Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) leadership decided to part ways with former interim CEO Bacarra Maulding, a statement from the struggling transit agency announced Friday, March 28.
Maulding was placed on administrative leave after an internal audit revealed more than $144,000 in expenses charged to a company credit card. During the leave, she was reassigned to her previous role as chief of staff. The decision to fire her was made with the approval of the MATA board of directors.
โThis action follows an internal investigation that concluded Maulding violated MATAโs procurement and travel policy and failed to ensure compliance among her direct reports. These findings represent a serious breach of the standards and expectations we uphold for all MATA leadership and staff,โ MATA said in the statement.
Charges to the company American Express card included $10,000 in purchases from online retailer Amazon, $7,000 from consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, and $5,000 in PayPal and Venmo transactions, along with other miscellaneous expenses.
The credit card has been deactivated, and discussions are ongoing with First Horizon Bank about an e-card program, e-payments and other payment services. Travel has also been restricted to mandatory employee safety training.
A more damaging revelation came when it was disclosed that under Mauldingโs leadership, MATA misled riders by publishing bus schedules with routes that were known to go unfulfilled. Interim CEO John Lewis disclosed the issue to MATA board members a day after Mauldingโs suspension.
Thousands of riders were left waiting hours or left without service as an average of 20% scheduled routes went unmet for nearly a year. An additional 9% of routes were not offered due to anticipated shortcomings.
This issue persisted from April 2024 through January 2025. Maulding had been appointed interim CEO after the retirement of former CEO Gary Rosenfeld Feb. 1, 2024. The situation coincided with low public confidence and ridership.
After a revised schedule was posted, MATA made significant improvements in its route performance. In February 3,804 of its 18,517 scheduled trips were missed. A month earlier, MATA missed 7,892 of its 23,604 scheduled trips.
Lewis, appointed in December for an eight-month term, is an executive with Tampa-based TransPro. He led a team of consultants who performed an audit of MATA last year after a $60 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2023 was discovered in July.
MATA is now implementing a comprehensive plan to shore up its operations and restore customer confidence.
