding the Madison line. Unfortunately, an early April trolley fire on the Madison line put an end to that, but the bus line that temporarily replaced the trolley might have been the next best thing.

While riding the bus and trolley, I was able to read, catch up on homework, andappreciate my surroundings more than I would have in a car. When I arrived at my destination, I was usually more relaxed and in better spirits.

Commuting by bicycle was another adventure. I learned very quickly which roads were suitable for a newbie’s travels, and I got an instant lesson in topography. The hilly Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue is not to be messed with for an unprepared cyclist. What would have been a 10-minute drive from home to work turned into an hour-long commute by bike due to my lack of conditioning.

As I got around town on a bicycle, the bike lanes made me feel safer. I didn’t feel like I had to move into the center of a shared lane to prevent a driver from overtaking me. I found most drivers stayed out of the bike lanes, but there was still a stubborn person or two who seemed to think the bike lanes didn’t exist, particularly on Madison Avenue.

By mapping routes ahead of time via Google Maps, I was able to figure out quickly and easily where I needed to go on the MATA routes. Gone are the days of memorizing bus maps — although that wouldn’t hurt.

MATA offers a texting service through which you’re supposed to be able to text a number from a bus stop to a MATA email address and receive arrival times for the next three buses at that stop. But the return texts from MATA took far too long to be helpful.

I needed to catch a bus to a class at the University of Memphis, but MATA didn’t text me back to tell me a bus was due in 30 minutes until an hour later, well after I’d already caught the bus to class.

During the last bit of the challenge, I came down with a cold and was no longer able to commute by bike. Also, as though to taunt me, the weather changed for a few days to a nippy cold in the mornings and evenings, leaving me not wanting to stand outside and wait for a bus.

Thankfully, Lyft, a mobile ride-sharing service, launched in the Memphis market in the nick of time. Lyft bills itself as “your friend with a car,” which is just what I needed.

As soon as Lyft launched in late April, I began using it up to three times a day. Lyft is cheaper than a taxi ride, and the drivers arrived at my apartment within 10 minutes. Every driver I encountered was friendly and helpful and, since all the transactions are done with the mobile app, there’s no exchange of cash.

Despite a few hiccups, the Car-Free Challenge went swimmingly. I learned a lot about my city, and I only hope Memphis continues on its path of innovation and improvement to make it even easier to travel by bus, trolley, or bike.

— Alexandra Pusateri

Dawn Vinson
Downtown Memphis Commission’s Director of Marketing & Events

Justin Fox Burks

Dawn Vinson

Dawn Vinson made it for 30 days without a single car cheat, which she credits to her being “stubborn like that.” But she admits it was no easy feat.

She lives in Hickory Hill, an area with limited bus service, so the nearest bus stop to her home is a three-mile walk or bike ride away.

“Buses don’t run out there. The bus I take, the 36, is always packed, and a few stops after I get on, it becomes standing-room only. Obviously, people need it. I wish it ran more often or we had another choice,” Vinson says.

Vinson would strap her bike on the bus’ bike rack and take it downtown. From her stop, she biked the remaining few blocks to her office at Adams and Main. Her evening commute, however, usually involved a two-hour, 20-mile bike ride home, since the earliest evening bus to Hickory Hill doesn’t run until 7:15 p.m.

“There’s a one-mile stretch on Mount Moriah that is so awful that I walked [on the sidewalk] for about one-third of it. There are seven lanes of traffic with interstate on and off ramps,” Vinson says. “The sidewalks are so awful. You could break an ankle trying to walk. That’s the one place where I’ve gotten a flat tire.”

But despite her long (and at-times treacherous) commute, Vinson says she enjoyed the Challenge and hopes to be totally car-free one day.

“I love that I can get anywhere I need to go whether I have a car or not,” Vinson says. “For me, that’s as good as money in the bank.”

Justin Fox Burks

Tiffany Futch

Tiffany Futch
Instructional Designer at ServiceMaster

On the days Tiffany Futch tried busing from her Midtown home to her Bartlett office, she had “a two-mile walk and a two-hour bus excursion.” She quickly learned that busing to work would be “too much of a hassle.”

Lucky for Futch, her friends were happy to carpool.

“My friends really jumped in to make sure this was a success for me,” Futch says. “I could call or text someone at 6 a.m. and they would say, ‘Yeah, I’ll get you to work.'”

Biking was Futch’s transit option of choice for flexible weekend days, when she had the time to bike to Shelby Farms. And she relied on her own two feet whenever she could. But being a pedestrian didn’t come without some challenges

“The worst sidewalks I encountered on a regular basis are on Madison, right in front of the Center for Independent Living,” Furtch says. “Every time, I stub my toe or I trip.”

Shahin Samiei
Research Associate for the University of Memphis

Justin Fox Burks

Shahin Samiei

Shahin Samiei already lives without a car in Memphis, but he signed up for the Car-Free Challenge anyway.

The Memphis Bus Riders Union secretary says he’s “pretty savvy” about the MATA bus system, and he has a direct bus line from his East Memphis home to his job in Midtown.

Samiei said the challenge gave him the chance to reflect on his years of riding the bus and to think about how some routes he used to frequent no longer exist thanks to budget cuts that have forced MATA to trim service.

“MATA can not do a better job than it does without the proper funding,” Samiei says. “They have been facing year after year of budget cuts from all three levels — city, state, and federal. Without those dollars, they simply can’t serve the people of Memphis.”

Justin Fox Burks

Darrell Cobbins

Darrell Cobbins
President/CEO of Universal Commercial Real Estate

Darrell Cobbins lives about a mile away from the Midtown real estate business he owns, so biking seemed the most viable option for commuting to work during the Challenge. But there was just one problem.

“I haven’t ridden a bike since I was 13 or 14 years old. I’m 41 now,” Cobbins says.

But Cobbins dusted off his cycling skills and put foot to pedal for the month of April. He quickly learned from cyclist friends that he needed to wear a helmet, something people just didn’t do when he was kid. And he said his former football coach’s wisdom helped him play it safe on city streets.

“My coaches always said, ‘Keep your head on a swivel, so you don’t get knocked out.’ I find myself just continuously looking around at every angle [while cycling],” says Cobbins, who thinks drivers could use more education on how to share the road with cyclists.

Cobbins says he appreciated the extra workout he got by biking, and he’s beginning to see the city through fresh eyes.

“When you’re in a vehicle, you don’t really take in your immediate surroundings,” he says. “But [cycling] makes you more aware of things that you didn’t realize were right there in walking distance of your house.”

​Patrick Jones
Legal Assistant at Miles Mason Family Law Group

Patrick Jones

Patrick Jones’ first trip on a bus ended when the bus broke down. It did not deter Jones, however, who continued to ride the bus (and his bicycle) throughout April. His subsequent bus experiences weren’t nearly as dramatic.

“I took the bus down Poplar to Clark Tower, and the bus was actually going so fast that he had to pull over and stop for three minutes because they were ahead of schedule,” he said.

On one commute, he had an issue finding the bus stop.

“I looked down the street and there was a bus stop across the street with a shed and a bench,” he said. “But that wasn’t the direction I wanted to go. I looked to the right and didn’t see any green signs or poles. I realized that all the green signs look the other way. Every time I saw a sign on a pole, I had to turn around and see it’s a ‘No Parking’ sign [instead of a bus stop].”

Bicycle events

* On May 16th, the Downtown Memphis Commission will host its fifth annual Bike To Work Day, when downtown workers are encouraged to commute by bicycle. The three companies with the most participants will win a trophy at the lunch-time Bike Expo in Court Square. The Expo, featuring food trucks and live music, begins at 11:30 a.m. To register, go to www.biketoworkmemphis.com.

* On May 17th, the annual Bikesploitation festival kicks off at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. The day-long event will feature a bike parade and slow-ride jam, a bicycle painting garden, a mobile music machine (a 15-foot bicycle carrying live musicians), mini-bike races, film screenings, a group bike ride, and more. For a full schedule, go to www.bikesploitation.com.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Green Means Go

CREDIT: Chris Shaw

Imagine having a magical car with the ability to make red lights turn green as you approach, essentially allowing you to cruise down Poplar from Germantown to downtown unencumbered by traffic signals.

That dream may never happen for car drivers, but it’s now a reality for Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) bus operators on the Poplar corridor. This morning, MATA unveiled its new Poplar Avenue Priority Signal project that can shave off around 20 percent of travel time for bus riders on that route.

Sensors on the buses signal to the traffic lights when buses are about 30 seconds away from the light or about 400 feet away, whichever comes first. If the light is already green, it will typically remain green for the bus to pass through. When the bus doors are open, the sensors are disabled so the light isn’t left on green as passengers enter or exit.

“There’s GPS on every bus, and that sends a coordinating signal to tell how fast the bus is traveling, sending an estimated time of arrival to the intersection,” said Craig Carroll of Global Travel Technologies, which provided the technology for the joint project between MATA and the City of Memphis.

It doesn’t work every time, however. Last week, members of the media were given a tour of the new technology as they rode on a bus along Poplar from Kirby to Perkins. On both the east and west journeys, the bus was stopped by a red light at White Station. And on the way east, it was also stopped at Truse Parkway and Mendenhall.

“Pedestrian crossings can interfere,” Carroll explained. “It doesn’t always give a green light or extend a green light. But it will swing you green where it can.”

Tests on the new technology revealed a 15 to 20 percent average reduction in travel time for buses traveling along Poplar.

Although the Poplar project is the first one to be completed, a priority signaling project on Elvis Presley will be unveiled soon. MATA has installed the sensors along Elvis Presley, but the city engineering office still has to complete some work on the project. Currently, sensors on Elvis Presley from Union to Brooks are working, and signals from Brooks to the Mississippi state line are in the works.

Sensors have been installed on 140 buses and at 40 stop light intersections. The transit priority signal project was funded by a $1 million grant and took about 12 months for installation and testing.

MATA’s Interim President and General Manager Tom Fox said the transit authority has plans to install priority signaling along Lamar, Park, Jackson, and Third as well. He said they’re also hoping to eventually stripe dedicated bus lanes on some roads, so MATA can operate rapid transit lines that would get passengers to their destinations more quickly. Fox did say that such dedicated bus lanes would likely not be installed along Poplar since it carries so much car traffic.

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Takes Control of Traffic Signals Along Poplar

Flyby_Mata-w.jpg

Imagine having a magical car with the ability to make red lights turn green as you approach, essentially allowing you to cruise down Poplar from Germantown to downtown unencumbered by traffic signals.

That dream may never happen for average drivers, but it’s now a reality for Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) bus operators on the Poplar corridor. This morning, MATA unveiled its new Poplar Avenue Priority Signal project that can shave around 20 percent off travel time for bus riders on that route.

Special sensors on the buses signal to the traffic lights when buses are about 30 seconds away from the light or about 400 feet away, whichever comes first. If the light is already green, it will typically remain green for the bus to pass through. When the bus doors are open, the sensors are disabled so the light isn’t left on green as passengers enter or exit.

“There’s GPS on every bus, and that sends a coordinating signal to tell how fast the bus is traveling, sending an estimated time of arrival to the intersection,” said Craig Carroll of Global Travel Technologies, which provided the technology for the joint project between MATA and the city of Memphis.

It doesn’t work every time, however. On Thursday morning, members of the media were given a tour of the new technology as they rode on a bus along Poplar from Kirby to Perkins. On both the east and west journeys, the bus was stopped by a red light at White Station. And on the way east, it was also stopped at Truse Parkway and Mendenhall.

“Pedestrian crossings can interfere,” Carroll explained. “It doesn’t always give a green light or extend a green light. But it will swing you green where it can.”

Tests on the new technology revealed a 15 to 20 percent average reduction in travel time for buses along Poplar.

Although the Poplar project is the first one to be completed, a priority signaling project on Elvis Presley will be unveiled soon. MATA has installed the sensors along Elvis Presley, but the city engineering office still has to complete some work on the project. Currently, sensors on Elvis Presley from Union to Brooks are working, and signals from Brooks to the Mississippi state line are in the works.

Sensors have been installed on 140 buses and at 40 stop light intersections. The transit priority signal project was funded by a $1 million grant and took about 12 months for installation and testing.

MATA’s Interim President and General Manager Tom Fox said the transit authority has plans to install priority signaling along Lamar, Park, Jackson, and Third as well. He said they’re also hoping to eventually get dedicated bus lanes on some roads, so MATA can operate rapid transit lines that would get passengers to their destinations more quickly.

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Announces Record Year for Cyclists

MATA_PIC.jpg

  • Courtesy of MATA

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) announced today that 2013 was a record year for cyclists taking the bus, with nearly 25,000 cyclists strapping their bikes on the front of buses all over the city.

Since introducing the bike racks in 2009, MATA has seen a steady increase in cyclists using the “Bike and Ride” option, with 24,096 cyclists taking advantage of the bus bike racks in 2013, a nearly eight percent increase from last year. Based on the high-numbers, MATA is considering purchasing higher-efficiency bike racks, for additional bike-carrying capacity. Each Fixed-Route MATA bus is currently equipped with a front bike rack that will hold two conventional bicycles.

“With more and more neighborhoods in Memphis adding bike lanes, biking is becoming a major transportation and cultural attribute of Memphis,” said Tom Fox, MATA’s Interim President and General Manager. “Bike and Rides make those investments by the city even more valuable.”

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Changes Routes to Better Reflect Traffic Conditions

The Memphis Area Transit Authority is making some tweaks to the major route overhaul that happened in September.

Beginning December 1st, 11 fixed routes will be adjusted based on traffic conditions and rider concerns and suggestions.

“The major route adjustments made in September have been generally well received as our riders better understand the flow and begin to experience some of the time savings that are possible,” said Tom Fox, Deputy General Manager for MATA. “In the time since the changes in September, we have listened to many customers and are making these adjustments to reflect their concerns and suggestions. Covering ever-changing customer needs requires us to be flexible to change and improvement to meet those needs, and these changes are an example of that.”

The changes will cost MATA an additional $100,000 per year, but that is expected to be made up through adjusting MATA budget by cutting costs in other areas.

Two new routes that were added in September, the 42 and the 46, will have schedule adjustments, frequency increases, and stop additions. Other routes, such as the 57 Park and the 13 Lauderdale, will add stops that have been requested by riders.

Screen_shot_2013-11-27_at_12.28.59_PM.png

Here are the rest of the changes:

7 Air Park — Add one outbound trip in the am peak beginning approximately 5:00 a.m. The trip will begin at Lamar and Bellevue.

11 Thomas — Route change for Weekday Nights and Sunday. Outbound from the North End Terminal (NET): right on A.W. Willis, left on Thomas, left on Pear, right on North Second/Whitney, left on Dellwood, left on Steele to end of the line at Steele and Corning. Inbound: right on Corning, right on Watkins, right on Frayser, left on Steele, right on Dellwood, right on Whitney/N. Second, left on Pear, right on Thomas, right on A.W. Willis, left on Second, right on Shadyac into NET.

13 Lauderdale — Route change for Weekday and Saturday. Inbound: regular route from Alice & Laramie to Central Station and then right on Front, and right A.W. Willis to the NET. Outbound: left on Shadyac, right on Third, right on Jackson, left on Front to Central Station; leaving Central Station, right on Front, right on G.E. Patterson and continue regular route to the end of the line.

20 Bellevue — Add one inbound trip to downtown in the am peak period beginning approximately 5:00 a.m.

36 Hacks Cross — Route change for Weekday and Saturday. Outbound: Regular route from NET to Union & Pauline, right on Pauline, left on Crump/Lamar and continue regular route to the end of the line at Hack Cross. Inbound: regular route from Hacks Cross to Lamar, right on Somerville/Linden, right on Pauline, and continue regular route to the NET.

39 South Third — Adjust schedule times at timepoints on Western Park branch on Weekday and Saturday.

42 Crosstown — Adjust schedule times to add four minutes to run time of each trip. Slight increase in frequency. Eliminate am and pm peak period trips serving Job Corps Center. See route 46-Whitehaven for replacement service.

46 Whitehaven — Name changed from 46-Whitehaven Flyer. Route change for Weekday. Serve all stops along the route instead of only selected stops and serve the Jobs Corps Center in Whitehaven. Inbound: Job Corps Center at McAlister, left on Millbranch, right on Winfield, right on Elvis Presley/Bellevue and continue regular route to NET. Outbound: regular route to Millbranch & Winfield, straight on Millbranch, and right on McAlister to Job Corps Center.

52 Jackson – Route change for Weekday, Saturday and Sunday. Outbound: regular route from NET to Austin Peay, right on Covington Pike to end of the line at Wal-Mart. Inbound: from Covington Pike, right on Yale, left on Austin Peay, and continue regular route to the NET.

53 Summer — Route change for Weekday and Saturday. On trips that serve Binghampton, the loop will operate the same as Night and Sunday loop. Outbound: regular route from NET to Tillman, right on Tillman, left on Johnson, left on Holmes, right on Summer, and continue regular route to the end of the line. Inbound: regular route from the end of the line to Summer & Holmes, left on Holmes, right on Johnson, right on Tillman, left on Summer and continue regular route to the NET.

57 Park — Route change for Weekday, Saturday and Sunday. Inbound: from the end of the line (St. Francis or Kirby Road), regular route to Lamar, right on Lamar, left on Harbert, right on Bellevue, right on McLemore, regular route to the end of the line. Outbound: regular route from Benford & Davant to McLemore & Bellevue, left on Bellevue, right on Lamar, and continue regular route to the end of the line (Saint Francis or Kirby Road).