Clift Notes: TAC and public participation

Transit Advisory Committee

By Christina Clift
On Friday, November 3, 2017 members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) Transit Advisory Committee (TAC) met for their quarterly meeting.  Items covered during the meeting included: updates on community events, updates on the Bus Art project, reviewing proposed route changes, and looking at the Public Participation Plan that is included in the Title VI reporting by MATA.

First, members received reports on the committee’s involvement in community during the previous quarter.  They included the MATA Bus Rodeo and Transit Vision workshop.  The Bus Rodeo provided TAC members the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at what skills are required to operate a bus including avoiding unexpected obstacles, parallel parking, sudden stops, and much more.  

Jessica Buttermore, TAC’s Chair was given the task of judging the parallel parking event.  Several members also attended the Transit Vision workshop on the other hand provided a hands-on experience to create a public transportation system not only in Prairieville but also in Memphis.  The activities in this workshop gave TAC members a better understanding of what MATA’s route planners do every time they change, cut, or create a route.  Finally, an update was also provided regarding the Bus Art project.  

Members of TAC of started talking to Memphis arts and Urban art organizations to discover if they are interested in partnering with TAC to create art work to help improve the atmosphere of the buses.  So far, they seem agreeable and the committee plans to continue working towards formalizing this partnership. 

Scarlet Ponder provided an update on proposed route changes which will be voted on during the next MATA Board of Commissioners meeting.  The proposed changes would affect the 7, 11, 47, and 56.  Three of these routes are proposed to have time frequency changes, which will impact riders on the 7, 11, and 56.  The final proposed route change would led to the suspension of route 47 which serves the Shelby Farms area. 

The 47 route is currently being funded through Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) grants.  MATA will reconsider resuming this route in the spring.  If they do not resume the route, they will either have to return the unused funds or gain permission to use them on other routes receiving CMAQ money.  For example, the route servicing the airport.  It’s important for people to make their voices heard on proposed route changes because changes made to MATA’s fixed route service trickle down and can have either a negative or positive impact on MATAPlus.

Our final task of the afternoon was a brief review of the draft copy of the 2017 Public Participation Plan which is included in reporting under Title VI.  This plan discusses how MATA handles certain policy changes like increasing bus fares, major route changes, and public events.  Of course, MATA wants as much participation in these decisions as possible and this plan explains how MATA gets it.  

If you’d like to review the 2014 Public Participation Plan you can go to MATA’s website at: http://www.matatransit.com/aboutus/insidemata/civil-rights   Improving communication and dialog with its riders is one of the simplest ways MATA can begin to create a better relationship with the public who often feel as if their voices don’t matter.

As the terms of TAC’s current members expire in January, some of us might step down and new people will step up.  If you are interested in serving on this committee, it is important to complete the application when it is released.  MATA seems to want to have help from the community to improve transit for all, but they need open-minded individuals with a willingness to serve others and not their own interests to help.  While as riders we have our own complaints, complements, and ideas on how things ought to be handled and run at MATA, the most important quality a TAC member needs is listening to others and a willingness to work as a team.