Tag: Memphis Area Transit Authority

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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

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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.”

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MATA Studies New Transit Options for Midtown

From the growing absence of the downtown and Midtown trolleys to the seemingly ever-present complaints about city bus services, getting around in Memphis without a car continues to be a struggle for many.

But the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) hired a consulting firm last year in an effort to improve service, at least for Midtown bus riders. The Midtown Area Connector (MAC) study, which is still underway, is a long-range study to help MATA discover better ways to connect Midtown with other areas of Memphis, either through a new transit service or by expanding on existing ones.

New transit services being considered are “bus rapid transit” or even rail service, which would be designed to reduce travel time, provide real-time travel information, or include dedicated bus lanes on city streets.

Earlier this month, MATA held a meeting with Livable Memphis to update bus riders on the study’s progress. The consultants have identified seven routes, which they narrowed down from 26 routes, that are the most highly trafficked and in need of the most improvement.

In addition to allowing MATA to provide an update on the study, the meeting also gave bus riders an opportunity to comment on the current operations of MATA. Many riders brought up the fact that the routes chosen for the study neglected to reach low-income areas of Memphis. MATA’s use of its funding was also brought into question, in addition to questions about why some bus lines or services had been limited in recent months.

Concerns about whether it was possible to bring new trolley lines into the picture while the old lines are still not operating were also aired. MATA did recently announce that trolley-like buses would begin running downtown in August, but there’s no word on when those will come to Midtown or when the real trolleys will be back. However, MATA officials reassured those attending the meeting that they do plan to get the trolleys going eventually.

“We fully intend to have the trolleys back on Madison at some point. We can’t commit to a time at this moment,” said Tom Fox, deputy general manager of MATA.

Some at the meeting expressed concern about the lack of ability to check on the time of bus arrivals. The MAC study is looking at providing new bus shelters that include a system for real-time bus arrival estimates. But for now, MATA officials are encouraging riders to use TransLoc Rider, their new bus times app for smartphones.

Alison Burton, MATA’s director of marketing and customer relations, said the input from the meeting was important for their MAC study.

“This has been the best [meeting], because the group was so diverse and they had such excellent questions. We [had] note takers, and we’ll take all the information that we received and look at that,” Burton said. “Anything that comes up that we hear repeatedly, the team is going to take that back and include that in their next report.”

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Bus Riders Union Asks For Improvements at North End Terminal

CREDIT: Memphis Bus Riders Union

It’s doubtful that anyone, not even Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) President Ron Garrison or MATA board member Chooch Pickard, would say the North End Terminal bathrooms are in good shape.

“It’s horrible. It’s like third-world conditions,” said Pickard, referring to the state of the downtown bus terminal restrooms.

Garrison admitted that, although they’ve put extra staff on cleaning duty in those bathrooms, he didn’t think “the extra cleaning being done is adequate.”

Renovated restrooms at the North End Terminal are one of many improvements the Memphis Bus Riders Union (MBRU) is demanding in a new plan addressing what they consider to be inadequacies at the downtown station. Among those are problems with MATA’s contracted security officers, poor customer service due to a lack of personnel, and general lack of aesthetics.

“It’s been a long time since that place has seen some love,” said MBRU’s Bennett Foster. “We’re hoping the MATA board will adopt this plan and that they can set aside some funding in this budget cycle.”

Garrison hadn’t seen MBRU’s plan as of press time since they’re planning to introduce it at MATA’s June board meeting. But he said bathroom renovations at the downtown terminal are already in the works. Renovation work should start before the end of this fiscal year, he said.

“Those bathrooms were one of the first things I saw when I was brand new [last summer] and touring all the facilities,” Garrison said. “We immediately began to look for money in the budget or some way we could keep the bathrooms cleaner.”

Perhaps a more complicated issue in MBRU’s plan addresses issues with security officers from Ambassador Worldwide Protection Agency, which MATA contracts with to provide security at the terminal facilities. Foster said the union has received complaints from riders that officers have harassed riders for wearing sagging pants, and one officer was overheard using a racial slur.

MBRU is demanding that MATA terminate its contract with Ambassador and begin contracting with Memphis police officers for security since the South Main precinct is moving its offices into the North End Terminal this fall. They say that will create better transparency.

“With Memphis police, if we have any issues, we can do an open records request. But with a private company, they don’t have to tell us anything. They can keep us in the dark,” Foster said.

Pickard is pushing for body cameras for the Ambassador security officers, and Garrison said he’s working with Ambassador to correct the problems. Garrison agrees that body cameras would be a good idea.

“I think that would help a lot of things,” Garrison said. “For example, when you know your mom and dad are watching you and you’re 15, you’re probably not going to go in and have a glass of wine or beer in front of them. You’ll be on your best behavior. That’s so the customer will have a higher level of service.”

Other MBRU demands for the North End Terminal include an intercom that would announce when buses arrive, art exhibits, a play area for kids, free wifi, and a new paint job, among others.

Garrison agrees with some of those suggestions. He said he’d love an intercom system if MATA could find the money for it. And in other transit systems where he’s worked, he says he often incorporated art into bus facilities.

“It helps create a sense of place and a sense of wonder,” Garrison said. “This is something we haven’t done yet, but what if we had partnerships with local artists and arts organizations and gave them an opportunity to display their art? That’s what I would like to do.”

The MBRU is also asking MATA to hire more customer service staff system-wide. Garrison admits that customer service “is not what it could be” and says that’s something MATA will be focusing on.

“There are just a few customer service reps, and they do the best they can with what they have. But the only way to solve this issue is to employ more customer service reps and more people on staff who can answer the phone,” Foster said.

Pickard said he’s in agreement with the concerns of the MBRU and that, when the plan is presented to the board, he’ll push for some of these changes. But he warned that change will take time.

“It’s going to take a long time to turn the entire ship around, but we’re going to need to start seeing incremental change very soon,” Pickard said. “There’s been a lot of frustration, but we have a new [MATA president in Ron Garrison].”

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Grassroots Projects Get Funding Through ioby.org

CREDIT: Tolitsayala | Dreamstime.com

Bats may have a scary reputation as blind bloodsuckers, but a few residents in the East Buntyn community actually want the winged mammals in their neighborhood. And after crowd-sourcing on ioby.org, they’ve raised the funds to build 10 bat houses (and one tower for Chimney Swift birds) in the East Memphis neighborhood.

Tolitsayala | Dreamstime.com

Residents of the East Buntyn neighborhood are building bat houses.

They’re hoping the $2,000 project will bring mosquito-eating, plant-pollinating bats and birds back to their neighborhood after years of roost disturbances and habitat loss have pushed them out of the area. The “Bring Back Bats and Birds to Buntyn” is just one of 67 projects in 17 zip codes being funded after a spring match funding campaign on ioby.org.

Ioby stands for “in our backyards,” and the site is used to crowd-source civic projects across the country. The website has had a Memphis presence for a couple years, but between March 30th and April 15th, ioby.org offered up $50,000 in match funds for Memphis projects that fund-raised during that period. Livable Memphis got involved, too.

“Livable Memphis was so excited by all the projects that we decided to put in additional dollars, and we still have some match funds that didn’t get spent out [during the matching period], so we’ll get to spend those on projects throughout the year,” said Ellen Roberds, creative placemaker at Livable Memphis.

Another of the funded projects will place 24 seats at Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) bus stops around the city. They’re focusing specifically on stops that don’t have bus shelters. To qualify for a bus shelter, a stop must have more than 50 riders per day. But some smaller stops still serve a large number of people but lack seating.

“The plan is to look at stops where fewer than 50 people board every day but still have enough people who board that it would be useful for people to have seats,” said Emily Trenholm, executive director of the Community Development Council of Greater Memphis. Trenholm is the project coordinator for the bus stop seat project.

Project Backboard

Project Backboard makeover at Charjean Park

Some other projects funded during the matching period include Project Backboard, which will use $6,125 to restripe and paint goal posts at 15 inner-city basketball courts, $3,125 for enhancements at the DIY Altown Skate Park at Lamar and Rozelle, and $6,000 to install new trail markers through Overton Park’s Old Forest.

Another group raised $1,195 to create a rock garden and “labyrinth green space” under the new “I Love Soulsville” mural at Mississippi and McLemore. And $5,761 was raised to throw a community party called Roundhouse Revival at the Mid-South Coliseum on May 23rd. A $410 project will provide helmets for young bicyclists.

“There’s a group that wants to put in herb gardens in vacant lots and eventually use the herbs to make tea,” Roberds said. “Vegetable gardens are pretty labor-intensive, but herbs are perennial and don’t require as much work.”

Although the matching process is over, some projects, such as the basketball striping project, are still working to raise some additional funds. And ioby.org accepts new Memphis projects all the time.

“We encourage people to start small,” Roberds said. “The best projects are the ones that are visible to the public and can be built upon.”

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Central Station Plan Makes it “Central” Again

CREDIT: Henry Turley Co.

A hotel, movie theater, restaurant, new apartments, shops, and maybe a grocery store are coming to the century-old Central Station in a $55 million project unveiled last week.

Henry Turley Co. and Community Capital have been working for more than a year on a plan for the South Main campus that is now home to an Amtrak station, apartments, the Memphis Railroad and Trolley museum, event space, and the Memphis Farmers Market. The companies plan to bring more activity to the area by building new access to trolleys, trains, housing, entertainment, shopping, buses, and for cyclists and pedestrians.

“Our theme as we’ve moved through this process has been to make Central Station central,” Archie Willis, president of Community Capital, told members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) finance committee Friday.

Henry Turley Co.

Artist’s rendering of Central Station improvements

The plan would transform the tower of the Central Station building into a boutique hotel. Willis said Friday he’s been in talks with the Kemmons Wilson Companies, which has been in talks with “major” hotel companies interested in the project.

Partners are “ready to go,” Willis said, and are awaiting approval from MATA to begin final negotiations. Willis said he expected construction on the hotel to begin in the middle of next year and wrap up by Elvis Week 2017. Hudson Hall, the event space inside the station, would become a meeting space or ballroom for the new hotel. The new restaurant would be inside the hotel.

Malco Theaters would build a movie theater on the southeast corner of Front and G.E. Patterson. The Powerhouse would be converted into the theater’s ticket counter and refreshment station, according to the plan. The theater would be a five-screen, two-story, art-house movie theater, Willis said. The building would have a modern look with glass and brick, and it would be accented with neon signage. Construction there could begin early next year with a planned opening around the end of 2016.

About 370 new apartment units would be built on the site, mainly in the big empty lot behind the station. The plan shows that a grocery store could be built adjacent to the apartment building.

The Memphis Farmers Market would be moved to the southeast corner of Main and G.E. Patterson in four new open-air pavilions. Willis said there is no firm plan yet for the Railroad and Trolley Museum, but its move to a new location would be “as good or better” than the current location in the first floor of Central Station.

To open and connect the entire campus, the trolley stop next to the Powerhouse would be relocated, maybe to Main Street. Also, a new concourse would be opened in the big wall that fronts Main Street where the wall now meets the Central Station building.

Much of the funding for the project would come from federal government grants. MATA president Ron Garrison said local entities would only need to come up with about $600,000 to draw the remaining money to fund the $55 million project. The full MATA board will vote on the project on April 27th.

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Council Gets First Look at MATA Trolley Plan

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Changes may be ahead for the Memphis trolley system as city leaders weigh in next week on the plan to bring the trolleys back.

The trolley system was shut down last June after two trolley cars caught fire on the Madison Line in separate events only seven months apart. Trolley 452 caught fire in November 2013. Trolley 553 caught fire on April 7th of last year. Both trolleys were burned beyond repair.

After the shutdown, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) brought in a team of rail and transportation safety experts to review the system and help get it back on track. MATA leaders have said they would reveal the trolley plan to the public once the consultants finished their work. But the plan hasn’t surfaced yet.

Even though trolleys haven’t rumbled past Memphis City Hall in nearly eight months, they were on the minds of Memphis City Council members last week. 

Justin Fox Burks

MATA President Ron Garrison

MATA President Ron Garrison asked council members to approve the use of $1.1 million in pre-approved capital funds last week for rail facility improvements. But council members asked Garrison to bring his request back to city hall next week, along with his plan for the trolley system.

Councilmembers Harold Collins and Shea Flinn expressed concerns about the system, especially the Madison Line. Flinn said he and Collins were “far from alone” about questions of trolleys on Madison and called the route a “difficult situation.”

Flinn said there have long been problems with trolley utilization overall but especially on the Madison Line. 

“While we’re in repair and rebuild mode, we should be in rethink mode,” Flinn said. “The city has exhausted a lot of resources on this amenity, and I’m not sure we’re getting the bang for the buck from it that we could be. As we have this forced stoppage, we need to try and think of how we can make this a more-utilized asset.”

Collins said he’s seen and heard about problems of dependability on the trolley system. Any continuing trolley service needs to simply work for the citizens of Memphis, tourists, and business owners, he said.

“If we’re thinking about investing an enormous, no … if we’re going to reinvest potentially an enormous amount of money on this project [we should see a plan],” Collins said. “But nobody seems to agree on or like what they’re doing now.”

When asked what potential changes he’d like to see in the trolley system, Collins said he wanted better connectivity across the city. He recalled a former plan to take a trolley or even a bus from the end of the Madison Line all the way to the corner of Madison and Cooper. The move would help better connect downtown and Midtown.

MATA’s work is focused now on the repair and recertification of five trolley cars, all of them the larger cars. MATA says those are in the best condition and can also carry the most people. 

When they are ready for service, the trolleys will bring service first to the Main Street Line. As more trolleys are repaired, they will be launched on the Riverfront Line and the Madison Line. 

Garrison is scheduled to bring MATA’s trolley plan to city hall next Tuesday, February 3rd for a review by the council’s Public Works and Transportation Committee at 8:45 a.m.

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Still No Timeline for Trolleys’ Return

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Progress on reestablishing trolley service to Memphis has been made over the past two months, but officials still aren’t ready to announce a date for their return.

Two fires — both on the Madison Line — caused the still-ongoing shutdown of the Memphis trolley system. Trolley 452 caught fire in November 2013. Trolley 553 caught fire on April 7th.  Both trolleys were burned beyond repair, and the entire system was shut down in June. 

Industry experts were brought in two months ago to fully assess the trolleys, their tracks, and the maintenance and safety protocols that keep them running. 

Nine rail and transportation experts logged more than 1,000 hours in Memphis through October and November, according to the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). All of those hours have been dedicated to one purpose — bringing the rumble of trolley cars back to Memphis. 

Ron Garrison, president and general manager of MATA, has made no promises about when the trolleys would be back. He’s said that when the experts finish their assessment of the trolley cars and the system, MATA will publish a report of their findings. That report might include a timeline for resuming service. 

So far, some of the experts have worked with MATA staff to develop the scope of work (the size of the entire project), and others have worked to make a list of the parts needed to fix the trolley cars. 

Getting some of those parts has been the major hang-up in the process, according to MATA. Some of the trolleys are more than 100 years old. Parts are hard to find and sometimes parts have to be fabricated. 

Justin Fox Burks

Still, progress is being made, Garrison said, but he’s not yet comfortable putting a date on the trolleys’ return.

“As we all knew when entering into this vital issue of ensuring the safety and long-term viability of the Downtown trolley, there would likely be steps forward along with scheduling challenges,” Garrison said. “Each step forward moves us closer to the ultimate goal of getting trolleys back on the tracks and serving our Downtown.” 

Bringing the trolleys back is not as simple as fixing a few cars and making sure the tracks are straight. After the second fire in April, MATA brought in the first set of outside experts with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a Washington, D.C.-based industry group. 

Earlier this year, the group issued a scathing report of the Memphis trolley system. It said the system was governed by “deferred, incomplete, or incorrect practices.” This brought an “environment of higher risk … resulting in an escalation in the number of incidents and accidents.” 

The system, according the APTA report, made for unreliable trolleys and, therefore, unreliable trolley schedules. MATA’s practices, the report says, were below the average of “today’s street railway industry.”

In short, the report said the trolley system needed a complete overhaul. MATA and the new set of rail experts are now designing that overhaul, that is, what the trolley system should look like and how it should run in the future. 

The immediate future of the system, though, will only include the Main Street Loop once the trolleys are back in action. The other lines, the Madison Line and the Riverfront Loop, will be added later as more of MATA’s fleet of 17 trolley cars is approved for service.

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MATA Security Guard Indicted in Passenger Death

Adicus Mitchell

  • Adicus Mitchell

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

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

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

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

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MATA Looking to Improve Bus Service in Midtown

CREDIT: Chris Shaw

When making over one’s image, it’s common to start from the ground up. But the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is looking to revamp and rebrand, and they’re starting squarely in the middle.

In a public meeting last week, MATA representatives announced plans to revamp bus routes in Midtown and the surrounding area. Introducing their Midtown alternatives analysis study, called “MATA in the Middle,” transit officials invited the public to voice opinions on how bus routes in the city’s core can be improved.

Chris Shaw

Before hearing input from the community, MATA representatives introduced some goals that they hope “MATA in the Middle” can achieve. The study is looking at ways to make Midtown transit service better and more reliable and how to connect neighborhoods and improve local circulation by improving access to jobs, civic attractions, visitor destinations, and cultural assets. MATA is hoping to create more cost-effective transit solutions.

The study is an extension of MATA’s short-range transportation plan. Howard Robertson, CEO of Trust Marketing, a public relations firm helping MATA promote the study, pointed out that revamping the Midtown corridor involved working with some of the most-used bus routes in the city.

“Just as your backbone is the center for movement and activity in your body, this area is the center of movement and activity for MATA,” Robertson said. “It’s where the two busiest lines intersect, so we’ve got to get it right.”

After a short presentation and a small group exercise, members of the community voiced their concerns over the current Midtown bus routes. Most said they wanted more reliable bus service that ran on time, and some wanted transfers eliminated. Others said they’d like to be able to bring their bicycles onto the bus, rather than strap them onto the bike racks in front of the bus. And some said they wished buses ran later than 11 p.m. for those who work night-shift jobs.

Taiwo Jaiyoeba, project manager for “MATA in the Middle,” said that involving the community in the changes coming to the Midtown bus system was the first step in rebranding MATA.

“We want to create something where people say ‘There goes the new service.’ It needs to have a distinctive appearance in the community,” Jaiyoeba said.

But toward the end of the meeting, MATA user Ray Brown urged the transit authority to stop selling the rebranding idea and just make it work.

 “Rebranding won’t help if people don’t believe in the system,” Brown said. “If you present a system that actually works, and people are convinced that it works, the rebranding will take care of itself.”

Also at the meeting, MATA board member Chooch Pickard announced that MATA is working on developing a new app.

“We are also developing an app to show where the bus is in real time. There will be a little red dot on your phone that tells you exactly where your bus is.” Pickard said. “The University of Memphis already has it on their buses and we are hoping to have it available in the fall.”

The next “MATA in the Middle” public meeting will be held in the fall.