MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Area Transit Authority’s interim CEO says right now his team is working on stabilizing the agency by eliminating what he calls “wasteful spend” to improve things for riders.

WREG has reported extensively on the problems plaguing MATA. Just recently it fired deputy CEO and former interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin saying she violated policies, discovering hundreds of thousands of dollars of what they said were misspent funds.

“My question is, how are we going to build the trust back in this community? What is your plan, because the model that we have now is a failing model,” Council member Yolanda Cooper Sutton asked interim CEO John Lewis.

Lewis, part of a consulting company who was brought in to right the troubled transit service, gave an update to City Council members Tuesday about the troubled agency.

“Our agency is maximizing the amount of every dollar that gets put into operations rather than administration, and so that’s been a challenge for the agency up until now,” Lewis said. “Too much of every dollar is put towards unnecessary administrative functions.”

He says no routes are being cut. 

Lewis says MATA’s mission is to put reliable buses with timely routes out on Memphis roads. Seventy-four buses are needed to run the schedule MATA currently has, along with spares, in case of problems. In total about 100 vehicles are needed. 

“We need to start from the beginning, we need to replace the vehicles we already have and we need to do it in a fiscally responsible manner,” Lewis said. “That means over the next five, six, seven years, we need to begin to plan to replace 10-15 buses every year for the next five to seven years.”

“Everything that happened before, that is in the rearview mirror. We’re looking forward to creating an FY (fiscal year) ’26, that’s balanced, that is sustainable, that’s realistic and one that we can deliver to the community of Memphis,” Lewis said.

As for the trolleys, a downtown attraction that were recently pulled off the tracks due to financial problems and costly updates, he couldn’t give a timeline for when they will be back. 

“That’s going to be a little while,” he said. “There’s a lot of boxes we have to check in order to bring that service back on schedule and we’re working with our partners at Tennessee DOT today with that.”

In the meantime, MATA is trying to get some kind of mobility option on Main Street by May, just in time for tourist season to pick up again.