Memphis Mayor Paul Young formally introduced his appointees to the MATA Board of Directors to members of the Memphis City Council during a Personnel & Governmental Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
With backgrounds in transportation, finance, logistics, advocacy, urban planning, urban development and law, the selections appear to check several boxes that relate to city transit.
โWe believe we have a strong team of individuals that have agreed to serve,โ said Young.
The appointees are: Brandon Arrindell, Cynthia Bailey, Emily Greer, Sandi Klink, Brian Marflack, Jackson McNeil, Anna McQuiston, Dana Pointer and Maya Siggers.
The 11th-hour move to replace the board is part of a โhard resetโ to right operations at the floundering transit authority. It came on the advice of Tampa-based transportation consulting agency Transpro.
The new team will be tasked with reducing system costs, which run 29% percent above the national average, while improving customer satisfaction that is 51% below par.
The same report was delivered to the transportation committee moments before the introduction.
โAs you heard from the report from Transpro, one of the suggestions was to ensure we have a strong board, strong board governance. We took the aggressive action of going ahead and replacing the full board. That was just to demonstrate that itโs not indicative about any one person on the board. Itโs about a hard reset,โ said Young.
Part of the reset includes forestalling the board-approved cuts.
โThe administration and the MATA leadership team have been meeting weekly for the past couple of months, talking about a path forward. Weโre still finalizing that path. Just yesterday, we were talking about ways we could hold off the cuts,โ said Young. โThat is the direction we are attempting to head together.โ
The action also runs contrary to the advice from Transpro, whoโs representative delivered a withering assessment.
It concluded MATA failed in three basic areas – create satisfied customers, build community trust and optimize the investment the community makes in the agency.
The lack of return on the investment of โtens-of-millions of dollarsโ annually was the push that got the ball rolling.
In particular, it was the FY2024 deficit of $60 million. A recent outside audit found the figure was fairly typical for MATA. Since 2014, shortfalls have ranged from $19 million to $91 million in 2019.
The loss of federal ARPA funds also led to the boardโs decision to cut.
There are also misspent priorities. These include โshiny-objectsโ like an electrified fleet, rapid transit projects and complicated capital projects.
โIf the basics of transportation were being met, these would be laudable projects to pursue. But when you don’t meet your basic service needs of your customer, these are pie-in-the-sky projects. Endeavors that should be delayed until you can meet the basic needs of your customers,โ said Transpro Principal Consultant John Lewis.
It isnโt the first time Transpro was brought aboard to look at MATAโs operations. However, in past consultations, their advice was ultimately ignored for a return to the status quo.
โWe severed our agreement with the agency. And we find ourselves not surprised by the situation the agency finds itself at this moment,โ said Lewis.
Among the biggest problems it faces is the routes themselves. Almost half have intervals between buses โof an hour or greater.โ In fact, several of those routes have more than 90 minute wait times, with some that even extend beyond two hours.
โImagine standing on a bus stop and you miss that bus and have to wait two more hours before the next bus comes,โ said Lewis. โThere isnโt another system in the country that has headways, or intervals of two hours.โ
The condition of the fleet is a large contributor to the decline. MATA routes require a total of 74 buses to run on schedule. Over the last two months, around 56 buses are typically in operation daily, representing a 24% shortfall.
Much of the problem stems from the age of the fleet. The FTAโs standard is to replace one-eighth of a fleet per year. Further regulations call for the purchase of a vehicle with a minimum of 500,000 miles every 12 years.
MATA hasnโt purchased a new bus since 2018. A few months back, 27 buses were purchased from Tuscon, Ariz. Six months later, 21 still havenโt been put into service.
โSo they took the incremental action to try to address this, but still havenโt fully utilized the fleet. So its clear MATA has a fleet problem to address this crisis immediately,โ said Lewis.
Furthermore, 90 out of the 98 buses in MATAโS fleet are overdue for an engine replacement.
The assessment also predicts the recent layoffs would only exacerbate operational problems at MATA. It would also add more overtime hours. This year to date, $1 million has been spent. It is expected to grow to $1.4 million by the end of the year.
Staffing shortages will also put increased stress on the remaining employees. As a result, people will call in sick more.
โWeโve heard the suggestions that the management team wants to layoff. We think that the actual opposite action should be taking place,โ said Lewis. โMATA should continue to hire more staff, not lay staff off.โ
The morass has led to widespread customer dissatisfaction. A Transpro survey reflected 38% of Memphians are happy with the service. In 2018, the number was 75%.
After the update, committee chair Edmund Ford, Sr. asked members to refrain from questions, so Mayor Young could introduced the board members.
