The following are facts regarding the Memphis Area Transit Authority as of 7/20/24
The Hotel-Motel Tax, with allowable uses for tourism, could be leveraged as a long-needed MATA local dedicated funding source. The Hotel-Motel tax is currently scheduled to be used to support part of the approximately $1B in stadium expenditures, over time. The $1B approximation is based on media published construction costs of Liberty Bowl and FedEx Forum renovations plus expected interest costs. The State of TN provided a $350M grant for local stadium/arena funding. On Monday 7/22/24, the County Commission will consider ratifying the Hotel Motel tax for stadium construction use. The item currently resides on the consent agenda #20. (Source: County Commission 7/22/24 Agenda. View Meeting – OnBase Agenda Online (shelbycountytn.gov)
Fixed route ridership, since 2002 has declined across a Memphis Chamber of Commerce selected Memphis municipal peer group on average by 41.3%. Ridership has decreased in Memphis since 2002 by 77.4%. (Source: MATA RIDERSHIP – Taxpayer Justice).
Post COVID ridership recovery since 2021 low through 2023, for the peer group, was 31.5%. MATA recovery for the same period was less than 1% at .3% (Source: MATA RIDERSHIP – Taxpayer Justice).
Monthly fixed route ridership in May for FY 2024 was 205,974, Daily 6,644 and Hourly 415 (Source: MATA RIDERSHIP – Taxpayer Justice).
Monthly average individual fixed route ridership in May 2024 was 8,955, Daily 289 and Hourly 18 (Source: MATA RIDERSHIP – Taxpayer Justice).
During May 2024, Monthly individual fixed route ridership ranged from 924 to 26,442, Daily 30 to 853 and Hourly 2 to 53. (Source: MATA RIDERSHIP – Taxpayer Justice)
Neither MATA Board Chair Michael Fulton or Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin practice transparency by answering public information requests. Unanswered public information request are displayed in the Non-Transparent Database (Source – NON-TRANSPARENT – Taxpayer Justice).
Since the 2018 Transit Vision was published, MATA regressed and deficiencies increased from 15 in 2019 to 27 in 2023. The 27 deficiencies in the most recent 2023 review occurred across 7 of 13 eligible areas to include: 1) Financial Management and Capacity 2) Technical Capacity-Award Management, Procurement, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Title VI, American with Disabilities Act (ADA)-General, Equal Employment Opportunity. 6 of 27 deficiencies were repeat deficiencies from the 2019 review with 5 of the 6 residing in Procurement. (Source: FTA 2019 and 2023 Triennial Reviews. Review)
On 2/27/24 at Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin’s first meeting, the MATA Board approved, without current financials available, a $3.4M increase to an AllWorld consulting contract and a $5.8M Flowbird (French Company) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) ticket vending contract. The BRT has been delayed for 6 yrs. and no ridership projections have been made available to the public. MATA rescinded in May the Flowbird contract. (Source: https://matatransit.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=PA&ID=1181608&GUID=F0CA95D0-7C9A-4882-ABB5-80C192FA664A)