On Smart City Memphis, many of us make things sound easy. Let’s just build dense, walkable neighborhoods. Let’s just remove bus fares and make the routes go here or there. Let’s tear down the rest of the public housing and humanly integrate “those people” into “normal neighborhoods”. We know why things are messed up, how to make things right and are mad as hell that things aren’t changing faster.
Well, sometimes real life creeps up on you. Today I was reading A Coordinated Human Services
Transportation Plan for the Memphis Area of 2007 (don’t ask why). Several facts slapped me in the face and screamed, “SEE, THIS IS REALLY HARD TO FIX AND MAY TAKE A REALLY LONG TIME!”
There are people in the Memphis Metro Area that desperately need transit options. Depending on which populations are included, this number is somewhere between 70,000 and 430,000 people. Few of them live close to each other or close to where they need to go. Few destinations are clustered in a logical way to make any transit option viable other than the personal automobile. The challenge to serving our residents is far more wide-spread than people realize. And, we are making decisions about public housing, new neighborhood development and the location of services that may be exacerbating the problem.
What is transit?
Transit covers a lot of bases. The trolley, city buses, taxicabs, private vans and school buses are some modes most people would recognize.
Who currently uses transit in Memphis?
- The elderly and disabled who cannot drive
- Low-income residents who cannot afford to own or operate cars
- Tourists
Where are the most in-need target populations?
Surprising to me, the regional population of people over 60 years old are the most centrally located. The greatest concentration is within the 240-Loop but pretty evenly dispersed throughout it. People with incomes below the poverty level reside largely inside the city limits of Memphis but outside of the 240-Loop. The population with disabilities is much more spread out across the six-county region.
Where do most transit trips originate?
Trip origins are spread out all over the region. Origins based on Families First, the Food Stamp program and Medicaid caseloads are concentrated in three locations.
- Mainly in the Memphis city limits but outside the 240-Loop
- West Memphis
- Northern Tipton County
Origins based on elderly and disabled caseloads are concentrated in South Memphis, Fayette County, West Memphis and Desoto County. The top 60 overall origin points are listed in the table below.
| CATEGORY | LOCATION |
| Affordable
Housing Sites (17 Locations) |
Agnes Place -Grove Street, Memphis
Airways Villa – 2305 Pendleton Street, Memphis Alexmire Apartments – 347 E. McLemore Avenue, Memphis Alpha Renaissance Apartments – 1471 Genesis, Memphis Apartments at LaPaloma – 1394 LaPaloma Circle, Memphis Cane Creek Crossing – 100-114 S, Main Street, Memphis Cleaborn Homes & Foote Homes – S. Lauderdale, Memphis College Park – 838 Walker Avenue, Memphis Frisco Court – 1756 LaPaloma, Memphis Gastalia Heights – 1999 Carver & 1768 Keltner, Memphis Knob Hill Apartments -1059 Florida St. Memphis Parkway Commons – 1524 S. Parkway East, Memphis Salem Manor – 2220 S. Parkway East, Memphis The Commons at Brentwood – 640 Aspire Lane, Memphis Thompson Courts – LaPaloma, Carver, Keltner, Memphis Turrell Meadows, 67 2nd St. West Memphis Wellington Place – 1005 S. Wellington, Memphis |
| Neighborhoods
Corridors (13 Locations) |
Chelsea Corridor, Memphis
Elvis Presley Corridor, Memphis Frayser, Memphis Hickory Hill, Memphis Lamar Corridor, Memphis Midtown, Memphis Poplar Corridor, Memphis Raleigh, Memphis South Memphis within I-240 Loop Summer Corridor, Memphis Third Street Corridor, Memphis U.S. Hwy 51/Thomas Street Corridor, Memphis Winchester Corridor, Memphis |
| Senior
Housing Sites (30 Locations) |
Barry Homes, 255 Lauderdale St. Memphis
Barry Towers – 255 Lauderdale Street, Memphis Belmont Village of Memphis – 6605 Quail Hollow Road, Memphis Borda Towers – 21 Neely St. Memphis Camilla Towers – 256 S. Camilla, Memphis Carestone at Bartlett – 3345 Kirby Whitten Road, Memphis Cleaborn Homes – 430 S. Lauderdale St. Memphis College Park Senior Building – 838 Walker Avenue, Memphis Ecumenical Village – 217 W. Jackson Ave., West Memphis Exxum Towers – 3155 Sharp, Memphis Franklin Park – 3393 Kirby Road, Memphis Highland Towers – 400 S. Highland, Memphis Hollywood Senior Center – 1560 N. Hollywood, Memphis Independent Apartments – 875 Linden Avenue, Memphis Jefferson Square, 741 Adams Avenue, Memphis Latham Terrace Senior Housing – 295 E.H. Crump, Memphis Luther Terrace – 3907 James Road, Memphis Lutheran Village Condominiums – 3589 Covington Pike, Memphis Memphis Tower – 1081 Court Avenue, Memphis The Parkview – 1914 Poplar Avenue, Memphis The Villas of West Memphis – W. Jackson Avenue, West Memphis Venson Center – 439 Beale Street, Memphis Wesley Graceland Gardens – 1430 Graceland Pines, Memphis Wesley Highland Manor – 3549 Norriswood, Memphis Wesley Highland Meadows – 3517 Andy Way, Memphis Wesley Highland Place – 3550 Watauga, Memphis Wesley Highland Terrace – 366 S. Highland, Memphis Wesley Meadows -1325 Mclingvale Road, Hernando Wesley Millington Towers – 5077 Easley Av., Millington Wesley Stage Park -2779 Battle Creek Drive, Memphis |
Where do most transit trips end?
Again, I was surprised by the density maps. While destinations are spread all over the place, an East Memphis corridor going north to south from Bartlett to Hickory Hill stood out. As well, the Collierville area had a similar density. The top sixty destinations are listed in the table below.
| CATEGORY | LOCATION |
| Career Centers
and Workforce Development Centers |
Memphis Messick Adult Center
Tennessee Career Center – Somerville, Fayette County Tennessee Career Center at Memphis – Covington, Tipton County Tennessee Career Centers – 5 locations in Shelby County Tennessee Technology Center at Memphis – Alabama Avenue Location Tennessee Technology Center at Memphis – Tchulahoma Rd Location William R. Moore College of Technology, Memphis |
| Cultural and
Recreation Locations |
Downtown Memphis – Various Locations
Graceland, Memphis Memphis Zoo/Overton Park Midsouth Coliseum, Liberty Land Park, Liberty Bowl Stadium |
| Educational
Destinations |
Christian Brothers University
Mid-South Community College – West Memphis Rhodes College Southern College of Optometry Southwest Community College- Millington Center, Memphis Southwest Community College- Somerville, Fayette County Southwest Community College- Southeast Center, Memphis Southwest Community College- Whitehaven Center, Memphis Southwest Community College-Gill Center, Frayser Southwest Community College-Macon Cove Campus, Memphis Southwest Community College-Union Avenue Campus, Memphis University of Memphis University of Tennessee |
| Human
Services Agencies |
County Health Department – Shelby, Tipton, Fayette, Crittenden, DeSoto
Memphis Housing Authority TN Dept of Human Services – 3rd St. & Mitchell Avenue, Memphis TN Dept of Human Services – Jackson & Macon Avenue, Memphis U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Memphis Office Various Non-profit Human Services Advocacy and Supporting Groups Various Faith-based Human Services Organizations |
| Medical
Facilities |
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville
Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton Baptist Rehabilitation-Germantown Crittenden Regional Hospital, West Memphis Memphis Children’s Clinic – 6 locations Memphis Health Center-E.H.Crump Memphis Kidney & Dialysis Service Methodist Fayette Hospital – Somerville Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital-Germantown Methodist North Hospital-Covington pike Methodist South Hospital -South Memphis Methodist University Hospital-Union Avenue Regional Medical Center at Memphis (THE MED)/MEDPLEX Shelby County Health Loop Clinics – 10 locations St. Francis Hospital – Kate Bond Rd, Memphis St. Francis Hospital – Park Avenue, Memphis St. Francis Hospital – White Station Rd, Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis |
| Retail
Places |
ALDI – various locations
Kroger Stores – various locations Pharmacy Stores – various locations Shopping Malls – various locations Wal-Mart Stores – various locations |
| Transportation
Hubs |
Greyhound Bus Line – Downtown Memphis
MATA American Way Transit Center Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) North End Terminal Memphis International Airport |
Are we adequately serving people with transit needs?
Despite an extraordinarily wide range of public and private services, the simple answer is, no.
Latent Demand = 222,148
Average Daily Demand = 74,049
Average Daily Served = 25,860
At best we are leaving somewhere between 65% and 85% of the most in-need population unserved. This is before we talk about including people who might make public transportation a mode of choice. Not because MATA is dumb. Not because MHA is bad. Not because people don’t want transportation options or because options are universally doomed.
This is a hard, long term project because for fifty years we have intentionally built a community that has made it that way.
Today, I simply want to applaud the few people who woke up this morning knowing that they were heading out to try fixing it.
I’m not sure that the research is able to pick up on (or is picking up on) the true impact that better public transportation could bring in Memphis. You have to factor in the costs of wrecks from overcrowded streets with flawed drivers, sometimes resulting in disability and loss of life, etc, too. Plus all the people who would opt for public transit if it were available…the people with jobs they can get to right now who will be fired this month or this year when their car breaks down.
So many variables.
Not to diss the folks in “the trenches” trying to work out the feasability of public transit here, and how to go about fixing it. But I think there’s a basic “If you build it, and make it good, they will come, and it will be good” aspect that might be being missed by looking only at selective statistics.
Jupiter, you and John are both circling the central issue- what is the future of MATA? Should MATA seek to serve the needy population of the city first and foremost even thought this will be unlikely to boost the economic and development prospects of the city much further than they are at present, saying nothing of boosting its own profile within the community? Should MATA seek to create an efficient transit system that serves the city’s congested corridors and primary business and dense residential neighborhoods in the hopes of attracting a new type of rider while propelling at least certain neighborhoods towards a truly urban future?
Are the 2 goals compatible?
While not all problems come down to simple money- I think this one might. We have in place a system without a dedicated source of financing. MATA’s money seemingly appears as if by magic, mostly from federal and state levels of government with a portion coming out of the city’s usual “big bucket-o-cash”. MATA is totally dependent on the will of local government to provide the funding it needs on an annual basis. Even if the city would simply dedicate a portion of the money received through its portion of local taxes (sales for example) it would at least allow MATA to have a dependable financial future- one that would enable it to make dependable financial forecasts. That would be something MATA could take to the bank- or in this case, would allow MATA to go to the bond market. It’s hard to invest in an organization that is totally reliant on hand outs on an annual basis without any guarantee that the primary benefactor will continue to pay out in 5, 10 and 20 years. Without that kind of dependable financial backing, we have essentially asked MATA to become a modern transit system without giving it the standard toolset to do so. I’m not sure it’s even possible. You can always a community’s commitment to transit for its citizens in how it approaches funding which of course brings up the old saying- talk is cheap. While places like Dallas and Atlanta see transit as a necessity and are willing to support this principal with a dedicated funding source, we continue to talk about taking transit seriously, but when it comes to funding we treat it like the Salvation Army.
I suspect that a full audit of MATA’s real finances may turn up some problems, one being the fare. Why do we always go to “tax our way out” instead of a combination of a lower tax rate and a higher fare?
Raise the fare for riding the bus.
Charge $2 for vehicle inspections, one for the vehicle inspection funding and the other for MATA funding. Then, serve the inner city population as if they were made of gold. From Frazier to South Memphis, from the river to the 240 loop’s eastern edge, where streets are divided sensibly.
Yes- raise the fare for riding the bus. Make the people who live below poverty pay more to ride the bus. Zippy, do you ever think about your comments before you type them?
Do you?
People who ride the bus can handle a raise, maybe, maybe not, but, if you don’t ever audit an inspect MATA, what is known as responsible oversight, and done every year in other cities that are doing so much better than us, you will never know how much it would take to make MATA sustainable.
If I ran a business and went to the bank without a break even analysis and applied for a loan, I might be turned down in this economy.
If I didn’t ever do one, I would never know what I should charge for services.
Do you know the volume of riders on MATA, do you trust their figures? I don’t.
What are their costs?
What would it take per rider for them to break even?
How many cars go through inspections everyday?
Inspections are free, which is pretty stupid since it is a service.
What if they got a dollar of every car inspected everyday to fund them? Poorer states charge three dollars and have lower taxes.
Why don’t you “think before you type” and answer those questions. I seriously want to know the real answers.
You said “Raise the fare for riding the bus”.
Which pretty much ignores “Low-income residents who cannot afford to own or operate cars”. So one of your solutions is have the people who have no option but to ride MATA in order to get to their places of employment pay more for their ride. Take more out of their budgets that could go towards continuing education, food and housing because you have them by the throat. If you are capable of critical thinking, you are not showing your ability to actually comprehend all the variables that yield the situation. That’s sure to aid in the city’s fight against poverty and economic development there Zippo.
Why would you place an additional “tax” on the city residents only (seeing as they are the only ones that must go through the vehicle inspection process when MATA is obviously a metro-wide institution)? Seeing as many of the destinations are outside the city limits, your idea essentially ignores the need for a funding source that shared by all residents in the metropolitan area for a service that would be provided for the metropolitan area.
Thing is Zippy, I have read some of your other posts and I can tell you are the type of individual where no matter how many audits are performed you will never trust them until you hear what you want to hear or you do it yourself. Once again, do you think before you type?
Well, ya know, if we looked at the books, the gap may be wide, or it may not be, my point is you don’t know and never will if you don’t audit and inspect.
You might find out you don’t have to raise it, you might find out it needs to go up a nickel.
Ya know what else, if the buses were funded and run right they might BE ON TIME, causing fewer to lose their jobs due to lateness, or get sick from lack of rest, and be able to spend ANY time with their children, a leading cause of gangs, absent parents trying to make ends meet being gone all the time.
THAT is a cause of entrenched generational poverty, institutionalized short sightedness and inability to understand that there are many ways to skin a cat. Talk about not comprehending variables, that’s a stark example.
Stop overreacting.
Why do you put up a red herring argument repeatedly when you know what I want?
“Thing is Zippy, I have read some of your other posts and I can tell you are the type of individual where no matter how many audits are performed you will never trust them until you hear what you want to hear or you do it yourself. Once again, do you think before you type?”
…………………….
Well, that’s you assuming you know something about someone you don’t know, making posts that are “all about you”, and not really about serving the citizens.
I don’t think you want to think what I’m thinking, so you should really stop trying to.
Why put it on the citizens of Memphis?
Because that’s who the buses will serve and that’s where the revenue will come from.
“need for a funding source that is share by all residents in the metropolitan area”.
……………
Who said the rule you made up is even appropriate?
Seriously, who says?
Maybe putting the bill at vehicle inspection to fund the inspections and MATA is appropriate and maybe they don’t need three dollars, once a year, to fund something that the government is no doubt over billing for to pay the employee bloat on the city payroll.
Maybe you should think a little harder.
What, you don’t have $2 or $3 a year?
I’ll loan it to you.
Poormouth.
Oh and PS, a post pro paranoia:
Have you seen the state of this city and the majority of it’s citizens?
Maybe trust is something that is gained a bit too cheap around these parts. I trust few people and all of the earned it, not one talked his way into it.
Maybe you settle for hot air too much.
I apologize for making it personal, but I see the same twisted logic in so many residing in this area.
I know what you want, you want an audit for every publicly funded activity in the city- which , by the way, costs tax payer money. In this case it happens to be MATA. What I’m saying is that even if an audit was performed by Firm A, I don’t believe you would trust their findings unless they reported what you want to hear (which is massive mismanagement of funds, inappropriate expenditures, theft, etc…). Maybe I’m wrong, but that is how your posts present themselves. If an audit were performed today which yielded a report that the system is being efficiently run and an increase in service would be totally reliant on additional funding, would you believe it and walk away?
You said :
“Why do we always go to “tax our way out” instead of a combination of a lower tax rate and a higher fare?
Raise the fare for riding the bus.
Charge $2 for vehicle inspections, one for the vehicle inspection funding and the other for MATA funding. Then, serve the inner city population as if they were made of gold. From Frazier to South Memphis, from the river to the 240 loop’s eastern edge, where streets are divided sensibly.”
My statements on a personal note were related to this very telling, ignorant statement. It’s akin to “let them eat cake” which I take personally which is not your fault mind you. Outside of increasing the fare for those who can least afford it, you then suggest raising the vehicle inspection charge (essentially a tax) after asking why do we always have to “tax our way out” of such issues. Why would one limit MATA and its potential use to the citizens of Memphis only? That places a limit on MATA’s potential and its purpose in serving a metropolitan area where only 50% of the population resides within the city limits. Once again, seeing as some of the destinations and even some of the points of origin mentioned in the report are outside the city limits, why would one require the city to carry the financial weight alone? It ignores one of the cornerstones of the modern city- no community is isolated or can be defined as simply the area within the city limits- it ignores that transportation is a regional issues- it ignores the fact that higher taxes and a shrinking tax base for the whole region are directly related to poverty, crime and education which themselves are directly influenced by the mobility, or lack thereof, of our poorest citizens.
If MATA is ever to be given the level of importance among the citizens that it needs in order to truly serve the entire area either 1) congestion must reach such a point that it has a drastic impact on the quality of life and/or 2) MATA must become a mode of transportation for more than those who have no choice. DART is considered to be such a necessity in Dallas that numerous municipalities in and around that city joined together and voted to increase their own taxes in order to fund their transit system. DART is seen as a shared asset that could have either a direct or indirect impact on enough individuals that they are willing to support it where it counts- in their wallets. Not everyone rides it, in fact the majority of the citizens there do not, but they realized the importance of personal mobility that separated itself from growing congestion and was not based on individual car ownership. They also realize it was an issue that effected not just those living inside the city limits, but everyone living in the metropolitan area.
But pardon me for disagreeing with you.
You are right though, I give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise. Chalk it up to youth and optimism. Maybe you are so jaded that you are writing off a lot of good people and efforts.
I don’t really CARE wht you believe, I dont operate on BELIEF SSTEMS and neither does transparent government.
I would accept an audit if it came from:
1. a firm with no relatives or business ties to any other Memphis audit performed, past or present,
2. no personal relatives of any Memphis politicians or appointees, past or present,
3. no friends of any Memphis politicians or appointees past or present,
In other words, the company performing the audit AND FULLY PUBLIC INSPECTION, must have MEMPHIS’ best interests in mind, not some political junkie or sheister, like our past BS audits.
A proper accounting may cost “taxpayer money” even though there should be an audit clause in every single city document, making their absence “PECULIAR”, but, I guarantee you it’s cheaper than having everyone involved ripping off the citizens.
As I have stated before, you read a LOT of BS into posts that doesn’t ever exist in those posts.
YOU have an agenda.
Don’t bother with the distraction of “hypotheticals”, they are “worthless”.
You want to be effective?
Stick to what actually exists here in the physical reality today.
………..
You have an issue with charging any money to anyone even when it is appropriate, you have a problem with paying for some things when they cost money.
And you say I’M saying “let them eat cake”?
Can’t have it both ways.
Do the vehicle inspection people work for free?
No they don’t.
Is two dollars too much for 15 minutes of inspection?
x 4 = $8/hour. $3 would be $12/hour and $2 of that could go towards the buses.
And you have a problem with this?
Ar you pro slavery? Seems you are.
Bus drivers do not work for free either and busses have maintenance, it isn’t free either.
Maybe you’d like the money to come from thin air?
The rate increase might be nothing, might be a nickel, and if it’s determined that it would be “an unenforceable undue burden on the citizenry”, it could be approached another way, but, stuff still ain’t free.
As far as “they can’t afford it” you do not have their wallets in your pocket and do not know what anyone but yourself can afford, best to speak for yourself on that.
There are a million COGNIZANT choices along the way man, don’t get stuck in a small box about it.
…….
“Essentially a tax”, it either is or it isn’t, don’t play games.
It’s a FEE, look it up. It should NEVER have been removed from inspections, for the workers and fiscal responsibility’s sake, those workers NEVER started working for free.
……….
“LIMITING MATA’s service”???
Ridiculous statement. THINK!
No one is talking about limiting MATA’ service, that is the stupid part of your statement.
Are you going to require an ID to get on BUS, what about tourists?
“Points of origin outside the city limits”?
Not so fast, those are destinations and points of origin, (TO and FROM work).
Look, you seem to be stuck, MORE people will ride the bus when their autos are repo’d, which will bring the fares DOWN, when it demonstrates it can serve the city with any consistent degree of continuity and timeliness, MORE people will ride it.
MATA is NOT REGIONAL, it’s a city service. It serves anyone who can step up and ride it that is within it’s area. The “people who can’t afford a raise in fare” are in the inner city, not “the burbs”.
Your whole argument is contradictory to itself.
You have circular thinking that makes no sense.
…………..
So, how is demanding an audit and demanding a fully public physical inspection writing people off?
Looks like someone has something to hide to me.
It’s an interesting point regarding MATA. I read the report via their website a few weeks ago and I personally question the origins and destinations provided. They seem to list all Senior Housing in the metro area without regards as to the disposable income possessed by those living there or regarding private transit (which many middle and upscale senior housing locations seem to possess). I’m wouldn’t go as far as to call the information faulty, but I would say it deserves a more thorough analysis.
The overall statement is dead on though- it’s not easy being MATA. We have charged them with providing transit- the backbone to a functioning economy- to those in need without taking the responsibility of ensuring that the system is properly funded and run efficiently. Like many other examples in Memphis, MATA is for those residing in poverty and thus, once provided for, we can go about our lives with the issue out of sight, out of mind.
As for Zippy and Anonymous- will you two get a room?
Zippy is correct about the audit. Why not? However, MATA does provide service outside the city limits which makes it more than simply a city operation. A simple look at their website shows there are routes in place serving Germantown as well as West Memphis. I agree that a new source of funding should be created- one that is separate from the general fund.
Anonymous- I think I see what you are saying (maybe) in that any audit would have to recognize that MATA, just like the majority of transit systems in the country, cannot be run as a for-profit operation. It would be difficult to require higher fare from those who can least afford it. I also agree that in order for MATA to fulfill its potential it must become a metropolitan wide service and not limit itself to the city. This however would require a real revolution in perception for the citizens of this community and is a real leap of faith and logic on your part.
In conclusion I do not want either one of you to reply to my above statement- if you do I will not read it.
I agree with you Urbanaut, and I am not suggesting that MATA be a for profit agency, I’m suggesting it be allowed to have it’s costs covered, not one nickel more.
I believe I stipulated that there are routes outside the city, but, they aren’t regional and they shouldn’t be.
I’m not for making MATA unaffordable for those it was created or evolved to be of service for.
There are a million cognizant choices to be made along the way, i don’t want them compromised for the sake of political expediency, too much of that has gone on sop far and is WHY we are in the boat we are in.
I myself would rather ride a bus to work than drive.
I’d rather ride a bike or skate than drive. I can be on time with the latter two though somewhat odious.
I have no problem with anonymous if he’ll just lay off the off topic, out of context, personal attacks.