MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Area Transit Authority officials are facing a $60 million deficit, according to an annual financial report provided by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office.
“We have been dealt a difficult blow, but we remain committed to Transforming Transit in the Mid-South,” said Bacarra Mauldin, Interim MATA CEO, in a press release. “This is a test, and we will get through it and become a better organization for our community. It begins with trust building and transparency."
The news came during MATA's regularly scheduled May meeting.
According to a release, Mauldin said that before becoming the interim leader, current executive leadership members did not have access to MATA’s detailed financials, leaving them unaware of the depth of the deficit.
“Within my 100 days in office, I’ve obtained nearly 30 buses and eight on-demand vehicles at a fraction of market costs to improve service reliability,” Mauldin said. “Now, after uncovering such a major budgetary issue, I’m unshaken, realizing this latest setback will require further adjustments and more out-of-the-box, collaborative thinking to uphold our promise to Mid-South riders.”
Co-Chair for the Memphis Bus Riders Union Sammie Hunter said he wants to know why these financial red flags detected sooner
"We're going to investigate, we're going to try to find out what went wrong and where it went wrong," Hunter said. "We're protect our bus riders as best as we can."
Hunter said this financial burden will become a domino effect.
"What it does is now we're looking at maybe some adjustments of them trying to come cut these routes, and we can't afford that"," he said.
One of the bus riders, Travis Ware, said he's concerned if bus routes are reduced, how will he get to work.
"It's going to be...really hard on me because my only transportation is the bus. I don't know what I'm going to do," Ware said.
Ware said it's challenging not knowing if the bus will show up, and now he has to deal with possibly not being picked up at all.
"Sometimes the bus doesn't come like [it's] supposed to. I have to wait on a ride until the bus comes," Ware said.
Despite the deficit, Mauldin is not going to increase the City Council investment request, instead asking that MATA’s $20 million bridge loan borrowed from the City of Memphis be given a longer payback period. The current loan is due June 30, 2024.