Tag: MATA

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MATA Tightens Social Distancing Guidelines for Riders

CREDIT: Memphis Area Transit Authority

Memphis Area Transit Authority

The Memphis Area Transit Authority is rolling out an updated set of guidelines Tuesday evening as the city’s Stay at Home order goes into effect.

MATA will continue its normal services, but with a few changes on board and at its facilities. The changes will be in effect until April 7th, but could be extended if the city extends the Stay at Home order.

On buses:

・No more than 10 people will be allowed on fixed-route buses and trolley cars at a time

・Every other row on fixed route buses and trolley cars will be blocked to maintain social distance and encourage customers to sit apart

・No more than two passengers on MATAplus paratransit vehicles

・MATA will only transport MATAplus customers to essential destinations, such as work, medical appointments, grocery stores, and pharmacies.

MATA facilities:

・MATA’s headquarters, 1370 Levee Road, is closed to the public

・The trolley facility, 547 North Main, is closed to the public

・The Assessment Center at the Airways Transit Center is closed to the public

・The customer lobby areas and public restrooms at each transit center are closed

・The customer service counters will remain open every day from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

・Customers will be allowed three at a time to access the customer service counters

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MATA Implements Social Distancing Rules on Board, Considers Service Cuts

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the county, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) rolled out social distancing measures on all of its buses and facilities, while considering service reductions. 

Beginning Sunday, customers were encouraged to use every other seat on fixed-route buses. No more than two passengers are allowed on MATAplus paratransit vehicles, including personal care attendants.

MATA also closed its Assessment Center, as well as the lobby and public restrooms at each of its transit centers until further notice. However, the customer service counters at the centers will remain open every day from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. But security officers will allow only three people in the building at a time to access the customer service counters.

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The agency also continues to perform daily cleanings and sanitizing of its buses and shelters.

For now, MATA is continuing to operate normal services, but officials are considering service modifications as ridership continues to decline as the number of COVID-19 cases rise in the community.

“Public transportation is a critical service in the community,” a statement from MATA reads. “While it is vital that some levels of public transportation continue since MATA serves customers who may not have access to any other transportation to get to work, to the grocery store, and to healthcare facilities, reducing service is likely unavoidable.”

Gary Rosenfeld, MATA CEO, said the entire public transportation industry is feeling the financial burdens of COVID-19, but that the agency is “working diligently to continue to operate in a manner that allows for the best service that we can provide at this time.”


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Opinion The Last Word

Make MATA Free: Improve the Lives of Thousands of Memphians

(Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Last spring I found myself in a position of unimaginable privilege. For the first time in my adult life, I had a car that worked and was paid off. No weird rattles, squeaking brakes, bald tires. I hate the term “adulting” for philosophical reasons, but it was one of those times in my life that made me think “so this is what it’s like.”

Then I started anticipating the inevitable break-in, wreck, or other misfortune that would set me back again and put me in my cosmic place. “Just watch,” I’d say. “Something’s going to fall out of the sky and land on my car because I don’t deserve this.”

A month later, as a chunk of road debris hurtled toward my windshield on I-40, I thought, “Well, there it is.”

Justin Fox Burks

What’s the MATA?

The damage turned out to be minor, but being virtually carless for a couple weeks reminded me how difficult it is to thrive in Memphis without a vehicle. My home and my office are two miles apart, putting me on the road a grand total of 10 minutes a day. I know I have it easy. But I tried to plot a bus route home from work and MATA’s trip planner told me “LOL, walk” — which I did, a couple times. And let me tell you, it sucked! If that’s more optimal than the bus, we’ve got a problem with the bus.

I can shrug and catch an Uber, but someone who has to schlep across town for a $7.25-an-hour job does not have that luxury. The bus ride from Whitehaven to Downtown takes about an hour one-way, not including the wait. Anyone who doesn’t have access to a car has their opportunities limited by the number of hours in a day. I’m heartened by the county mayor’s commitment to transit equity, and I’d love to see MATA viewed less as the nuisance in the right lane on Poplar and more as a reliable way to get around. Improving and expanding service are obviously high priorities for increasing ridership, but there’s one more way to get people to hop on.

The New York Times last month published a story about a growing trend in cities that have seen bus ridership increase up to 60 percent. All they had to do was waive the fare. Should Memphis try something similar? Yes, it sounds counterintuitive, as the city and county look to infuse more money into MATA, not less. But public transportation can’t work unless it’s an option for everyone, versus the only option for some. There are two ways to do that: Make it convenient, and make it affordable. $1.75 a ride seems affordable, until you factor in the time investment and the fact that $70 a month does not fit everyone’s definition of “affordable.”

“Oh, but who will pay for it?” Let’s just get this out of the way: the same people who pay for every other public good. I have little patience for those who bristle at paying for services they don’t use, as if we could allocate our taxes to the projects we care about. I don’t have kids, and my house hasn’t burned down yet, but here I am, still dutifully paying for schools and the fire department. If you live in Cordova and have never seen a bus, I’m sorry to hear it — but you chose the Germantown Parkway lifestyle, friend. And you’re contributing to the road congestion and pollution that better public transit would solve.

Actually, that makes a pretty good case for a toll. How about, say, $1.75 each way for commuters on 240 and 385? While cities that waived bus fares saw an increase in ridership, they didn’t see a decrease in the number of cars on the road. This is because people who ride the bus generally don’t have cars. Such is the case in Memphis, where bus riders typically live in poorer neighborhoods. Why should they pay to be part of the solution?

In addition to the wheel tax the county commission is considering, there are other car-centric ways to fund free transit. On any given day in Midtown, the city could make a boatload ticketing cars parked illegally on the street — too close to the corner, in no-parking zones, in front of fire hydrants. Maybe some incentives could encourage businesses to dig in and support a transit fund. Who knows? It’s not impossible to make transportation a right, not a privilege.

Jen Clarke is a digital marketing specialist and an unapologetic Memphian.

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News News Blog

Mayor Harris: ‘It’s Time to Seal the Deal’ on Transit Funding


The conversation about adequate funding for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) continued Tuesday — a day deemed Transit Equity Day.

Transit Equity Day 2020, which marks the 106th birth anniversary of Rosa Parks, is a collaborative effort by several organizations and unions across the country to promote public transit as a civil right and strategy to combat climate change.

Here, the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group organized a press conference to speak on the importance of transit and the barriers that are still in place and limiting residents’ — particularly those of color and those living in low-income areas — access transit.

This comes as the Shelby County Commission considers a strategy to invest dedicated funding in MATA. The discussion began in September when Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris proposed a $145 sustainability fee for households with more than three vehicles. Now, the county commission is considering a $20 wheel tax increase.

Marquita Bradshaw, Environmental Justice Chair for the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group spoke of transit and environmental justice Tuesday: “Transit equity has everything to do with environmental justice.”

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“Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies,” Bradshaw said. “Transit equity is a plan to justly transition away from climate change. The root of climate change is pollution. People with lower incomes not only have problems accessing transit to get to work, but they also deal with the burden of pollution.”

Allison Donald of the Memphis Center for Independent Living, also at Tuesday’s press conference, said Memphis is at a “pivotal point” as it relates to funding transit.

“We must understand on the 106th birthday of Rosa Parks, that transit justice is not a new fight, not only for Memphis but for other underserved communities around the country,” Donald said. “Funding for public transportation is necessary not only for our city to grow, but it brings businesses, better educational opportunities for underserved children in underserved communities, and it gives people an opportunity to do what communities are supposed to do — connect.”

The most recent resolution to fund transit before the commission is sponsored by Commissioner Brandon Morrison. The proposal includes a $20 increase to the vehicle privilege that would generate $12.8 million. Of that $9 million would go to MATA and the remaining $3.8 million would support the hiring of 51 new sheriff deputies in areas soon to be de-annexed from Memphis.

In January, the commission voted to delay voting on the resolution, sending the proposal back to the commission’s general government committee. The commissioners decided at that meeting to send the measure to an ad hoc committee.

In order for the wheel tax proposal to pass, at least nine members, or two-thirds of the Shelby County Commission, must vote in favor of the move at two consecutive meetings.

Harris, who was at Tuesday’s press conference said securing the funding is a “huge challenge,” but he believes the resolution is close to garnering the nine votes it needs to pass.

“I think it’s time to seal the deal,” Harris said. “How do we seal the deal from here? We’ve got to get that ninth vote. We feel like we’re sitting at a soft eight and we need that ninth vote. We’re working real hard to build comfort with the commissioners so that we can get to a place where at least nine commissioners are prepared to vote on dedicated funding for transit.”

Some commissioners maintain that their constituents, mainly those living in the suburbs, don’t support the increase as they don’t use public transit and won’t benefit from increased funding for it.

“There’s a benefit to all of us from transit,” Harris said. “We’re trying everything except for the kitchen sink to try and identify that ninth vote. We think we’re on the way. We have a great case that’s been made and a broad coalition. We trust that the commissioners will see we can’t be about just talking about issues. We have to be about action.”

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Harris said with upwards of $10 million invested in MATA each year, there will be over one million new transit rides generated.

Courtney McNeal with Innovate Memphis, who worked closely with MATA to develop the Transit Vision Plan, said a key focus when creating the plan was job accessibility.

With the implementation of the Transit Vision Plan, McNeal said there would be a 39 percent increase in job accessibility within an hour for all residents, a 45 percent increase for minority residents, and a 49 percent increase for residents living in low-income neighborhoods.

MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld said his group “stands ready” to implement the Transit Vision Plan, which “goes so far in delivering quality service and opportunity to the community as a whole.”


Last month, the mayor set an informal, 30-day deadline for the passage of a resolution to fund MATA, but it does not look like the commission will make that deadline. 



Now, the the $20 wheel tax and other funding options for MATA are being discussed in a series of six ad hoc committee meetings, co-chaired by Commissioners Tami Sawyer and Mick Wright. The committee has been tasked with returning to the commission with recommendations about how to move forward.

All meetings run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and are open to the public. See the dates and locations below.

2/4 – Monumental Baptist Church, 704 S Parkway East

2/11 – Hickory Hill Community Center, 2910 Ridgeway Road

2/18 – Hollywood Community Center, 1560 N Hollywood Street

2/25 – Agricenter International, 105 S. Germantown Parkway

3/10 – Bartlett Senior Center, 5727 Woodlawn Street

3/35 – Golden Gate Cathedral, 3240 James Road

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Video: Bus Rider Discusses Transit Funding, Challenges, and More

Video: Bus Rider Discusses Transit Funding, Challenges, and More


The Flyer caught up with Justin Davis, secretary of the Memphis Bus Riders’ Union (MBRU), this week to learn more about the union’s work and the transit issues it strives to address.

We met at Memphis Rox Climbing Gym on McLemore and made our way to a nearby bus stop. It drizzled a little as we stood at the uncovered bus stop. Davis used the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA)’s TransLoc app to track when the next bus would arrive.

After waiting about 15 minutes, the 17 McLemore bus arrived on time. Davis said it’s not unusual for buses to arrive ten minutes early, ten minutes late, or occasionally not arrive at all.

We each put $3.50 in the fare box and received a one-day pass.

There was just one other person on board when we boarded the bus. The passenger chatted back and forth with the driver as if she was a regular on the route.

Davis and I settled in the back of the bus. The bus was clean other than a few food wrappers on the floor. And other than the occasional roar from the engine, the ride was quiet. We rode down residential streets through South Memphis and then down Lamar, picking up a few more passengers, before arriving at the American Way Transit Center about 20 minutes later.

Half a dozen more passengers got on there, including an older man with shopping bags, a younger man dressed in a work uniform with a lunchbox in tow, and a teenage boy carrying nothing but a phone.

The transit center is where many riders come to make connections to other routes, Davis said.

As Davis and I rode, we talked about the bus riders’ union’s efforts to advocate for better transit in the city, transit and poverty, dedicated funding for MATA and the proposed wheel tax, and other issues that regular bus riders face every day. Check out the video at the top to hear what Davis had to say.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

County Mayor Harris Asserts 30-Day Goal for Passage of MATA Funding Proposal

CREDIT: JB

JB

At weekend gathering, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harri repeats vow to secure passage of wheel tax add-on to provide county funding for MATA. Also pictured are members of the Tommy Van family, hosts for the affair, and Lexie Carter, a co-sponsor of the event.

At its regular monthly meeting on Monday, the Shelby County Commission will take one more crack — the crucial one — at adding $20 to the current county wheel tax in order to contribute roughly $10 million to the operation of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). On the eve of the vote, County Mayor Lee Harris set an informal deadline of 30 days to achieve a successful outcome for the proposal, which needs 9 votes and netted a maximum of 5 votes on Wednesday in preliminary voting in committee.

Harris mentioned the 30-day figure in conversation at a Saturday night fundraiser in his honor in Lakeland. “Either we pass it outright on Monday, or we’ll find a way to delay the final vote for 30 days,” the Mayor said. “But I predict we’ll get it done.”

The fund-raiser was at the home of Tommy and Monica Van and was primarily a cooperative effort by members of the local Asian and African-American communities. In his remarks to attendees, Harris recapped his argument for the wheel tax add-on as follows:


“There was no more vivid example of the need for increased transit options than a guy named James, an ex-offender. He lives in Frayser, and he finally found a job but, of course, the buses don’t run very frequently on the weekend. And on weekends, instead of missing his shift, he decides to sleep at his job so he can be there the next morning and not miss a shift. So James begged and pleaded that we invest more in transit so he could go home when his shift ends and come back to the job the next day and not have to sleep there.

“And I think about Miss Sarah who said transit is important to her, because she has not had ice cream for years. She says she can’t get ice cream from the grocery store to her house before the ice cream melts. And so she doesn’t buy ice cream anymore.

“So it’s about Miss Sarah and James and Frayser and all the folks who are trying to move around the community and trying to get access to jobs, and trying to create more opportunity for themselves and their family. And that’s the kind of debate I want to have. That’s why I ran for office in the first place. And I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to persuade all parts of this community that these are the right kinds of conversations to have.”

Harris also made reference in his remarks to the currently controversial issue of providing haven for foreign refugees. The mayor held a press conference last week to make public his letter to the U.S. State Department in favor of providing such haven in Shelby County. As he said about that moment on Saturday night:

“We tried to drive a conversation that this community should continue to be a welcoming community for refugees. Refugees, by definition, are individuals who come to this country fleeing persecution, their lives are on the line, and we as a country have the ability to intervene and save families and save lives. And so we should do it. We can try. [Applause]

“Years ago, Shelby County accepted about 400 or so refugees a year that is now down to about three dozen refugees. The United States of America with this heritage of being a beacon of hope around the globe right now. We have around 1% of the world’s refugees in the United States of America, I think we can do a lot better on that score as well. So these are the issues that I’ve talked about, since I’ve been in elected office. They’re not issues that win you a lot of, you know, big business donors per se, but they are issues that matter nonetheless. And so I’ll continue to drive these kinds of conversations for as long as I’m in office.”

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News News Blog

Business Leaders Make the Case for Funding MATA

CREDIT: Memphis Area Transit Authority

Memphis Area Transit Authority

The Shelby County Commission spent most of Wednesday morning discussing how and why to invest in the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, who first began this conversation with the commission in September, along with leaders in the Memphis business community, discussed Wednesday how investing $10 million in transit would boost the economy here.

Harris has said that Shelby County has about 16,000 unfilled jobs and that his proposed $10 million investment would help Memphians get to those jobs, while having an economic impact of $40 million on the county.

Wednesday, Harris didn’t detail how exactly the projected $40 million impact was calculated. Instead, he and business leaders spoke broadly of the need for better transit in order to strengthen the business community here.


Beverly Robertson, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said last year the chamber did an UpSkill summit, aimed at preparing 10,000 residents for the workforce.

“But that is for naught if those folks don’t have adequate transportation to get to those jobs,” Robertson said.

Willie Gregory, director of global community impact for Nike, also spoke to the commission, saying that a more effective transit system is a “real need” for the community.

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“I want to affirm that a more effective transit system is a real need not only for the community, but for our basic business community,” Gregory said. “It’s an issue that we really need to figure out, and we don’t have much time to figure it out. As we attract more industries and businesses in Memphis, we have to have a plan to get our talent to jobs. It’s a right-now issue. It’s impacting real working families in our community who are trying to pay the bills, and businesses of all sizes trying to keep their doors open.”

FedEx executive Richard Smith said FedEx is the largest employer in Memphis, and investment in public transportation is vital to business and community growth. And “if done the right way,” he said, “has a proven return on investment on the community.”

Smith said last year FedEx held a recruitment event for 350 high school seniors from Shelby County. According to the recruiters, Smith said, nearly half of those students reported they would need to find a reliable way to get to work.

“Lack of transportation is the biggest challenge for these potential workers,” Smith said.

With more funding for transit, Smith said he hopes that MATA will work closely with FedEx to address the needs of its employees. For example, Smith said those working the night shift in FedEx hubs need a reliable way to get home when their shift ends at around 3 in the morning.

Jason Little, CEO and president of Baptist Memorial Health Care, said the hospital network has about 9,000 employees in Memphis, and, for many of them, transportation serves as a barrier. Based on a survey of employees, Little said it takes most employees using transit between two and three hours to get to and from work each day.

“They’re saving lives while spending three hours getting to work and three hours getting home from work,” Little said. “I just think we can do better. This is a real concern that Baptist certainly takes seriously.”

Little spoke specifically of one operating room employee, who he referred to as Ms. Lucy. Lucy has worked at Baptist for 45 years, Little said, and rides the bus every day.

“When she gets off at work at 4 o’clock, she waits an hour for the bus to come to Baptist at 5 so that she can begin her journey home,” Little said. “By the way, because what we do is life and death, we require our team members to be on time. When you work in the operating room, at times you get called in, even on weekends. There is a bus that runs to Baptist during the week, but not on Sundays. So when Ms. Lucy is called in on Sunday, she has to begin to scramble for other means.”

Members of the commission agreed that an investment in transit is necessary but disagreed over the mechanism to generate the funds.

As of now, there are two options on the table: Harris’ proposal of a $145 vehicle registration fee for each household’s third car and beyond and the resolution brought by three commissioners to increase the countywide wheel tax by $20.

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Some commissioners were wary about an increased wheel tax.

One of the concerns was the cap on funds going to MATA. Per the resolution, any funds collected that exceed $9 million would go to the county’s general fund. Commissioner Amber Mills suggested that there be no cap on the funds allocated to MATA, but the commission voted that amendment down. Earlier in the discussion, Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. expressed concerns on behalf of his constituents about the excess money, saying it would be added to a “county slush fund.” Ford said he can’t support the resolution “the way it is written.”

Another concern voiced by the commission is the ambiguity around the amount of revenue this increased wheel tax would produce and what MATA would use the additional funds for.

Gary Rosenfeld, president and CEO of MATA, briefly addressed the latter concern, saying the funds would first be used to address issues such as MATA’s bus driver shortage and facility improvement needs.

The commission moved to exclude residents making under $30,000 from the $20 increase, based on a recommendation by Commissioner Tami Sawyer, one of the resolution’s three sponsors.

The amended resolution will move to the full commission meeting on Monday with a favorable recommendation. Per state law, the resolution would need to receive a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

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Group Supports $20 Transit Fee to Fund MATA, Promote Equity

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

MICAH members gather to support $20 transit fee

Members of the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH) gathered near city hall on Tuesday to show support for a Shelby County Commission resolution that would create a county transit fee to generate funds for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).

The resolution, sponsored by Shelby County Commissioners Willie Brooks Jr., Tami Sawyer, and Van Turner Jr., is an alternative to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ plan to implement an annual fee of $145 for a households’ third vehicle. That plan, which would generate $10 million in funding for MATA each year, was first introduced by the mayor in September.

The proposed resolution seeks instead to increase the countywide motor vehicle tax, also known as the wheel tax, by $20 for every vehicle owner. The wheel tax was first established in 1987 and was dedicated to repaying the county’s bonded indebtedness. Then, in 2016, the county adopted a resolution mandating that 100 percent of wheel tax revenue be allocated to school operations.

Now, the commissioners seek to increase the wheel tax by $20 for every registered vehicle in the county and use the additional revenue — limited to $9 million annually — to fund MATA. Currently, the tax for a private vehicle is $50. It’s $20 for motorcycles, scooters, and ATVs, $80 for commercial vehicles, and $25 for nonprofit vehicles.

Brittany Thornton, co-chair of MICAH’s economic task force, said this resolution is a reasonable compromise between the mayor’s proposal and MICAH’s suggestion of a $20 to $50 fee on all vehicles. Based on a survey of 225 Memphians, Thornton said MICAH leaders believe that a fee of $20 to $50 is more favorable to citizens than Harris’ proposed $145 on third vehicles. Still, Thornton said MICAH applauds Harris “for even taking on transit.”

“This conversation on transit has been around for a long time and under other administrations, we haven’t even gotten this far,” Thornton said. “So to have a mayor that’s willing to keep the conversation at the forefront of what we’re focused on, we applaud that. We appreciate that. But we want to get the figures that are actually going to set MATA up to do what it needs to do.”

Improving transit plays a huge role in MICAH’s commitment to economic equity, Thornton said, which requires “we work to dismantle the systemic barriers that keep our neighbors from thriving.

“Whether it is being able to get to education and training, arriving on time for a job or an appointment, filling the many third shift job opening that currently MATA hours does not allow, exposing tourists to more of Memphis and all of Shelby County, or reducing the amount of pollution and road wear and tear, Memphis and the metropolitan area’s potential to thrive must include a high-performing transit system.”

Ultimately, Thornton said “sufficiently funding MATA” must be one of the top priorities of local government in order for “any kind of equity to be achieved” in Shelby County.

The resolution stipulates that the allocation of the funds to MATA are contingent on four factors. First, the commission is asking that two members appointed by the Shelby County mayor and approved by the county commission are added to the MATA Board of Commissioners.

Another factor is that MATA creates bus routes that connect to the county’s largest employers. The resolution’s sponsors are specifically seeking a new bus route to the FedEx World Hub.

Additionally, the resolution calls for MATA to reduce the scheduled commute time to the Raleigh and Frayser communities by 50 percent, because economic and job development are underway in the area. Finally, the commissioners are asking that these terms be formally agreed upon in a memorandum of understanding between MATA and Shelby County.

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If approved, the $20 wheel tax increase would go into effect on July 1, 2020. The commission is slated to discuss the resolution Wednesday at 9 a.m. during its General Government committee meeting ahead of its vote on Monday.

Ahead of this discussion, Harris will make a presentation to the committee in support of his plan, explaining the potential economic benefits of investing an additional $10 million in transit each year. There are 16,000 unfilled jobs in Shelby County, according to state data, and Harris contends that improving transit would help fill these jobs.

The mayor also said that an investment of $10 million would have an economic impact of more than $40 million because of expanded job access.

“We currently have over 16,000 jobs available in Memphis, most of which do not require any type of specialized skill,” Harris said in a Tuesday press release. “A large reason for so many open jobs is that too many individuals in our community do not have transportation that they can rely on to get to a job and keep a job. Our residents should be able to get to a job, keep a job, and able to get home from that job in time to have dinner with their family.”

The economy is just one of the “Three E’s” Harris has assured that the $10 million investment would address. In November the mayor told the commission about the environmental benefits the $10 million would lend, such as reducing emissions by the thousands of metric tons. In December, Harris, joined by University of Memphis associate professor Elena Delavega, made the case for public transportation’s role in addressing poverty and equity.

Harris’ administration hopes that the commission will vote on the plan by the end of next month.

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News News Blog

Poverty Expert: Funding Transit ‘Critical’ in Bringing Memphians Out of Poverty

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

University of Memphis associate professor Elena Delavega, made the case for public transportation’s role in addressing poverty to the Shelby County Commission Wednesday.

Delavega, whose research largely focuses on poverty and sustainable economic development, said having reliable transit is “critical” to bringing people out of poverty.

“It promotes business. It promotes economic investment. It allows for more investment in tourism, more use of businesses, more job opportunities,” Delavega said. “In general, an efficient, effective, comprehensive transit system seems to have a very solitary effect on the overall economy and on the economy of poor people.”

Delavega said the median income of those who depend on public transportation here is about $14,500. That’s “very low,” she said, attributing the low income levels to bus riders being “excluded from most of the participation in the economy.”

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For 60 percent of those who drive to work in the city, Delavega said it takes an average of less than 25 minutes for them to reach their jobs. For more than 40 percent of those who depend on public transit to get to work here, it takes more than 45 minutes, and for 28 percent, it takes more than an hour.

U of M

Delavega

“I want you to think about this for a minute,” Delavega said. “Not everybody has 24 hours in a day. That’s a lie. If you have to spend two, three hours of your day in transit to work, that is time that is not available to work. It’s not available to take care of your family, to read, to study, or to do any of the other things we need to do to advance our lives and our futures.”

Delavega calls it an “issue of critical fairness,” as poor transit “essentially robs time from people.”

This comes as the county commission considers a plan proposed by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris in September to generate $10 million for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) each year.

Under Harris’ plan, households with more than two vehicles would be required to pay a yearly $145 sustainability fee.

The additional funds would be used to improve eight routes, while implementing recommendations laid out in the Transit Vision 3.0 Plan, Harris said.

“There are plenty of bright spots in our community,” Harris said. “We see tremendous investment in Downtown and in other places in our community, and we’re quite proud of that momentum. However, our poverty numbers are alarming, and they are growing.”

Harris says out of the approximate 1 million residents in the county, about 200,000 live in poverty. The mayor said this number is increasing, reporting that 25,000 residents who were not living in poverty 12 months ago are now living in poverty.

“I would suggest to you all that that is a sign that we must do something — something transformative,” Harris said. “I believe transit is one piece of the puzzle.”

Alternative Plan

Brittany Thornton, co-chair of the Memphis Interfaith Coalition of Action and Hope’s (MICAH) economic equity task force, was also at Wednesday’s meeting. Thornton presented an alternative plan to raise the $30 million MATA officials have said was needed in the past to carry out the Transit Vision Plan.

MICAH conducted a survey with 225 respondents gathering input on vehicle fees, as well as on alternative ways to generate funds, such as using funds from expiring PILOTs (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes incentives), implementing parking garage fees, or adding a transportation fee to utility bills.

Thornton reported that 31 percent of respondents supported utilizing expired PILOT funds, 28 percent backed a fee on all vehicles, and 25 percent were in favor of a fee for households with more than two cars.

The remaining 14 percent supported either garage parking fees, a transportation fee, or parking meter fees.

Of the respondents who support fees on vehicles, Thornton said about 77 percent are in favor of a fee of up to $25 per car, while 50 percent support a fee of up to $50.

Thornton calculates that a $25 fee per residential vehicle and $40 fee for commercial vehicles would yield just under $18 million a year.

Funds from expired PILOTs could add another $8 million.

MICAH

Thornton speaks to reporters after presentation


Harris said that the revenues from expiring PILOTs does not “represent a new revenue source for the county.”

Those funds are already accounted for in the county’s budget and placed in the general fund.

“However, I will say Ms. Thornton and MICAH are very much on to something,” Harris said. “And there is a revenue source associated with PILOTs and TIFs, so if it’s the will of this commission to use that as a revenue source to fund transit, as other communities have done likewise, then that could be a new revenue source for transit.”

The commission is slated to vote on Harris’ proposal for a $145 dollar fee on third cars in February.


Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Scooters Are Seasonal: Memphis Needs Year-Round Public Mass Transit

CREDIT: Mkopka | Dreamstime.com

Driving down North Watkins/Cleveland Street, I fumbled as the four-lane road turned into two to make way for the bike lanes. I’ve driven down this road many times since the lanes were repainted following all the redevelopment in and around the old Sears building, but, somehow, I still manage to forget that the right lane ends.

My friend Diana is riding along in the passenger seat. As we pass the fleet of bicycles and electric scooters parked around the Concourse, she says, “If people were just given free bikes, I think they would use them more.” I look back at the scooters and imagine a world where everyone has a bicycle. Would we even have the fleets of e-scooters in our city?

When the scooter companies were setting up shop in Memphis, I remember one of the biggest selling points was that these scooters would be the solution to the first/last mile problem. The first/last mile refers to the “getting to the door” parts of a commute that a bus or car can’t get you to. Scooters are for short-distance trips to fill these gaps.

Mkopka | Dreamstime.com

A closer ride with thee?

We now have at least four options to choose from: Bird, Spin, Bolt, and the recently released OjO seated-scooters that operate through Explore Bike Share. Lime pulled its scooters from the streets in October, and although they didn’t provide concrete reasons for the move, they did mention that in the winter, the size of Lime’s fleet can’t compete.

The companies promoted that the scooters are here to help folks make their connections. When the Bolt Chariot scooters came in, they claimed that addressing transportation needs and gaps of “under-served neighborhoods where there isn’t transportation or infrastructure to the interior” is part of the company’s philosophy. Ideally, this would mean connecting people from where they are to public transit (i.e. the closest bus line, train, subway). This could work in cities with more robust and well-funded public transit, but in Memphis, where we have an under-funded bus system, it just doesn’t cut it.

The city’s now-permanent Shared Mobility Program, which kicked off in June after a pilot phase, is planning on expanding the fleet of micro-mobility vehicles in Memphis to 3,000. During the announcement of the program, a city spokesperson made the statement that “More options means more access.” There definitely will be more companies to pick and choose from, but these options do not necessarily mean more access. It’s actually about who has access to those options.

When you look at a map of the city and see where these scooters are located, the “who” becomes clearer to define. So, I downloaded the Bird, Bolt, and Spin apps to look at their scooter distribution. I didn’t go into Explore Bike Share because their scooters and bicycles have docking stations. I also found that the organization is more transparent about their ridership and data than the scooter companies.

A majority of the scooters are where you would expect: Downtown, Medical District, University District, and Midtown. Bolt and Spin have a handful of scooters in neighborhoods outside of this corridor but not in significant numbers compared to Downtown.

If you put the scooter locations over a map that shows the percent of workers by ZIP code who use public transportation to get to work, it aligns almost perfectly. The ZIP codes along the east to west corridor that runs in the middle of the city (the districts mentioned earlier) have significantly fewer people who are dependent on public transportation. North and south of this corridor have higher concentrations of people who depend on the buses to get to work. But you won’t find many scooters in these areas.

Scooter companies will come and go, and it’s pretty clear that they tend to stick to high-traffic tourist areas. I’m interested to see what data these companies will report back through the Shared Mobility Program. In the next year, we will hopefully have the numbers to see how many people are using the scooters and where, and we’ll also know whether or not they are using them to connect to a bus line.

If micro-mobility companies are coming in, then public mass transit must be built up along with shared-mobility options. Independent of scooters and other micro-mobility connections, we must have reliable bus lines that can get Memphians to and from work, school, and hospitals. We need public transportation that is sustainable, reliable, and truly accessible to all Memphians.

Aylen Mercado is a brown, queer, Latinx chingona and Memphian exploring race and ethnicity in the changing U.S. South.