MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Area Transit Authority teamed up with Uber to make it easier to get from home to work.
The goal is to get more people riding MATA and improve service for current customers.
MATA bus riders, like Ronald Stansbury, said they had little to complain about.
“Most of the time they’re pretty accurate and on time,” Stansbury told WREG.
He was happy to hear MATA was working with Uber to make his experience better.
“Any kind of services that’s available for the community is great,” Stansbury said.
“It going to help the city. I think it’s going to help the city,” Randy Johnson said.
“If transit does not near your home or business, it’s really hard to use it,” Josh Cohen, director of strategy and partnerships for TransLoc, said.
North Carolina-based company TransLoc is providing the app that would put MATA buses and Uber on the same tracking system for customers.
“It will seamlessly create an itinerary using walking, transit and Uber if necessary to — with one click can allow them to get to their final destinations,” Johnson explained.
“Right now it’s not cost effective and I don’t think it’s going to get us anywhere,” Memphis City Councilman Berlin Boyd told WREG.
Boyd was proud Memphis was one of the first cities to pilot the new technology.
However, Boyd believed the program appealed to those living in the suburbs and not the inner-city families working to make ends meet.
“We now have to focus on ways of putting routes and transit into these inner-city communities so that these people can have access to jobs, healthcare and schools,” Boyd explained.
“What it is is it is a step in the right direction for tomorrow’s mobility, which is technology and transportation working together,” Johnson said.
“Just looking forward to seeing how time takes its toll on it and allows it to work.”
The service is set to launch sometime in mid-February.