MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Mayor Paul Young announced Friday that he is replacing the current board for the Memphis Area Transit Authority with all new members.
Young said the move represents a “clean-slate” and came after an initial draft report of MATA done by TransPro, which was retained by the City of Memphis in Aug. 2024 to conduct an operational assessment of MATA, according to the report.
According to Young, the following people are replacing the current board members:
- Brandon Arrindale
- Cynthia Bailey
- Emily Greer
- Sandi Klink
- Brian Marflak
- Jackson McNeil
- Anna McQuiston
- Dana Pointer
- Maya Siggers
Mayor Young provided the following statement:
“This move is more about creating a clean-slate environment. After months of analysis, we received TransPro’s initial draft report today, which clearly spells out the challenges facing our transit system and the need to move with expediency. We believe the reset will help us to move more quickly toward our goal of creating a system that better connects our residents with jobs, healthcare, and essential services.”
TransPro's report addressed MATA's layoffs and route cuts, which are expected to go into effect in November.
Route cuts
According to TransPro, MATA's bus service is less efficient and more expensive to operate compared to peers.
They said MATA’s bus system consists of many low frequency routes, including several routes that operate every 2 hours or 90 minutes, resulting in worse service efficiency,
So, TransPro recommends MATA identify operational efficiencies in bus and trolley operations to lower the cost per hour.
The report outlines how the route cuts will affect customer satisfaction when it is already 51% below industry norms.
TransPro officials said "on-time performance, travel time and frequency are the most important factors to MATA customers, but have the lowest satisfaction."
According to the report, "93% of MATA bus customers are dependent on using MATA to get to/from their destination."
"MATA’s proposed November 2024 service reductions will impact all MATA customers through eliminating routes, decreasing frequency on many routes and reducing span across the board," the report said.
TransPro's recommendation is that MATA focus on improving operational performance for its customers.
"If nothing else comes out of this operational assessment, the need to improve the experience of MATA’s customers should be the top priority," the report said.
Layoffs
Addressing the layoffs, the report said MATA is going through a hiring freeze "given the uncertainty of its financial situation."
The report said TransPro officials interviewed MATA employees about the authority's poor service, and a resounding theme among their answers was lack of equipment and staffing.
TransPro officials said MATA has been on a downward trend of losing operators since at least June 2023.
A consequence of understaffing is that MATA must pay overtime to their workers, which in the long run "increases cost of operations" and absenteeism, which further exacerbates the problem, they said.
TransPro officials believe the layoffs will "only compound the difficulty of MATA being able to deliver its service reliably."
"While Management’s answer to financial shortfalls has been to lay off bus drivers, the reality is MATA actually needs to hire more bus drivers," the report said.
Overall, TransPro officials determined "MATA's challenges are further amplified by a lack of focus on the daily needs of customers, poor financial management and oversight and the pursuit of major projects that are straining the limited staff and fiscal resources of the Authority."
TransPro's report offered three general recommendations to MATA:
- Meet the needs of customers and improve service
- Improve financial management and oversight to build greater trust with the community
- Get back to basics
"TransPro is committed to be a partner to the City of Memphis and its partners to support the needed modernizations of MATA," the report said.
View the full report below: