Tag: MATA

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Harris Amends County Plan to Fund MATA

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris announced today that he is amending the previously announced plan to invest $10 million in transit here.

Harris presented a plan to the Shelby County Commission last month that would generate $10 million in funding each year for the Memphis Area Transit Authority.

The original plan would have implemented an annual $145 registration fee for households’ third vehicle and beyond. Harris said at the time this would only affect about 17 percent of residents here.

But, after meeting with the public and receiving feedback on the plan, Harris said Thursday that instead of requiring households to pay $145 for each another vehicle over the second, households would only have to pay one yearly $145 fee.

“We have been pleased by the willingness of residents to engage in a conversation about how public transit could help lift thousands out of poverty and preserve our shared environment,” Harris said. “We have had many great suggestions from the residents, including tailoring the plan to have an even more narrow impact.”

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Alternative vehicles, such as motorcycles, trailers, antique cars, and boats will not require fees.

Under the amended plan, Harris said the county will still provide $10 million a year to MATA.

“The investment would still have zero impact in most families,” Harris said. “This plan does not call for a broad tax or fee on all citizens…. Furthermore, the idea is to try as best we can to tie the solution the problem. We know that traffic congestion and car emissions are problems that will only get worse. We believe that households or business with thee cars are using that infrastructure more and producing more wear and tear. Our proposal focuses on that problem or cars on the road while supporting a solution to congestion and emissions, public transit.”

This is the county’s first effort to provide dedicated funding for MATA. The plan is slated to go before the county commission by February 2020.


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MATA to Demo Protective Shields for Drivers

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

MATA demos protective shields for drivers

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is demoing a new security measure meant to keep drivers and passengers safe.

The agency will introduce bus shields, or a sliding glass window that puts a partial barrier between drivers and passengers, for a trial period beginning next week, the agency announced Tuesday at its Airways Transit Center.

Gary Rosenfeld, CEO of MATA said bus shields, having been in the transit industry for a while, are not a new concept. MATA is exploring installing them now after the recent request by a group of bus drivers.

Compared to other transit agencies across the country, Rosenfeld said “relatively speaking,” MATA has not seen a high number of incidents.

“We’re always concerned about passenger and employee safety aboard our buses,” Rosenfeld said. “That’s our number one priority at all times. We recognize that incidents do occur from time to time. There has been no real uptick in incidents, but, nonetheless, we recognize that there are incidents we need to take affirmative action to try and deal with them.”

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The idea of the shield is to deter passengers from physically interfering with the bus operator. At roughly $5,000 a piece, Rosenfeld said the shields are a “tremendous capital investment,” but that MATA is “willing to invest in safety.”

“If we can be proactive in this situation, that’s great,” he said. “If it demonstrates that it prevents something bad from happening, even better. So it’s just a matter of working hand in hand with out bus drivers.”

For now just two of MATA’s buses will be equipped with shields during the demonstration period as MATA determines whether or not they are effective.

The demonstration period will continue “as long as it takes,” Rosenfeld said. This will give MATA time to collect data on the number and severity of incidents involving drivers when a shield is in place in order to make an “informed decision” on whether or not to add them to each of MATA’s approximate 120 fixed-route buses.

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MATA Bus Drivers Sue for Alleged Unpaid Overtime

CREDIT: Facebook/MATA

Facebook/MATA

Bus drivers with the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) are suing over alleged unpaid overtime wages.

The lawsuit was filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee by Donati Law, PLLC on behalf of the drivers. The defendant is MidSouth Transportation Management, Inc, (MTM) the Ohio-based company that MATA contracts to hire and manage its drivers. The company is a subsidiary of First Transit.

The drivers are alleging that the company has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay them required overtime wages. The FLSA mandates that employees are paid at least 1.5 times their regular pay rate after exceeding 40 hours of work in a week.

Carlos Boyland, one of the drivers in the lawsuit, has been working as a bus driver here since 1997. He regularly works 100-hour weeks, but isn’t paid full overtime compensation, according to the complaint. Instead, the company paid Boyland and other unnamed drivers their regular rate and, at times, half their regular rate.

“[The] defendant does not and has not made a good faith effort to comply with the FLSA,” the complaint reads. “[The] defendant knew plaintiffs and the punitive collective worked overtime without proper compensation, and it willfully failed and refused to pay.”

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MATA bus drivers have been bringing concerns to MTM management about the failure to pay proper overtime wages for more than 20 years, according to William Ryan, one of the attorneys for the drivers.

“We are hopeful to come to a resolution that fairly compensates these hardworking individuals who work long hours to keep our city connected and accessible,” Ryan said. 

The firm is seeking back pay and liquidated damages for drivers who have been denied overtime pay within the past three years.

Nicole Lacey, MATA’s chief communications officer said the agency could not comment on the allegations at this time, as the litigation is ongoing.

First Transit, the parent company of MTM did not immediately respond to the Flyer’s request for comment.

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Harris Presents ‘Landmark’ Funding Plan for MATA

CREDIT: Memphis Area Transit Authority

Memphis Area Transit Authority

Mayor Harris wants to give MATA $10 million.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris presented a plan to the Shelby County Commission Wednesday to generate $10 million in funding each year for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).

In the past, MATA has said it needs an additional $30 million in funding to build a more robust, frequent, and reliable system.


Gary Rosenfeld, CEO of MATA said Wednesday that the mayor’s proposal is a “landmark plan” that would “dramatically change the trajectory of funding for public transit in this community.”

Harris said the plan would have “zero impact” on most families and does not include an increase in property taxes. Instead, the plan would implement an annual $145 registration fee for households’ third vehicle and beyond. Harris said this would only affect about 17 percent of residents here.

“Today I presented out #Future4Transit plan to the Shelby County Commission,” Harris wrote on Twitter. “If adopted it will have a big impact on transit.”

If the commission adopts the plan, the county would also allocate 1.5 percent, or $1 million of its capital improvement budget, to transit.

Harris anticipates the additional funds will be used to implement recommendations laid out in the Transit Vision 3.0 Plan, such as an express route to the airport and increased frequency on MATA’s most popular routes.

The additional $10 million would have an economic impact of more than $40 million, Harris said, citing expanded job access and a reduction in car accidents.

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The mayor also said the plan would have a significant impact on poverty, noting there are 15,000 available jobs in the county: “More frequent transit helps people get a job and keep a job.”

The transit investment would also have a “big impact on our shared environment.” Harris said. With more frequent and reliable transit options, there would be more ridership and a reduction of automobile emissions by thousands of tons.

“Everyone has to play a role in trying to preserve our shared environment, even local officials,” Harris said. “We will all enjoy the benefits of clean air, reduced congestion, and a reduction in poverty. This sustainable investment in transit helps achieve all those objectives.”

Harris is looking for the commission to vote on the plan by February 2020. County approval could be contingent upon MATA giving the county a place on its board.

Earlier this year, the county commission approved $2.5 million of the county’s 2020 budget going toward MATA and related infrastructure improvements. This was the first investment in public transit by the county.

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County Looks to Make First Ever Investment in MATA

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

The county is looking to make its first ever investment in public transit, beginning this fiscal year.

Five Shelby County Commissioners pushed Tuesday to amend Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ budget proposal to include funding for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA).

The amendment, sponsored by Commissioners Tami Sawyer, Van Turner, Eddie Jones, Edmund Ford Jr., and Mickell M. Lowery, would allow for $2.5 million in county funds to be allocated to MATA “to support improvement of transportation services provided by MATA.”

The funding is contingent on MATA providing two board seats to the board of commissioners and final approval by the commission. 

Harris has previously said that he would be presenting a proposal for MATA funding to the commission in September.

But, commissioners like Sawyer said it’s important to begin funding MATA now. The $2.5 million of proposed funding became available after it was left over from $5 million set aside for the county election commission, according to Sawyer.

Sawyer said Tuesday that “this isn’t a formula for how we continue to fund MATA, but it’s a start.”

“In conversations that many of us have had with representatives of MATA and representatives of the community and the mayor’s administration themselves, we know that this is something that people want to see now,” Sawyer said. “But also we have to figure out one, what can we really do in this amount of time? And two, once the county gets into the transportation game, what ability will we have to participate in the oversight?”

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Nicole Lacey, chief communications officer for MATA, said that “yesterday’s action by the Shelby County Commission is a positive step in the right direction for Shelby County Government to begin investing in public transit.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority executive team looks forward to continued dialogue with the Shelby County Commission and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris regarding the possibilities of funding that could begin this fiscal year.”

In April, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland included in his proposed 2020 budget an additional $2.5 million in funding for MATA for a total of $29,170,000. The mayor said then that would bring the total funding increases for MATA to $5 million since he took office in 2016.


In the past, MATA officials have said that in order to provide a more frequent, reliable, and robust system, the agency needs an additional $30 million a year.

With the additional funding, Lacey said MATA will pursue the recommendations laid out in the Transit Vision Plan — a piece of the Memphis 3.0 plan.

Lacey said the plan includes more frequency, weekend and evening service, and new and redesigned bus routes that help people connect across the city and county.

Members of the Memphis Bus Riders Union (MBRU) said the city’s current proposal for MATA funding might not be enough to pay for new buses, routes, or service hours.

Justin Davis of the MBRU said the city and county governments can’t keep putting off a large investment in transit “if we want to increase ridership and improve MATA’s public perception.”

“If MATA does get that new funding for fiscal year 2020, we want to see it going to operations first: more bus routes, more frequent service, and more service on nights and weekends,” Davis said. “But if MATA doesn’t get a significant investment, we’re worried that they will be pushed to cut service again to balance their budget — just like what happened last fall.”

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MATA Head:Trolleys Have Set Stage For Success in First Year

In three weeks, it will have been one year since the Main Street trolley line has been revived, and the head of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) said it’s met nearly all expectations so far.

President and CEO of MATA, Gary Rosenfeld said since the steel-wheel trolleys returned to the tracks after a four-year absence, there have been no real issues with the line. The five-car system has been running “smoothly” — other than one trolley car that hasn’t been able to be revived and put into service yet, he said.

“All and all the system is running pretty well for what we’ve been through,” he said. “It’s setting the stage for future successful years of service.”

The main issue is keeping those using the trolleys and those around it safe, Rosenfeld said. One precaution he advises pedestrians on the Main Street Mall to take is to avoid wearing headphones while walking near the trolley tracks: “We want everybody to be safe.”

There are red and white signs on the Mall instructing pedestrians to yield for the trolleys.


Ridership has been as expected, Rosenfeld said.There have been approximately 372,000 boardings since the service was reinstated on April 30th of last year.

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Rosenfeld said that number is in the “range of expectation,” and that he anticipates it rising in the summer months.

“We’ve certainly had respectable ridership,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s demonstration that the Main Street line is viable and that more lines will be viable in the future. The community has accepted the trolleys.”

As for the future, Rosenfeld said the goal is to bring back the Madison and Riverfront lines at some point. However, he said MATA has had trouble securing a vendor for trolley parts. That’s a “critical point in the flow chart,” Rosenfeld said.

“Until we get passed that critical point in flow chart, we’re not going to go one way or another,” Rosenfeld said. “The cars have to be refurbished or we’ll find some other method.The critical issue with the trolleys since the beginning of the recertification process has been safety.

“We’re not willing to compromise safety and we’re not going to sign a contract for the sake of signing a contract.”

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New Ad Hoc Committee Looking to Secure Funding for MATA

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

A hotel/motel, ride-hailing services, and green tax were among the future funding options for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) discussed at a new ad hoc transit committee’s first meeting Tuesday.

The city/county committee, chaired by former Memphis City Councilman and Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., also includes county commissioner Tami Sawyer, MATA’s CEO Gary Rosenfeld, Tom Needham of Shelby County Public Works, Innovate Memphis’ Suzanne Carlson, and Justin Davis of the Memphis Bus Riders’ Union (MBRU).

Tuesday, members of the MBRU presented several options for raising the additional $30 million Rosenfeld said MATA needs to improve its service and add an additional 200,000 hours of bus service.

Davis said the MBRU wanted to “open the conversation, keep it broad, and think outside the box” with “progressive” ideas that haven’t already been proposed, such as adding a tax or levying a fee on ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft — a move that the group cited has been successful in other cities, such as Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Other new proposals included a hotel/motel tax, rental car tax, and a green tax on carbon and cigarettes.

Davis said it’s important to look at solutions that are won’t “put the burden on backs of bus riders who are already spending most of their money on transit.” That’s why the bus riders’ union knocked previously proposed options of a sales tax surcharge, calling it “regressive.” The group believes this would disproportionately affect low income households.

MBRU also feels that Ford’s proposed transportation utility fee, which could yield up to $60 million a year, might be “unpopular with low income households.” Going forward, the transit committee will start looking at how much money each of the options would generate.

“It’s really nice that we’re at this point where the city and county are talking concretely about what are some things we can do to raise enough money to make MATA a good service,” Davis said.

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MATA Postpones Vote on Service Changes

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) board is postponing its vote on a set of service changes until after it assesses public feedback.

The MATA board of commissioners was originally set to vote on the proposed changes this week, but Nicole Lacey, MATA’s chief communications officer said the staff needs more time to review feedback collected at recent public meetings.

The vote is now scheduled for Thursday, October 25th at 3:30 p.m. at the MATA headquarters. If the board approves the service changes, they would now not go into effect until Sunday, December 9th.

Ahead of the October vote, Lacey said an updated list of service changes will be posted to the MATA website.

Originally, MATA proposed to make changes to about 30 routes. Some of the changes included limiting service on nights and weekends, as well as reducing frequency on certain routes.

The agency also planned to eliminate seven routes, including 31 Firestone, a demonstration route introduced last year to serve New Chicago in North Memphis.

Justin Davis, along with other members of the Memphis Bus Riders’ Union (MBRU) expressed concerns over the initial proposals, as they would have left areas like New Chicago, Boxtown, and Northhaven with “essentially have no transit service at all.”

“Memphis needs to have a wider conversation about how to fund transit that will fully serve the community’s needs,” Davis said. “A lot of people’s livelihoods are at stake.”

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MATA Official Says Rapid Bus Route Would Improve Whole System

A Memphis City Council committee Tuesday approved the closure of one lane on Second Street and one on BB King Boulevard as part of the city’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

John Lancaster, director of planning and Title VI officer at the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) said that bringing a BRT route to the city would be a “slam dunk.”

The area that the route would serve links the key corridors in the city, Lancaster said. “It would benefit everybody in the city from a transit perspective.”

“This improves the whole network,” Lancaster said. “Of the heart, Poplar and Union are like the main arteries. You improve that and you improve the whole system.” Poplar and Union would be part of the BRT but would not get lane closures. 

John Zeanah, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning & Development told the council committee that buses would come every three to four minutes on the route, which would run north and south on Second and BB King, and east and west on Union and Poplar, connecting Downtown to the University of Memphis. 

Zeanah said the buses would use the far-right lanes southbound on Second and and northbound BB King between Union and A.W. Willis.

Councilman Worth Morgan asked how the dedicated lanes would affect traffic, parking, and unloading on the two streets. Zeanah said the transit-only lanes wouldn’t inhibit the on-street parking area and curb parking for unloading on either street.

Morgan also asked how the rules for the new configuration would be enforced in order to keep automobile drivers out of the bus lanes. Zeanah said there would signage and striping on the street signifying the bus-only lanes.

Manny Belen, director of the city’s engineering office, said the locations of the stops along the route haven’t been defined yet and that the city will work with stakeholders along the streets to determine the best place to position stops so that they won’t interfere with business deliveries along the corridor.

Belen adds because the current traffic volume on Second and BB King is below capacity, he doesn’t foresee traffic issues arising with the proposed plan.

The full city council, along with the Tennessee Department of Transportation commissioner must approve the dedicated lane before the plan is implemented.

Don’t forget to tell us what you think.

Does Memphis need a rapid transit service from Downtown to the University of Memphis?

Yes, that’s a great idea.
Maybe, I’m on the fence.
No, funding for it could go to more vital routes.

MATA Official Says Rapid Bus Route Would Improve Whole System

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New Rapid Bus Route Could Mean Permanent Lane Closures on Second, BB King

One lane on both a portion of Second and BB King Boulevard could soon be dedicated solely for bus traffic, as the city prepares to introduce its first bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

A Memphis City Council committee will vote Tuesday on whether or not to allow for one transit-only lane southbound on Second and one northbound on BB King between Union and A.W. Willis.

The BRT route would run along Second, BB King, Poplar, and Union, connecting Downtown to the University of Memphis. No transit-dedicated lanes are planned for Union and Poplar.

Under state law, closing a lane for transit use has to be approved by both the local governing body and then the Tennessee Department of Transportation commissioner.

What are your thoughts?


Does Memphis need a rapid transit service from Downtown to the University of Memphis?

Yes, that’s a great idea.
Maybe, I’m on the fence.
No, funding for it could go to more vital routes.

New Rapid Bus Route Could Mean Permanent Lane Closures on Second, BB King