Tag: MATA

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News News Blog

MATA To Revamp Bus Service

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and the city have agreed upon a short-range transit plan that they say will improve service and make the system easier to understand and use.

The plan calls for MATA to straighten out routes to increase the frequency of bus service. They also plan to add several express routes linking downtown with the eastern parts of Shelby County. MATA and the mayor’s office have agreed that the improvements in the short-range plan can be made without significantly increasing operating costs, and they should be in place by the end of the year.

“It’s essential that we have a solid transportation plan that allows people to get to work on time and helps the city recruit businesses to Memphis,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.

Additionally, MATA is studying world-class transit systems in other cities to determine the best long-range plan for Memphis transit.

This announcement comes just weeks before MATA plans to cut some underused routes and redirect others. A public hearing on those cuts was held at Central Station on Tuesday, and the MATA board of directors will vote on those cuts at the end of the month. 

At a Memphis City Council meeting last month, MATA President Ron Garrison said the bus system would “collapse” unless the agency was able to get additional operating funds and capital to buy new buses.

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News The Fly-By

MATA Plans Trolley Return

CREDIT: Memphis Area Transit Authority

While the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is building a trolley system “that will never allow anything unsafe to happen again,” its leaders say they are working even harder on procuring new buses to replenish its aging fleet.

Two weeks ago, the Memphis City Council approved MATA’s purchase of a fully restored trolley that looks identical to MATA’s familiar, larger trolleys. The price tag was just north of $950,000, but the council also allowed MATA access to its full, current-year trolley budget of $2.25 million.

MATA president Ron Garrison said the move will leverage the $2.25 million into the equivalent of $11 million to purchase three or four trolley cars, after a set of funding maneuvers through state and federal channels.

Memphis Area Transit Authority

MATA has purchased this rebuilt, vintage trolley to add to its fleet.

Limited rail trolley service could begin again here, he said, with a couple of trolleys working in conjunction with the trolley buses. Those buses could be retired if MATA had 10 rail trolleys up and running, Garrison said.

MATA has the resources to rebuild or buy “nine, maybe 10” trolleys at present, he said. To operate at full capacity, the Memphis trolley rail system requires 20 trolleys.

Trolleys are just one piece of the overall fix for the Memphis rail system. The other pieces are parts of the rail system itself. Garrison said since the trolley system was closed in 2014 after two trolley cars caught fire, MATA has repaired and upgraded portions of the trolley tracks, the catenary lines that run over the trolleys and provide them power, and power stations along the entire rail system.

“What we’re putting in place is a system that will never allow anything unsafe to happen again,” Garrison said. “What we’re putting in place is what the rest of the country will look to when they want to do vintage trolley start-ups.”

Garrison said he’d like rail trolleys to run again here this spring but said “it’s going to be much longer than that,” noting it would be “foolhardy” to come up with a date for the trolleys’ return.

Over the past few months, members of the Memphis Bus Riders Association (MBRA) and others have voiced frustrations on the perception that MATA has prioritized trolleys over buses.

“Just last month a bus was burning on the news,” said Cynthia Bailey, MBRA co-chair. “You only get so many favors from these legislators, and I’m afraid they’ve been spent getting funds for the trolleys. We don’t see any five-year plan to get millions for these buses like they’ve done for the trolleys.”

Garrison said he’s aware of the criticism, but he said that as hard as MATA is working on getting trolleys, the agency is working even harder to purchase new buses, calling that project “our main goal.”

MATA needs about 55 new buses for its fleet, an order that would cost about $24 million, Garrison said. To get there, Garrison said he’s talked with Mayor Jim Strickland about the need and will soon meet with individual city council members. Also, MATA is investigating new sources of funds to buy the buses.

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News The Fly-By

Transportation Forum Finds Citizens Want More Pedestrian-Friendly City

Crumbling sidewalks, underfunded public transit, and disconnected bike lanes were at the top of the list for Memphians who attended a public forum at the Benjamin L. Hooks Library last week to discuss the transportation needs of the city.

“We need to keep the role of the government in mind,” said Dennis Lynch, the transportation chair for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club, which hosted the discussion. “If the things we’re doing aren’t for the people, they aren’t the right things. We need to push for the things we think we need.”

Attendees brainstormed various ideas to alleviate what many believe is a situation in dire need of a solution. Among the proposals: buses that run on time and to more locations on a frequent schedule; sidewalks and streets that are safe for all citizens; more availability to rent tandem bicycles; for Congressman Steve Cohen to support the local allocation of federal funds and allow more local power over how those funds are spent; and to install more parking meters to encourage people to use public transit as a way to save money.

Lynch said the input would be taken to Mayor Jim Strickland, the Memphis City Council, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), and the Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Broken, uneven sidewalks and missing curb ramps leave those like Steve Collins, who is disabled and relies on his wheelchair and public transportation, at a disadvantage.

Collins’ route is contained to Poplar, where he’s pinpointed at least 19 “problem spots.” At Poplar and White Station, Collins said there are four corners and only two curb cuts, which forces him to travel into the street.

The issue of damaged sidewalks is not so black and white. In Memphis, property owners are responsible for sidewalk repair. A 1967 city law states that owners of properties abutting any public street are “required to provide and maintain adjacent to his or her property a sidewalk.” The city has made efforts to assist low-income residents, but the problem is still open-ended for Memphians like Collins.

“We have met with the city about this, and they tell us that it is the state’s problem because [Poplar] is a state highway,” Collins said. “The state says it is a city problem because it is Poplar Avenue. My question is this: If I die at that intersection, where does my widow send the bill for the funeral?”

Kyle Wagenschutz, bicycle and pedestrian program manager for the city of Memphis, said obstacles within funding resources, or the lack thereof, can leave “some things waiting in the wings.” Bike lanes, for instance, are routinely added as streets are repaved. However, the city will soon begin construction on a grant-funded project to update more roads with bike lanes.

“These are all roads that are not being repaved but that new bike lanes are going to be installed without repaving,” Wagenschutz said. “All of those were chosen based on the idea of connecting the missing pieces and missing segments of the network.”

Developing dedicated sources to fund MATA is key, said Suzanne Carlson, Innovate Memphis’ transportation and mobility project manager.

“There’s a lack of funding to go around,” Carlson said. “Right now, [MATA] goes to city council and [receives] federal funds. Some are guaranteed, and some are competitive that they might not get every year.”

Though they have continually received budget cuts over the last few years, MATA President Ron Garrison said they are “in the process of rebuilding MATA.” After the 2010 census numbers were released, MATA lost upwards of $1.6 million dollars in federal funding as well as some state funding. But this fiscal year, they have a “tiny bit of money” left over, Garrison said. Additionally, Garrison said MATA is implementing new ideas such as partnering with Uber and TransLoc.

“Over the next two years, you’re going to see tremendous improvements,” Garrison said. “Over the next five years, we can make MATA a great transit system again. We’re fixing on-time performance, changing the culture, and correctly funding our facilities, buses, and transit stops so that our customers have a very positive experience.”

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Opinion The Last Word

Wuz That … ?

CREDIT: GilbertC | Dreamstime.com

When my brother was a little guy, he’d look through the new Sears Wish Book and make his Christmas list. He didn’t write it down, it went more like, “I want everything on these two pages except that. That’s for girls.” As an adult, my list is just as easily made. I’d like to have the freedom of a toddler to run around and look adorable without pants as opposed to being asked to “leave quietly” because I’m “disturbing the other customers in the cheese shop.”

But I am nothing if not a giver, so as I begin making a list of presents I will not buy my family and friends this holiday and instead order something at the last minute from Amazon Prime because, hey, free shipping and no pants, I have also made a list of things I want to give my beloved Memphis. Understand, I’m not offering what you fancy types call “solutions.” This is pure slacktivism. I’m just saying what I want and leaving it up to people who actually know about stuff and how to do it. I’m a facilitator. The ideas guy, if you will.

GilbertC | Dreamstime.com

My first wish is that we find another name for the flyover. That’s what it is, not what it is to us. Your old beater in high school had a name, right? Mine was the Blue Booger. I have proposed to several people that we start calling it the Grinder. We’re the home of the Grindhouse, right? And don’t you grind your teeth into meal when you’re stuck at the junction? I got those sort of blank, polite looks like when a kid in church tells the nice lady next to him that morning his daddy stubbed his toe and screamed, “JESUS HORATIO CHRIST ON A RAFT!” Then, once I drove up it, I decided on the Tower of Terror. Y’all ridden that thing yet? It’s cool as all get out. Just don’t look down. But last night I decided that Memphis should never be without the Zippin Pippin, so we could call it that.

When driving along Winchester, my husband and I play a game I call Wuz That. Wuz that a Circuit City? Wuz that a grocery store? Thousands upon thousands of square feet of empty buildings just sit there. Meanwhile, a show called Memphis Beat was filmed in Louisiana. Work with me here. I’ll tie these things together. I think Memphis should be Movie City. I don’t pretend to understand the problem with giving the film industry the kind of breaks Georgia and Louisiana do, especially since we threw so much cash at another industry that upper management dances around with their tax credits making it rain in the boardroom. Those buildings could be soundstages, post-production, animation, craft services (we are a food city, after all), whatever. Memphis has a few tall buildings to be leapt in single bounds, swampy areas for battle, Rhodes College — especially in fall — looks like the perfect New England school where two awkward nerds can fall in love. Then there are those production facilities I was talking about where giant purple horses can battle blue lizards to colonize Des Moines and turn Americans into Ood-like creatures who wail to communicate. But I don’t want to give too much of my screenplay away.

Cars are on my list, too. Get off the pot and build a damn parking garage for the zoo. At least allow me a bus route there that doesn’t take me to Collierville first. My husband, being a budget- and environmentally-conscious fellow, wanted to commute by bus to work. The commute involves starting in East Memphis, making three turns, and going straight down Getwell a few miles. Most of his commute is a straight shot. Right past a bus terminal. The 8-mile commute takes about 15-20 minutes in the car. By bus? TWO HOURS AND TWO MINUTES. In fairness, there is another route to get him to work by 7:30 a.m. that only takes an hour and 52 minutes. I understand that a public transportation system won’t expand and improve if people don’t use it. I also understand that if it doesn’t expand and improve, people won’t use it. If the Greenline has taught us anything, it’s that if you build it, they will come. And please, for the love of Pete, hurry up and make those trolley tracks of use for something other than getting your bike tire stuck in them and breaking a collarbone. Unless a secret cabal of Memphis’ world-class orthopedic professionals are in cahoots with MATA to shift business their way. I’m all for revenue, and I like secret plans.

Also: Boscos must never ever never take the black bean and goat cheese tamale off the menu. I’m willing to trade renaming the flyover for that one.

Susan Wilson also writes for yeahandanotherthing.com and likethedew.com.

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About “The Dark Side,” our cover story on fall beers …

The Flyer staff at the end of the day’s tasting:

“I think I can see the air.” — CM

“Who knew the asphalt was so soft? I mean, I’m lying here and it is sooooo sofffftttt.” — AP

“I’M KING OF THE WORLD!!!” — CS

“I could take down Ronda Rousey. She ain’t nothing!” — BP

“F**kin’ lightweights.” — BV

Charlie Eppes

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Game Changer in Missouri” …

I think the most important part of the story is in the last couple paragraphs. College athletes hold the majority of the power, and I think this incident is the first real example we’ve had of that in this age of the TV deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m sure some similar form of strike will happen soon to get athletes a bigger piece of the pie.

This Missouri thing seems to be a symptom of a much bigger problem with my generation. The millennials in general seem to believe they are entitled to not being offended. The minute someone says or does something that’s slightly off-putting, my generation calls to arms and demands someone be fired, even if that person really had no impact on what was said or done.

Racism sucks. However, I don’t get what they expect the university president to do about some individual actions, some of which were occurring off campus. I guess maybe he should’ve sponsored a few more diversity events. But that wouldn’t do a damn thing to prevent the bigot from doing exactly what he was doing anyway. This is a school that, despite only being seven percent black and despite being filled with a lot of conservative rural kids, did elect a black, gay student body president. This is a university that generally backed Michael Sam. If there are a handful of bigots on campus, how does that make Missouri different from anywhere else in the country?

The real world isn’t a nice place. No one is going to hold your hand, and you’re going to have to deal with ignorant people.

GroveReb84

About Alexandra Pusateri’s story, “Three Sculptures Celebrate Binghampton History” …

I’m all for hiring the best person for a job, but it seems odd that a city that won’t hire better police or fire personnel because they don’t live here keeps contracting public art executed by people with no roots or ties to our city.

ALJ2

Can you imagine a great world-class city only commissioning local artists? With all due respect, your comment is the definition of provincial.

BP

This city is filled with amazing artists. To say that the city is better represented by someone who barely knows the history of the place is insulting to those who invest their lives in this city, to say the least. We’re trying to attract settlers, not locusts.

FUNKbrs

A nice mix is healthy. I’m thankful it doesn’t work the other way around and Memphis artists can compete in other cities. I’d hate to think the ones with skills to throw down on a public scale would be limited to work that’s available locally.

Chris Davis

About MATA …

After living in a medium-size city (150,000 people) in Germany for a number of years, I noticed that their public transportation system outdoes any in the U. S. Make me the czar of MATA!

First, rename the main station; “terminal” is a bad name. Clean the bathrooms. Add a serving counter where one can sit and have a coffee and snacks — there or to go. Keep prices down; a dollar for a canned drink is way too much for poor people who have to ride a bus.

Put in a machine where people can buy bus tickets. (Think Coke machine.) Add a machine to each bus so passengers can swipe their cards at the back door. Duh! And there should be easy-to-read maps of the entire system at all real bus stops.

Finally, print out 10,000 month-long passes, and give them to people waiting in line at unemployment offices. You’re welcome.

Robert Smith

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News The Fly-By

Bus Riders’ Union and Bus Drivers’ Union Team Up

Less than a week after the announced partnership between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713 (the local bus drivers’ union) and the Memphis Bus Riders Union (MBRU), Congressman Steve Cohen announced that $2.6 million in federal funds, secured through the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), would be allocated to fund three electric trolleys for downtown Memphis.

Members of the MBRU congregated at their monthly meeting at the Memphis Center for Independent Living said the funding felt like a familiar slap in the face; so familiar, that the funding announcement invoked little surprise, and the discussion quickly refocused to the litany of problems faced by everyday Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) users.

“When you put money [only] downtown where the trolleys are, you’re forgetting about your citizens,” said Cynthia Bailey, outreach coordinator for MBRU. “You’re forgetting about the people who need transportation to get to jobs and destinations.”

The narrative of bus riders and drivers drawing attention to unmet transit needs while money continues to pour into the trolley system is hardly new, but with each announcement of trolley funding, members of both unions have become increasingly desperate to look for solutions.

According to both Bailey and Sammie Hunter, MBRU’s co-chair, the bus riders’ union has little faith left in MATA’s CEO and general manager Ron Garrison, who they said showed initial interest in solving MATA’s problems but has not followed through with solutions.

“We took his word, but I think he’s all about the money instead of the citizens,” Bailey said. Hunter nodded in agreement and added, “I never trusted him from the beginning, and now his true colors are coming out. He’s not about the citizens.”

According to Bailey, if both the MBRU and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713 (ATU) are able to meet with Mayor-elect Jim Strickland and bypass Garrison, it will be a victory.

“I think [Stickland will] understand us better,” Bailey said. “The ATU has experience with the board on the inside, and we have experience from the riders’ perspective on the outside. If we’re merged together as one organization, it will have a big impact.”

Local 713’s business manager William Barber not only echoes MBRU’s concerns but is also eager that the union merger will erase the long-standing perception of blame-placing that pits the bus drivers against the bus riders.

“What I want our public to realize, is that it’s not drivers against the public, it’s management against the public,” Barber said. “We want everybody to join us, listen to our rally points, get on board with the unions and MATA so we can make this city better for everybody, not just for a certain group of people.”

Barber is also quick to point out that he’s highly in favor of trolley drivers having jobs. “We want everyone to benefit,” Barber said.

Garrison said that he wants to keep an open dialogue with both unions.

“I think to the extent that we can make ourselves available, my staff and I would be happy to sit down with them to work through their concerns. I’ve tried to meet with them a number of times and have,” said Garrison, who noted that there have been no additional funds spent on the trolleys except for specific funds that can only be used on trolleys.

Additionally, the funds recently granted by TDOT could mean that the current buses used in lieu of trolleys on Main could be redistributed to MATA’s fleet.

“I welcome anyone to talk to our mayor, and I would be glad to do that with or without them,” Garrison said. “I would like to partner with them to get additional funds.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

MATA Launches New Smartphone App

Locating a city bus is about to be as easy as requesting an Uber or Lyft car.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is launching a smartphone app that will bring real-time bus data to customers.

North Carolina-based TransLoc has developed an app called TransLoc Rider that shows buses as they move along routes and displays the arrival times for those buses. The app is already being used in other cities like Gainesville, Florida, and San Jose, California.

Locally, the University of Memphis has been using TransLoc to track its shuttle service for students, and that partnership helped open the door to MATA.

Josh Cohen, director of strategy and partnerships at TransLoc, said the company is focused on expanding public transit to be the first choice of users, rather than a “last resort.”

To TransLoc, perception is part of the problem. Waiting for the bus can feel almost 50 percent longer than reality, according to a University of Washington study that focused on transit waiting times. In the study, the commuters who used an app called OneBusAway, which tracks transit systems in real-time, did not have that issue.

“The more people who are riding transit, the better our communities are,” Cohen said. “More people are getting around cities and communities more effectively and cost-effectively. [The app] helps on a micro level — people don’t have to stand out in the rain waiting for the bus — and the macro level, so that the more people who use transit, the less traffic we all face.”

Chooch Pickard, who sits on the MATA Board of Commissioners, said the app will make Memphis more competitive with other cities in terms of public transportation. Increasing ridership is also a potential benefit for MATA. He said the organization has run into issues attracting Memphians who choose, rather than need, to ride the bus system.

“I think it’ll definitely increase ridership,” Pickard said. “In order to provide the best service for the city for everyone, we need to increase ridership from everyone. A lot of people who have other options that are not transit-dependent will be more likely to use MATA if they have a tool like this.”

According to Pickard, it’s millennials and baby boomers, both of which make up the largest populations in the United States, who need to become part of the focus as the organization expands.

“Right now, funding for MATA from the city and use of MATA is really focused on transit-dependent customers,” Pickard said. “If we want to be progressive, keep up with other cities, and be able to attract millennials to Memphis, we have to have a first-class transit system.”

According to the American Public Transportation Association’s study of 1,000 millennials on transit usage, real-time updates were the second-most wanted feature of public transit, at 55 percent (The most-wanted feature was “more reliable systems,” at 61 percent.).

Pickard said he initially proposed a MATA app five years ago but met resistance from the previous administration. MATA Traveler, the text-message service that was designed to let riders know up-to-the-minute bus arrival times, wasn’t “user-friendly enough,” he said.

“We need to be creating a transit system that takes care of everybody’s needs, from young to old, transit-dependent to those who choose to ride the bus,” Pickard said.

Categories
News News Blog

Man Shot on MATA Bus, Police Searching for Shooter

CREDIT: Preston Johnson

A man was shot on the Route 19-Vollintine bus this afternoon, as the bus was pulling into the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) North End Terminal.

The man, who was shot in the abdomen, was transported to the Regional Medical Center in critical condition. The shooter escaped down Second Street, and police are searching for him. The two men got into a verbal dispute on the bus, before one man pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot the other man, according to MATA spokesperson Alison Burton.

“As the bus pulled down [into the terminal], people were screaming and asking the driver to let them off. She opened the door, and the suspect ran north on Second Street. They’re still looking for him,” Burton said.

She said MATA has diverted customers to a side street to catch their buses while the police investigate the active crime scene. Route 19 is still running, but they’re using another bus. There are disruptions in service, Burton said.

Preston Johnson

Preston Johnson

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Council Votes Final Passage of Ordinance to Remove Forrest Statue” …

If the state somehow managed to keep the statue from moving, what would stop the city from building something that encircles the entire statue, blocking the view of it from all sides, some sort of architectural monument built over the existing one? That would be a fun thumb in the eye, if state law somehow kept the city from being able to relocate the statue.

GroveReb84

How about some kind of large art installation celebrating gay rights surrounding the old Wizard of the Saddle? Maybe with lots of leather …

Packrat

Watkins Overton was a noted segregationist during his time as Memphis mayor. No way we should have our “crown jewel park” named after him. May I suggest “Zoo Overflow Parking Park” as an adequate replacement name.

Midtown Mark

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “WMC’s Dave Brown to Retire” …

I will miss his calm approach to something everywhere else played to maximize anxiety. I hope his successors stand their ground to continue that approach.

Brunetto Latini

Good luck to Dave in his retirement. He will be sadly missed. He is a legend in Memphis. And Ron Childers will do an excellent job serving in Dave’s position. Many thanks to both of you.

Alina K. Kaiser

About Bianca Phillips’ story on the Steven Askew case, “Switching Stories” …

My question is: Why didn’t the cops run his plates and see what they could find out about the person in the car? I know from personal experience that a good-sized police department in Texas would not pull over anyone unless they could run wants and warrants on his car first. (I was the consultant called in to fix the wants and warrants problem.) That’s because they wanted to know if it was a person with no record, a dangerous criminal, if the car was stolen, etc., before they approached the vehicle. Had they done that, they could have determined he had no criminal record as well as a pistol permit, and maybe not banged on his window while he was minding his own business and sleeping in his car in a bad part of town.

He was found dead with a cigar in his hand, not a gun, and the last time I read about this, the gun was on the seat next to him, not in his lap. The cop who didn’t request that Askew’s gun to be checked to see if it had been fired, even after hearing the inconsistent statements from the cops, should not be investigating anything. The cops’ explanation has never passed the smell test, and still doesn’t. Maybe some day someone will write a book or make a movie about the Steven Askew case and get the attention it deserves.

GWCarver

About Alexandra Pusateri’s story, “Bus vs. Trolley” …

As chairman/founder of Citizens For Better Service, I have been a leading voice for bus riders for more than 22 years. While I do not dispute the argument of the Memphis Bus Rider Union on the subject of “buses vs. trolleys,” the trolley service is so inextricably tied to downtown Memphis that MATA has no other choice but to spend money on replacing trolleys. Without the trolley service, downtown Memphis will continue to suffer a financial crisis in which workers are laid off and businesses lose customers and will be forced to relocate or close.

MATA needs to streamline the current administration, cut administrative costs, and stay out of projects that have nothing to do with public transportation. MATA needs to listen to the concerns of bus riders, who are having a hard time understanding why MATA is investing millions of dollars in Central Station while they are riding on hot, overcrowded buses that take up to two hours to get to their destination.

Sadly, more funding for public transportation is not a top priority for the city or a major issue in this election season.

Johnnie Mosley

Correction:

In the Aug. 13th issue “Bus vs. Trolley” story, we printed that the trolleys cost $1.8 million. They cost $1.1 million. We regret the error.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Bus Rider Union Calls For New Buses, Fewer Trolleys

Using the hashtag #transitNOTtrolleys, the Memphis Bus Riders Union (MBRU) has taken to social media with a call for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) to focus on improving or replacing buses rather than spending money on replacing trolleys.

In July, MATA approved the purchase of eight rubber-wheeled, trolley-like buses for $1,178,256. But Bennett Foster, an organizer with MBRU, said the focus should be on remedying recent complaints of overcrowding and a lack of air conditioning on buses, as well as buses breaking down in the middle of routes.

MBRU organizers recently met with Mayor A C Wharton regarding the transit system’s budget, suggesting a prioritization of buses and bus facilities — both of which, the organization says, are lacking.

“We met with [MATA President] Ron Garrison a few months ago, and he told us there are just dozens of buses parked on his lot that are not operating, as well as buses that are beyond their useful life,” Foster said. “Our campaign right now is centered around the funding that we’re getting for trolley renovations and trolley infrastructure. It’s inequitable.”

Alison Burton, marketing and service director for MATA, said there is an open dialogue with MBRU regarding transit issues. She said MATA executives shared mutual concerns over the poor state of the William Hudson Transit Center (previously the North End Terminal downtown), which is currently getting new paint and flooring.

While the union is happy to see MATA making improvements there, the focus of their latest campaign is MATA’s push for new trolleys, which union members say will take away money that could be used to fix other issues. In a fact sheet given to the mayor by the MBRU, the organization says more than two-thirds of the MATA’s capital funding will go toward new trolleys, when they believe it should go to replacing buses.

MATA admits that trolley ridership is way down, after the vintage trolley streetcars were temporarily replaced with trolley buses. MATA is still working to get the original trolley cars back online after several trolley fires, but there is no timeline for when that will happen. In the meantime, MATA will use the new trolley-like buses on the routes.

“We know trolley ridership is down 70 percent,” Burton said.

According to Burton, ridership is more than 35,000 per month on the bus “trolleys” downtown. But when the streetcars were up and running, ridership exceeded 125,000 riders per month.

Ron Garrison, president and general manager of MATA, says the trolleys are a challenge. And he agrees that MATA’s older buses should be replaced, but the budget is limited. He said MATA currently has 60 buses in use with mileage as high as 700,000. That’s 200,000 miles past when they should be retired, according to the Federal Transit Authority. More than two dozen have over 600,000 miles.

“This makes it very challenging to make the buses work as well as they could,” Garrison said. “I have money to replace three buses this year.”

And as buses get older and more miles are put on them, he added, they are more expensive to repair.

“We’ve reorganized our maintenance department,” Garrison said. “I hired a new director of bus maintenance and a new assistant. The department is much better. We’ve found ways we can save money, which we put right back into maintaining buses, but there’s only so much you can do with over 60 buses that are well past their useful life.”