MATA CEO Visits MCIL

Gary Rosenfeld Discusses Accessible Transportation with MCIL

Today, MCIL had the opportunity to directly ask Gary Rosenfeld the CEO of MATA to work with the Center on more effective service. Allison Donald, the chair of the Specialized Transportation Advisory Committee asked for the meeting and facilitated the discussion.

Allison began by asking Mr. Rosenfeld his vision for MATAplus, but the group was disappointed when he seemed to respond by working to meet minimal ADA compliance. The CEO was able to express his vision and he mentioned that to get people where they need to go in Memphis in an hour was a goal. He also is pushing hard for a large pot of dedicated funding, which all seemed to support.

MCIL asked MATA to consider the idea of making trips on the fixed-route free for MATAplus riders with their MATAplus ID card. MCIL knows that MATA must move to conditional eligibility for the paratransit system and this incentive for current MATAplus patrons would help make the move to using the accessible fixed-route easier.

Gary Rosenfeld stated that MATAplus was twenty to thirty percent of the current system. The suggestions of free fares would likely be very helpful in curbing the trend of paratransit service and could make a significant improvement in the system overall.

MCIL made the case that the free fare on fixed route may have a minimal cost and that in the long-run, motivating and training people with disabilities to use the fixed-route it will be huge cost-saver for MATA.

Rosenfeld made a recap at the end of the meeting and discovered six things that he said he would work on. First was the free fare in transition to conditional eligibility, travel training to assist people with disabilities to use the fixed-route, an update to the MATAplus Rider’s Guide, to evaluate problems with the MATA phone system, to examine text to riders and to make sure that social media is made accessible.