Why the MATA buses are going

Why the MATA buses are going

Planning Director explains the downfall of free rides for city residents

news@theeveningtimes.com

No MATA, what? It’s the end of the road for city bus service in West Memphis.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and the City of West Memphis announced plans to terminate bus service in the city.

Funding that fueled the bus routes for a generation has run out.

The MATA buses were no cost to riders but exhausted federal state and local money sources.

West Memphis Director of Planning and Development Paul Luker, was disappointed that the bus service is ending for West Memphis residents. It was a simple “follow the money” trail saga. As funding decreased, routes were consolidated and bus runs reduced. Ridership plunged. West Memphis ridership was one-third of what it was 10 years ago.

“When the hammer really dropped is when we lost our federal funding about two years ago,” said Luker.

“Then the state found us a little money cleaning out accounts here and there.

Then we cobbled together different pots of money to make up for the shortfall of federal funds. The school district kicked in some money last year but we had to adjust the routes. Once we reduced the routes to go with the reduced funding, ridership fell off. We made more adjustments. Ridership just continued to dwindle to the point where it just wasn’t feasible.”

MATA bus service began 20 years ago, circling West Memphis and connecting commuters to bus service in the Memphis. Funds promoting bus ridership for commuters to and from work dried up in 2012.

After that, the state of Arkansas, the local MPO, the West Memphis Schools and the city Advertising and Promotion Commission pooled money to keep the buses rolling for another five years. The need for buses was underlined in the beginning at public hearings when city residents claimed they were being charged excessively by neighbors for rides for groceries, doctors and prescriptions.

“The bus service helped some of our most vulnerable population access school, work, grocery stores, and banks,” said Luker. “Unfortunately, funding for transportation has decreased. The West Memphis Advertising and Promotions Commission has worked tirelessly to come up with creative solutions to our funding troubles over the last few years. Without their help, the bus service would not have been able to operate for as long as it did.”

According to West Memphis Convention and Visi- tors Bureau Executive Director Jim Jackson the A& P had been contributing $325,000 a year to finance the bus service.

Luker said the next task is to let the riders know the free rides are over. No more public buses will run in West Memphis. Information will be on the buses about MATA service in West Memphis and its connection to Memphis coming to the end of the road.

“We’ve put out notices locally to try and keep informing riders so they are not caught unaware,” said Luker.

The last day of service for the three runs, Route 77West Memphis, Route 98West Memphis Express, and West Memphis MATA Plus is slated for Saturday, March 31.

By John Rech