MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mayor Paul Young announced Friday afternoon that the board of the Memphis Area Transit Authority has been replaced.
The move follows a report on the public transit agency by consultant TransPro.
The new board members are: Brandon Arrindale, Cynthia Bailey, Emily Greer, Sandi Klink, Brian Marflak, Jackson McNeil, Anna McQuiston, Dana Pointer and Maya Siggers.
“This move is more about creating a clean-slate environment,” Young said in a statement. “After months of analysis, we received Transpro’s initial draft report today, which clearly spells out the challenges facing our transit system and the need to move with expediency. We believe the reset will help us to move more quickly toward our goal of creating a system that better connects our residents with jobs, healthcare, and essential services.”
MATA has cut bus routes, announced layoffs, put the trolley system on hold and been given emergency funding by the city after a $60 million deficit came to light earlier this year. The agency has faced declining ridership.
Bus rider advocate Johnnie Mosley welcomed the changes.
“I definitely am excited, overjoyed,” he said. “That let me know that the mayor actually heard from the ridership and the citizens of Memphis, period. For too long people, riders, have suffered at the hands, at the lack of more leadership at MATA.”
Mosley’s group is calling for even more changes at the top of MATA’s leadership.
“The current CEO, the interim CEO, is a part of the old leadership which got us into this trouble right now,” Mosley said.
TransPro’s initial draft report can found here. Among the findings:
- TransPro did not conduct a financial audit. However the diagnostic phase revealed significant gaps in fundamental tracking of contracts, major projects, and financial commitments.
- MATA has not initiated significant austerity measures to ensure the limited resources that are coming into the agency are spent on the fundamental needs of the customer.
- While better in recent months, information provided to the Board of Trustees and the City of Memphis lacks detail in explanation related to expenditures, contracts, and basic financial reports.
- Lack of Board oversight of staff recommendations has created a culture of poor accountability.
- MATA’s boardings per revenue hour is 23% lower than the peer average, the 4th lowest in the peer group.
- MATA’s cost per revenue hour is 29% higher than the peer average, and the second highest among peers, only lower than Birmingham.
- MATA’s cost per trip is $18.71, 59% higher than the peer average and only lower than Jacksonville.
- As for the trolleys, MATA’s cost per revenue hour is the highest among all peers, 54% higher than the peer average.
The TransPro report cost the city $336,000.