MATA officials working with WM leaders on keeping buses rolling in city
MATA officials working with WM leaders on keeping buses rolling in city
Route consolidation, alternative funding among topics in planning
news@theeveningtimes.com
West Memphis bus riders are mostly happy with the timeliness and cleanliness of Memphis Area Transit Authority service in the city. MATA conducted two public hearings in the Gateway City last week, one at city hall and one at the busiest stop in the town, the Housing Authority Office.
Riders were surveyed ahead of the meetings.
MATA officials received feedback from citizens through the survey and at the first meeting. Councilors Ramona Taylor and Lorraine Robinson actively participated in the meeting at city hall.
“We haven’t heard too much about needing better customer service with the buses,” said City Planning and Development Director Paul Luker. “We did have one complaint about timeliness in the morning, and that has been addressed.”
Ridership has plummeted to half what it was after a route was eliminated for expense control when federal Job Access & Reverse Commute grant funding ended. The free rides continue, but the city schools stepped in to offer needed busing to students. Subsequently ridership plummeted from 18,000 passengers per month average.
“Ridership now is about 300 per day,” said John Lancaster with MATA.
With buses looping the city six days a week that works out to 7,740 rides per month. With ridership down and funding remaining tight Councilor Robinson voiced the question on everyone’s mind.
“Will we be keeping service in West Memphis for any length of time?” asked Robinson.
“That’s why we came over here first to start this process ,” said Paige Walkup a consultant to MATA. “To get a sense of what ridership was, what we could do to make it more efficient, and also see what we could do to increase ridership.”
Money is driving decisions.
“MATA needs additional funding,” said Walkup.
“We really need $30 million to increase frequency and routes in both the main service area and here as well. We need to see what to do to procure that funding and then you as a council and a city need to make decisions on what that looks like here as well.”
Route 77 has the longest hours of service and is 75 percent of the ridership in West Memphis, netting 12 boardings per hour.
MATA officials have a plan penciled in to combine and overlay route 78 and 98 to cover the same service area and save expenses.
The 78 averages just 20 riders per day. 75 percent of the passengers on the bus route connecting West Memphis to Memphis are coming from the Bluff City. More than 100 passengers board the MATA bus at the housing authority each business day of the week.
By John Rech
