MEMPHIS, Tenn. — This week, MATA’s CEO warned the Memphis City Council his organization is on the verge of collapse, facing dire financial problems.
He said many buses need to be repaired or replaced.
Even though ridership is down from 12 million to 8 million over the past ten years, he wants an additional $12 million tax dollars.
“This bus is late. I’m going to be late for work,” said bus rider Henry Wallace.
Wallace said he heard about MATA’s plea to the City Council.
“The guys upstairs, they need to come down here and ride some of these buses,” he said.
“I appreciate more out of MATA and Memphis, because Memphis can do better,” said bus rider Rochelle Brown.
Wednesday, MATA CEO Ron Garrison sat down with WREG to lay out MATA’s financial problems.
Riders want to know.
“Yeah, because I didn’t see it coming at all,” said bus rider Andrea Smith.
MATA said the problems really started in 2008-2009 when city funding leveled off. It’s been around $55 million for the last several years before Garrison was in this role.
Garrison claims things have gotten so bad that MATA struggled to cut checks for its employees at times last year.
He said MATA needs to replace buses. Many are at risk of breaking down.
Even though ridership is down, he said cutting service will not fix the problems.
“We don’t have adequate service or frequency now, number one. Number two, when you cut service, you lose ridership you lose fare box revenue, and the formula for your federal funding and state funding, that formula comes from your ridership,” Garrison said.
City Council Member Janis Fullilove hopes the city can help keep things rolling.
“I think it’s going to be really tough for us this budget cycle, and I certainly hope we can find some money, you know, to fund MATA because it’s needed very much,” she said.
MATA said it is not shutting its doors.
The city gave MATA a bridge loan to keep things running in case federal funding arrives late.
The issue is that some of those buses could fail and there could be possible service cuts down the line.
WREG reached out to Mayor Jim Strickland, but he was in Nashville Wednesday.
He said he is committed to working with MATA but also recognizes city government has significant financial challenges ahead.
