MATA Community Tour

Is MATA Administration Listening?

By Allison Donald, Disability Connection

Across the country public transportation remains a barrier for persons with disabilities. Accessible transportation is a key component to community inclusion, so that people with disabilities can access it for their healthcare, employment, education, and recreation. 

The most affordable and accessible mode of transportation in Memphis is MATAplus. According to reports, MATA is planning to cut the bus service from 23 routes to just 16 routes and will be laying off as many as 200 employees. For people with disabilities in this city the news of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) being 60 million dollars in debt leaves many in our community wondering where we go from here?

As a person with a disability who relies on MATAplus to get to work, to say that I am concerned about the state of public transportation in this city is putting it lightly. If they cut the 7 bus going down Winchester it is going to affect my ability to get to and from work. If they stop service on the 7 route, that also limits the area that MATAplus will serve. I will not have either a fixed-route or paratransit service near me. 

I know that I am not the only person feeling this way. My question is where are those individuals who will speak out on behalf of the disabled community? Is our community going to continue to be seen as an afterthought, and suffer the consequences of inaction.

We must show our faces and tell our stories. We will continue to have to deal with a public transit that continues to have capacity constraints putting even more pressure on a broken system. As a community we no longer have the luxury of sitting back and watching from the sidelines. If we do nothing, people living with disabilities in Memphis will become more isolated, face the reality of astronomical transportation costs and have to deal with ongoing irreverence from the leadership of MATA.

"I was upset that Director Mauldin, in the opening video, said that public input was required," said Tim Wheat of Disability Connection Midsouth, who was at the hearing in Orange Mound. "MATA did not seem to want or care about my input. The public was to follow along with the changes and respond on their phones at the meeting. I didn't feel like MATA wanted to listen to us at all."

At the Community Tour in Orange Mound, the MATA representatives used a slide presentation for people to respond. Although there were more than 20 people at the meeting, only 8 at the most, were participating in the show. Some in attendance were angry that they had made the commitment to come to an event that they could have taken part of better from home. 

The phone participation however, only allowed a single commitment per person and only one question. There was time for some discussion only because many people stayed beyond the hour allotted for the event. The questions and comments submitted by phone were answered quickly by MATA agents as if they were resolved. There was not a feeling like the input in writing would ever be considered. The final report of the Community Tour seems like it will be some ill-structured input on changing routes only from those with phones and resolved questions. It is hard to think that the MATA administration really intends to “listen” to riders. 

Until September 30, MATA will have representatives at a “Community Tour” for you to learn and share ideas for public transit.  If you would like to attend any of the public meetings to discuss the upcoming changes visit https://www.matatransit.com/transforming-transit/ for a list of dates and times of the Community Tour. Keep up with the conversation about MATA on our blog at https://www.disabilitymidsouth.org/news.