MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The mess at MATA could soon be coming to an end, and a new era is expected to start now that Memphis Mayor Paul Young fired the entire board Friday.
It follows a tough couple of months for MATA, as they announced a more than $60 million deficit and made the call to cut bus routes and jobs members.
Mayor Young said he made the decision that he wanted to replace the past board with nine new members about two weeks ago. He said these selected members have a diverse range of voices, and on the heels of an audit report that revealed some shocking numbers, this was a perfect time for a mass reset.
"We need somebody in there that’s going to care about the bus riders and do what bus rider's want them to do," said. Sammie Hunter, Co-chair of the Memphis Bus Rider’s Union.
Following the announcement Friday that Mayor Paul Young replaced the entire MATA board, questions loom about the newly recommended members.
"Our goal was to identify leaders throughout the community with different types of expertise," he said. "Certainly, we wanted to make sure that we had someone from a legal background, someone from a leadership perspective."
Young held a press conference Monday, discussing the MATA board members recommended to the City Council. This follows the initial report findings from the group TransPro.
The report came on Friday and revealed significant issues with the timeliness and frequency, including an average of 1-2 hour wait times while other parts of the country average 15-30 minutes.
The new board members will go before City Council Tuesday. They are:
- Brandon Arrindale
- Cynthia Bailey
- Emily Greer
- Sandi Klink
- Brian Marflak
- Jackson McNeil
- Anna McQuiston
- Dana Pointer
- Maya Siggers
Cynthia Bailey is a co-chair for the Memphis Bus Riders Union with Sammie Hunter. He said he couldn’t be happier for her.
"Ms. Bailey has been out here," he said. "She knows what the people want, she knows what the people like, and she's tremendous for this board."
According to Young, other members have extensive leadership backgrounds and knowledge of transit systems. Hunter said he will keep this new board accountable until he sees success.
"Success would be advancing this bus situation, making things better for these riders so they don’t have to wait 2-3 hours," he said. "That would be success for me."
"We know that there are some pending changes that are looming, and we're certainly having conversations with MATA every day about those," Young said. "And my goal is to make sure that we are setting the course for transit that's going to serve many Memphians for generations to come."
Mayor Young said he will have more discussions with the board following proposed 100, 200, and 365-day goals to create a more effective board. It is important to note that Mayor Young only recommended these members, and Tuesday morning, the City Council will have the opportunity to approve these new members.
According to Young, the board will likely be instituted in early November.