The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has announced a new reusable and cashless payment option for tickets.
The Next-Generation Collection System GO901 Smart Cards are “modern and easy-to-use smart cards,” that make paying for rides “effortless and faster.” MATA likened these cards to a credit card, with users able to to “tap and ride” on MATA vehicles.
These cards are non-transferrable, and each rider needs their own card.
MATA said these cards offer “balance protection” as well as “online access to manage payment sources, set up auto loads to fund your account automatically, and view your smart card balance and history.”
The GO901 smart card is reusable, and can be used for up to five years from the issue date, according to MATA. Customers may add as little as .50 cents to their cards, with a maximum balance of $200.
“This has been a longstanding goal for the future of MATA,” said Gary Rosenfeld, CEO of MATA. “GO901 Smart Cards are a sustainable and simpler way to connect people to places across the service area. We’re excited to begin this journey.”
According to MATA, GO901 Smart Cards can be secured and loaded on MATA ticket vending machines at their transit centers, or the GO901 app. They can also be loaded on MATA’s website, or at MATA Transit Center Customer Service Counters.
There is also an option to auto-load funds onto these cards through MATA’s customer portal.
MATA also plans to add a network of retail stores where customers will be able to reload their cards in the future, they said.
Riders will temporarily be able to pay with cash and tickets.
Construction of the Memphis Innovation Corridor, the first bus rapid transit (BRT) service in Memphis, is tentatively scheduled to begin in fall 2023, with service beginning in the spring of 2027, according to Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).
The Memphis Innovation Corridor is about an eight-and-a-half mile route that connects the William Hudson Transit Center, that goes east and west along Union Avenue, a portion of Poplar Avenue, connecting at the University of Memphis. MATA said it is an important step in remaking transit in Memphis.
The Corridor will be a bus route that operates like a rail line, with 31 stops along the way, said John Lancaster, MATA’s chief development officer. Lancaster also said that these will include amenities such as ticket vending machines and real time information. All the stations are also slated to be ADA accessible.
“We really want to improve the travel time and reliability for transit customers,” said Lancaster. “With Bus Rapid Transit we have more frequent operations. We’re proposing a 10-minute headway – that’s how often the buses come.”
In 2016, BRT was adopted as the “preferred transit solution,” for the Memphis Innovation Corridor, said MATA. The organization also said that in 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $ 12 million Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Developments (BUILD) grant to the city of Memphis for the design and construction of
BRT offers a “higher level of service,” said Lancaster. He said it’s much more reliable, and there are definitive stops that are spaced efficiently. There are also about 15 other bus routes that will connect to this corridor that will improve connections with the route, which will also improve travel times, Lancaster explained.
The project will also use electric buses, which will make it “more environmentally sustainable.”
“On the infrastructure side, those safety benefits benefit the environment in terms of emissions,” said Kenny Monroe of Kimley-Horn: Planning and Design Engineering Consultants. Monroe also serves as a project manager on the consulting team for MATA.
Monroe also said that hopefully more people will shift from passenger cars to buses as a result of BRT.
MATA’s goal is to provide “high-quality transit service,” and not only does this project increase ridership, but it lowers transportation for the people who live in the corridor. Lancaster also said this aligns with the city of Memphis’ comprehensive plan. The city also developed a Transit Oriented Development plan.
“All of these things help provide better access to jobs, medical services, educational opportunities, and it reduces the dependency on single-occupant vehicles,” Lancaster said.
The project will also include Downtown intersection improvements such as reduced pedestrian crosswalks, improved pedestrian striping and signals, as well as bioswales, which will help with stormwater runoff and drainage, said Monroe.
There will also be traffic signal improvements, said Monroe. There are 52 traffic signals along the corridor, and about 42 of them will be improved as a part of this project.
“There will be transit signal priority,” said Monroe. “Basically if a bus is behind schedule, it notifies the system, and the signals will react to help get that bus back on schedule.”
“It’s a transit project but it’s a complete infrastructure project that includes roadways, sidewalks, traffic signals, lighting [and] street lights,” said Lancaster. “It includes the buses and transit too, but it’s a lot of improvements for the city that people may not realize is happening.
Photo: U.S. Department of Transportation via Facebook
Two Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants have been awarded to Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and Shelby County. This grant program comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Congressman Steve Cohen announced that MATA will be receiving $25 million for its Crosstown Corridor Safety and Multi-Modal Enhancement Program, while Shelby County will be receiving $13.2 million for its Eliminating Barriers on North Watkins (Project ELBOW).
“These major projects, which both include important complete streets elements to ensure safety and accessibility for all road users, will transform our community, creating efficient and safe travel corridors where they’re most needed,” said Cohen in a statement. “This investment will lead to a bright future for Memphis drivers and transit riders. I’m also proud that this funding was made possible by the massive investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which I supported.”
MATA’s Crosstown Corridor Safety and Multi-Modal Enhancement Program will provide “complete street improvements and Bus Rapid Transit service along an approximately 26-mile corridor.”
This project will also include improvements to sidewalks, bus stations, intersection improvements, and signalization.
Project ELBOW will use funds to “design and reconstruct the 1960s-era bridge over the Wolf River,” said the U.S. Department of Transportation in a statement.
“[The Wolf River] is rated in poor condition and will be upgraded to seismic standards and more accessible during emergency and evacuation events, and approximately 3.3 miles of complete street improvements.”
The grants are part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, said the U.S. Department of Transportation. The department also stated that 70 percent of the grants go toward projects “in regions defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.”
“This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) officials reported that more than $1.7 million in contracts were awarded over the last six months in its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program.
Contracts in the program are awarded to DBEs by ethnicity and gender. The six ethnicities include Black American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian Pacific American, Subcontinent Asian American, and non-minority.
A total of $18,284 was awarded to women, but only to Subcontinent Asian American women. More than $1.7 million program dollars were awarded to men, with $960,259 being awarded to Black American men, and $794,451 being awarded to subcontinent Asian American men.
The program’s reporting period was from October 1st, 2022 to March 31st, said Anthony Amos, MATA’s chief compliance officer. MATA creates a proposal goal and submits it the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) every three years, he said.
“This goal is established using financial information for future capital projects that we have proposed to complete during these three years,” said Amos. “We are currently developing a new proposed three-year goal that will be submitted to the FTA by August 1st of this year. It was 17 percent for the previous three-year goal cycle
DBEs are a “vital part of the economic structure of the Mid-South, and assisting those businesses contributes to their overall economic growth and expansion as well as strengthening the economic foundation of our community,” said MATA.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) said DBEs “are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51 percent interest and also control management and daily business operations.”
To participate in this program, the qualifying business must receive a DBE certification from their state.
Amos compared MATA’s program to the city of Memphis’ Minority, Women-Owned and Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) program, but said the program have significant differences. For example, the governing body for MATA’s program is the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) while the city’s program is governed by the Office of Business Diversity and Compliance (OBDC.)
“USDOT’s DBE Program seeks to ensure nondiscrimination in the award and administration of USDOT-assisted contracts in the Department’s highway, transit, and airport financial assistance programs and to create a level playing field on which DBEs can compete fairly for USDOT-assisted contracts,” the presentation stated.
With a Black population of 64.4 percent, MATA officials said Memphis ranked fifth in the top 10 cities with the largest African-American population with transit agencies, according to President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Framework. Jackson, Mississippi, ranked first with 82.8 percent of their population identifying as African-American.
The report also showed that 52.6 percent of the population identified as female, and 22.6 percent live in poverty. Among their peers, Memphis and MATA ranked 6th in both categories.
Memphis topped the list of CityNerd’s top 10 worst transit cities, “where taking the bus or rail may just crush your soul.” (Hat tip to u/Carpet-Early on the Memphis subreddit.)
Channel host Ray Delahanty, a transportation planning and engineering consultant, said the Memphis Area Transportation Authority had to have “the single least legible major-city bus system in the U.S. When I drop into [Google Maps’] street-view I can barely tell where the bus stop is.”
Lucinda and Bonnie
Posted to Twitter by Lucinda Williams
Some “dumb f*ck” heckled Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt during their performances at the Orpheum Saturday, according to Memphis Redditor u/12frets. The heckler allegedly made fun of Lucinda’s speech (she had a stroke last year, says 12frets) and yelled to Bonnie “what’s in that cup” she was drinking from before a song about her struggles with sobriety.
“I know it was very important to you to be as much a part of the show as the people on stage, but you’re neither funny or insightful,” said 12frets. “These artists deserve better.”
Cool Shot
Posted to Twitter by Frasier Seinfeld
“As the sun sets on Memphis like the Serengeti,” said Frasier Seinfeld on Twitter.
Face masks are no longer required in vehicles or on properties from the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).
The move follows federal court action Monday that struck down the mask mandate for public transportation issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it would no longer enforce the mandate after the federal court decision.
“This means that passengers and MATA employees will no longer be required to wear a mask on vehicles and transit properties,” the agency said in a statement issued Tuesday.
However, MATA said it was unclear whether or not the U.S. Department of Justice will appeal the decision, and it will monitor the situation. Masks are still welcome on MATA vehicles and in its facilities and “anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.”
In a place like Memphis, living without easy access to a car seems impractical, if not impossible. Crisscrossed by highway-like boulevards that rival Atlanta or Los Angeles, and occasionally narrow-shouldered by thin pedestrian sidewalks, this is a city where both daily essentials and places of interest are largely dependent on automobile travel.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 11 to 12 percent of households do not own at least one car. Many of them are elderly and cannot afford to shoulder the costs of purchasing, insuring, and maintaining even a used vehicle.
Furthermore, the sections of the city where walking or even bicycling are more practical are considerably more expensive than those that are not — putting them out of reach for economically disadvantaged people, consistent with systemic racism in housing and the historical realities of segregation and redlining in Memphis.
Anyone without a car relies on a patchwork of family help, ridesharing such as Uber and Lyft, and a public transportation system that remains patchy despite improvements and plans for the future. With relatives’ busy work schedules, the cost and heavy demand on a limited number of rideshare cars, and bus lines that don’t go where some people in need are located, these are incomplete solutions.
The consequences are more profound than mere inconvenience. Our organization, which focuses on providing transportation options to senior citizens needing to get to healthcare appointments, is particularly invested in the relationship between disrupted travel options and care outcomes.
A study in the Journal of Community Health pointed to such an impact weighing especially heavily on those who live in poverty — and cutting harshly across racial and socioeconomic lines. For example, an analysis of cancer patients living in Texas showed that while 38 percent of white adults cited poor access to a vehicle as a barrier that could result in missing a cancer treatment, the same figure was 55 percent for African-American adults and 60 percent for Hispanic adults sampled. It would not be an exaggeration, in this sense, to argue that transportation gaps can literally shorten life spans and reinforce existing inequities.
It is heartening to see plans for infrastructure updates in Memphis that include express bus lines, more pedestrian and bicycle paths, and new bridges. But with the city still taking public comment and input on what is needed and how it would impact its residents, there is plenty of opportunity left for advocacy. In particular, it is our hope that certain core principles do not get lost.
First, it will continue to be important to think outside the box in getting Memphians, particularly the elderly and disadvantaged, where they need to go.
The public sector and MATA will continue to play their essential roles, but the question remains how nonprofit organizations, religious groups, hospitals and clinics, and neighborhood partners can step in, both to connect those in need with existing transportation resources and to pool our financial and logistical wherewithal to plug the remaining gaps. This is especially the case for organizations whose projects benefit from the opportunity provided by federal funding: What can be done to maximize its impact, and focusing more on granular, neighborhood-based projects, what can be done to address direct, rather than large-scale transport needs?
Second, charitable organizations that provide rides to people, as well as their partners, need to work to bridge the information and communications gaps that exist. Individuals, as well as their families, are often unaware of the services available to them, and whether through an online or social media-based approach or through traditional marketing and advertising, the different groups in the city providing such services need to make their work and partnerships with one another clearer to members of the community.
Third, to take a higher up view, the city must not only embrace, but also encourage even more updates to Memphis’ physical infrastructure to allow for more connections made on foot. In the medium- to long-term, the impact from decreased pollution levels, more physical activity, and more direct connections between once-isolated sections of our city will have a positive cumulative impact on many health conditions, including chronic illnesses, which many Memphians face.
Current efforts form an encouraging and welcome beginning, but when it comes to creating physical spaces more conducive to good health and social inclusion, the only direction is forward. Even if Memphis remains a “city of the car” for the foreseeable future, we can still ignite a new approach to transportation that benefits everyone.
Courtney McNeal is the Strategic Partnerships Manager at Innovate Memphis. Her work enables her to focus on social equity while helping the people of her hometown.
Bus riders are waiting longer for buses or sometimes waiting for a bus that never arrives due to a Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) staffing shortage.
MATA’s goal for on-time performance, which measures how often buses arrive within a seven-minute window of their scheduled time, is 76 percent. Since May it’s been at 63 percent.
Gary Rosenfeld, MATA’s CEO, said that number is “totally unacceptable.” He said a shortage of bus operators has affected MATA’s ability to improve its on-time performance and meet the expectations of customers.
MATA has about 200 fixed-route bus operators and needs about 30 more just to have enough manpower to provide reliable daily services. Rosenfeld said this is especially true as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in the county.
“We’ve been hit with Covid-related absences at a much higher rate this month than last month or the month before,” Rosenfeld said. “We find ourselves with not enough operators to put all the service in the streets according to what’s posted in the schedule.”
Rosenfeld said he knows this puts additional stress on passengers, as well as the employers whose employees depend on MATA to get to work on time.
“I emphasize and sympathize with our passengers,” Rosenfeld said. “It just creates a really bad situation for them and for our employees who catch the brunt of people’s stress and anger over poor service conditions.”
There is also a shortage of mechanics who are needed to regularly inspect the buses. On average, buses need to be inspected every eight to ten days, Rosenfeld said. Without a full complement of mechanics, the inspections back up and those buses can’t run.
“So you can see the gravity of the situation,” Rosenfeld said. “If we fall behind a day or two because of a shortage of qualified mechanics, we quickly fall behind in the number of buses that are available to provide service. And we will not sacrifice safety and put buses in the street that are not inspected.”
‘It’s Not Pretty’
With late buses, or buses not showing up at all, Sammie Hunter, co-chair of the Memphis Bus Riders Union, said he and other bus riders struggle to get to jobs, school, and other essential destinations like the grocery store. Hunter said August has been particularly rough as temperatures rose above 90 degrees most days.
“You have people that have to stand in the heat and the sun when the bus they’re waiting on might not even show up,” Hunter said. “I’ve seen it all and it’s not pretty.”
Hunter said he relies on the 69 route to get home after work and often waits two hours for it to arrive.
“When I get off work, it’s the end of the day, I’m tired, and I’m ready to go home,” Hunter said. “Taxpayers deserve reliable, sufficient transportation. We should be able to go to a stop, get on a bus, and get where we need to in a reasonable amount of time.”
Hunter said he understands “things happen,” but there needs to be contingency plans for situations like bus operator shortages.
‘Doing All We Can’
Rosenfeld said the issue is not limited to MATA or Memphis. There has been a shortage of commercial drivers in the country for the past several years, he said. The pandemic has exacerbated that.
“Just like the medical profession is seeing an exodus because of what nurses and hospital workers are going through, our frontline folks are dealing with many of the same issues,” Rosenfeld said. “They have to deal with the public and trying to enforce reasonable rules for public safety while operating a bus is not necessarily an easy job.”
As a result, employees are finding jobs with less responsibility or retiring.
“Employees are in charge right now in terms of the market,” Rosenfeld said. “Employers are really at a disadvantage.”
“Just like the medical profession is seeing an exodus because of what nurses and hospital workers are going through, our frontline folks are dealing with many of the same issues.”
Rosenfeld said MATA has been working to recruit employees for “quite some time” with signing bonuses, a modified training program, and revamped benefits packages.
“We’re doing all we can to generate interest in our program for new employees,” Rosenfeld said. “At the same time, so is every other employer in the service industry in the greater Memphis area.”
One way MATA attempted to recruit more employees is by raising its starting wages to $19.35 an hour for bus operators after they complete training and $26 an hour for mechanics, but Rosenfeld said that still isn’t enough to compete with other major transportation companies in the region.
The average starting wage for commercial operators has increased from $12 an hour to over $25 an hour in the past 18 months, he said. In retail, there’s an avenue to generate more revenue to pay employees more, but MATA has a fixed revenue.
“From a wage and benefit perspective, we’ve probably done all we can do for right now,” Rosenfeld said. “But if we end up at the top of the hill, it won’t take long for other companies to either match it or exceed it.”
Fleets of self-driving cars don’t pilot Memphis streets, but it’s time we started to think about the day they will.
Prepare the streets. Prepare the technology. Prepare local policies. John Zeanah, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development, said the advent of connected and autonomous vehicles in Memphis is still far out on the time horizon. But the potential is here and there’s already opportunity for pilot projects, so Memphis should be ready.
Self-driving cars may be a cool vision for the near future. But for Zeanah, “government efficiency is really cool,” and the time to plan for technology’s role in our near future is now.
For some things, the future is already here. Fiber lines connect and coordinate about half the city’s traffic signals. Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) riders can access free wifi on the bus. In-pipe sensors tell Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) if a drain is clogged with fat, oil, and grease.
Though, when Zeanah and his team looked around Memphis, they found technology integration across the city system was uneven, ad hoc — usually driven by individual departments solving a single issue and not by high-level policy. More fiber lines were needed. Broadband subscription rates were lower in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
When Zeanah and his team were about a year away from finishing the Memphis 3.0 Plan, the underlying document for much of the city’s current development, they were also asked to begin research on a “smart city” plan. The culmination of that work is the multi-pronged, multi-year Smart Memphis Plan. Approved in April, the plan will touch nearly every department at Memphis City Hall and services across the city.
“You’ve observed the same thing that we have that’s happening nationwide and worldwide,” Zeanah said. “Technology is changing a lot of the ways in which companies do business, governments provide services, and now how the built environment is being shaped.”
Smart City Overview
Years ago, new technology brought a wave of new products to the market, and homeowners were scrambling to Google “internet of things” to see what the fuss was all about. Early adopters came home in the early 2000s with products somehow connected to their internet that they somehow commanded with their phones.
The Nest Thermostat, though, was the earliest, smart-home introduction for most in 2010. Apple’s HomeKit smart-home hub launched in 2014, the same year Amazon’s Echo (with Alexa) was introduced. These brought smart-home solutions to the masses. Now, homeowners are comfortable controlling tens of thousands of devices with their phones, with their voices, or with automation.
Homeowners use the products to run a better household, helping to control systems like security, lighting, and energy use. Cities use smart technology to run better city services, helping to control systems, like transportation, healthcare, wastewater, education, and law enforcement.
Before you think this is some tech trend, consider that Forbes Business Insights projects the global smart-home industry is expected to grow by 29 percent through 2026, with an estimated value of $622.5 billion that year. The smart-city tech industry is expected to grow by about 20 percent each year, according to a review by Research and Markets, for a total worth of $2.51 trillion in 2025.
Certainly don’t think Memphis is alone in reaching for “smart city” advances. In fact, it would be hard to find a city not working to squeeze government efficiency from technology. The “smart city” movement is big enough, for example, to support the nonprofit Smart Cities Council, with hundreds of member cities worldwide, and Cities Today, a magazine devoted to urban tech innovation.
Smart City Profile: Chattanooga
EPB, Chattanooga’s power and telecom company, installed 1-gig, high-speed internet in 2010, the first city to do so in the United States. It doubled down in 2015, offering community-wide 10-gig service.
For it, PCMag called the city a “tech hub.” Vice magazine said Chattanooga was “the city that was saved by the internet.” The online Techdirt said the city was the No. 1 remote-working town in America. Maybe more importantly, independent research from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga found the fiber network’s 10-year return on investment was $2.69 billion.
In Chattanooga, the “world’s fastest internet” can be yours for $68 per month.
“No Dinosaurs”
The Smart Memphis Plan looks ahead only three to five years. That’s on purpose, Zeanah said. His team started with a blank slate and a short-range plan would really outline the immediate steps needed in the next few years, instead of trying to predict the future.
Tech usage in city division here is gauged on a maturity index that asks: How far along are city departments in their use of technology? On a scale from 1 (using tech in an ad hoc, stand-alone way) to 5 (using tech for shared solutions across divisions), very few Memphis city services make it to the third level. Most hover around 1 or 2 on the scale. Some are at 0 (not working to advance tech).
But this wasn’t a surprise to Zeanah, and he said that “it’s not uncommon for most cities.” So, the starting point for the Smart Memphis Plan was for services that were just beginning to use technology or not using technology at all.
“‘No dinosaurs’ was a mantra we used to try to train our thinking as we were moving through our recommendations not only for our team but for other divisions as well,” Zeanah said. “That was always a good touchpoint to keep coming back to … as we’re moving beyond some of the systems and processes of the past and embracing smart technology in a more integrated way.”
Smart City Profile: Birmingham, Alabama
The city won a Smart Cities Readiness Grant from the Smart Cities Council in 2018 to push a host of improvements.
City leaders want to create an open data portal for citizens, a real-time bus tracker for public transportation, a gunshot detection system for public safety, online energy payments, LED upgrades for streetlights, and a collection of bike-share data to prioritize future bike-lane projects.
MATA
Board a MATA bus today and your phone will find a relief for any modern commuter, a wifi signal.
MATA buses recently got massive tech upgrades: onboard vehicle health monitoring systems, camera security systems, and a next-generation fare system that is slated to come online next year. This all required cellular phone service data for buses.
But the systems didn’t need all of the data, so MATA took the unused portion and made it available to customers as on-board wifi, said MATA President and CEO Gary Rosenfeld.
He and his team found a huge surprise when the wifi system went live. Nearly 500,000 wifi requests came from customers in the first 30 days. In June, the system was hitting about 500,000 wifi requests per day, Rosenfeld said.
The next tech step for MATA was the GO901 Mobile app. On the app, users can already buy tickets, manage their accounts, see where their bus is on a map, find schedules, plan trips, and subscribe to system alerts via text, voice, or email. But Rosenfeld says the next version of the app will have on-time data for customers, and it could transform much about the way we now think about transit tickets.
Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies and diamonds: Those are but two things Hong Kong subway riders can buy with their transit passes, Rosenfeld said. It could work the same way in Memphis, he said, as long as any company out there was willing to think outside the box. He envisioned, maybe, buying Graceland tickets or Memphis Zoo tickets through the GO901 Mobile app.
Such a system could also benefit those with little money. The app could be connected to social service providers in Memphis, just the same as businesses. Partnerships with nonprofits, schools, churches, and more could find pools of funds to pay for bus fares for those who can’t afford it and add it straight to their transit ticket account.
Rosenfeld said there’s even a more direct way the new tech system will help MATA’s poorest users: fare capping.
“About 80 percent of our passengers today buy their bus fare on a daily basis,” he said. “They don’t take advantage of [cheaper] monthly passes in many cases because they can’t afford that much cash at the beginning of the month.”
With the new fare system, MATA will be able to track a customer’s use of the system. Once they use the system a certain number of times in a month, MATA will stop charging them.
MATA data also turned up the need for a new kind of transportation system Downtown, in the Medical District, and in New Chicago. Groove On-Demand allows users in those zones to call for a ride on an app, just like Uber or Lyft. It was eyed as a tool to provide affordable, efficient, and convenient public transit in an area brimming with growth in the pipeline and to help those there get to work, to stores and restaurants, and to medical appointments.
The service was launched in February in a collaboration with the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative. Given COVID-19 restrictions still in place at the time and a still-small Downtown population, Rosenfeld said the service has carried “a couple thousand passengers” and is still “somewhat limited service.” However, he said to expect to see some additional Groove On-Demand services added this month.
MATA’s technological leaps and service opportunities for customers would not be possible, Rosenfeld said, without data.
“You can’t really manage anything you don’t track,” he said. “So the first step is setting up an accountability system you can track and [to be able to] respond and react to changes in trends or for directions.”
A “smart” Long Beach does not mean flying cars and a monorail down Ocean Boulevard, according to the city’s website. It does, however, mean using data and technology to solve community problems and taking a citizens-first approach to it.
Many Long Beachers had never heard of a “smart city” when leaders there began researching its 2019 smart plan, according to a story in Cities Today. Many worried about data privacy. Some could see benefits to a smart city; others could not. So, those leaders flipped the conversation, citizens — not tech companies — would dictate the city’s “smart” vision.
The city is now using tech to monitor air quality, moving police reports from paper to digital, gathering resident feedback on policy decisions, and giving them a digital dashboard to track development projects.
Memphis Fire Services
Memphis firefighters are sometimes called to help women giving birth. Seasoned firefighters knew these OB-GYN calls came from certain areas of town. But that was institutional knowledge, not data points — that is, until numbers were crunched and plotted on a map.
“The community risk assessment enabled the command staff to visualize all of this information and make decisions,” said Andrew Cole, a senior data analyst with Memphis Fire Services (MFS).
With this new tool, MFS leaders could easily spot the need in the community. They could then ensure areas that needed extra OB-GYN care were staffed with personnel with the right kind of training.
Decision-making tools like this got a boost recently, Cole said. Leaders can now see MFS’s equipment fleet spread across the city in real time. How many trucks responded to one incident? Is that too many? Should we shuffle some equipment around?
Thanks to new tech from a third-party vendor, fire leaders have up-to-date situational awareness on their phones, tablet, or laptop.
“[Firefighting equipment] is a finite resource,” Cole said, “so they’re able to see that we’ve got this much availability and these resources are at the ready or these resources are currently committed.”
Dashboarding data is a big push for MFS, Cole said, and is used in the agency’s day-to-day operations. Data informs decisions on everything from service calls and training to how well a firefighter employs a piece of gear compared to their counterparts.
Smart City Profile: Columbus, Ohio
Thanks to a $69 million investment of federal, state, and local funds, Columbus concluded its mobility-focused Smart City Challenge in June. The city’s locally produced Pivot app brings together payment for buses, bikes, rail, taxis, and rideshares and offers turn-by-turn navigation throughout central Ohio. You can find and reserve parking in the ParkColumbus app.
A $10 million private grant helped electrify the city’s transportation network with more than 900 EV charging stations, which influenced more than 3,200 residents there to buy electric cars and lower greenhouse gases.
Fiber Challenge
Street design and pedestrian safety measures aided by speed cameras. Increased free public wifi at city buildings, parks, and bus stops. LED street lights. Alternative energy production at wastewater treatment plants. Greener building codes. Predicting blight. Clear policies on use of police body-camera footage. Sensors that alert crews when trash cans are full.
All of these are recommendations in the Smart Memphis Plan. They’re all achievable, according to the plan, but they all have a common challenge, Zeanah said: broadband access.
“It’s going to be necessary for the city to have that fiber backbone to be able to support advancement of many of the recommendations in the Smart Memphis Plan,” he said.
Telecom companies laid miles of fiber here in 2019 in the run-up to Verizon’s 5G service launched here in late 2019. A map in the Smart Memphis Plan shows the city’s existing fiber lines, heavily concentrated Downtown and far fewer across the city.
On the map, it’s easy to see how scanty fiber lines in North and South Memphis correlate to low broadband internet subscription rates there. But the Smart Memphis plan aims to fix this, too.
First priority for fiber expansion will go to neighborhoods with low broadband rates that have community anchors as outlined in the Memphis 3.0 plan, and are close to existing fiber lines — think Uptown or Hollywood. Next will be areas with no close access to fiber, and the final push will focus on neighborhood anchors with regular broadband subscription rates.
Memphis is certainly not alone in the digital divide. Broadband rates are lower across the country for racial minorities with lower incomes and less education and for those in rural areas, according to the latest data from the Pew Research Center, which has tracked Americans’ internet usage since 2000. In Shelby County, 99 percent of the population has access to broadband internet but only 43 percent of the population uses broadband internet speeds, according to the latest data from the Federal Communications Commission and Microsoft.
In many ways, Memphis is just starting its “smart” journey, but the Smart Memphis Plan gives a road map to the future. That future is not sci-fi with flying cars, hoverboards, or self-lacing Nikes. But it’s cool if you think getting development permits online is cool. Zeanah does. If your next encounter with city services (paying a bill, requesting a new recycle bin, or needing emergency help) is made easier, you will, too.
Groove On-Demand will offer affordable ridesharing options to Memphians
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), Downtown Memphis Commission, and Memphis Medical District Collaborative have partnered to create a new transit service that will offer an alternative to Uber and Lyft in the city of Memphis. Called Groove On-Demand the dynamically routed public transit service will launch on the 10th of February.
The goal of the new service is to give to affordable, efficient, and convenient public transit for all riders in the greater Downtown Memphis area. In a statement, the partnership mentions Downtown Development and an increase in population as the basis for the creation of the program.
“Nearly three years ago, MATA was selected to receive free technical assistance to help develop mobility-on-demand projects such as this one,” said Gary Rosenfeld, chief executive officer at MATA. “The launch of Groove On-Demand is another opportunity for MATA to improve how people connect to their destinations using an on-demand-response service that transports riders directly from their doorstep to their destination. Another great benefit of this service is that it will greatly improve transit service to people who live in density-challenged neighborhoods.”
Groove On-Demand will work in a similar fashion to other ride-sharing services, with riders hailing a vehicle directly from their smartphone using the Groove On-Demand mobile app. Riders will be able to travel to any location within the service area from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Rides will be similar to that of a bus trip starting at $1.25 and going up to $0.75 for each additional passenger. Concessions for seniors, students, and riders with disabilities are $0.50 per ride.
“Our work to create a ‘Downtown for Everyone’ includes increasing mobility options across this geography. Working with MATA and MMDC to provide equitable transit options in Downtown just makes sense. Whether you are a commuter, resident, patient, or student the new Groove On-Demand provides a low-cost shared-transit opportunity,” said Lauren Crabtree, transportation program manager at Downtown Memphis Commission.
“Additionally, increasing mobility choice is a core function of Downtown’s new Transportation Management Association or TMA. Providing an on-demand transit service like this a great start.”
As a part of their pledge to ensure accessibility for all riders, Groove On-Demand will provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles and booking for those without a smartphone by calling them directly at (901) 763-8422. For more information about Groove On-Demand visit their website.
Downtown Memphis Comission