Thanks to Bennett Foster for sending:
The Memphis Bus Riders Union and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713 are launching a new campaign with a petition to restore the 31 Crosstown, a historic bus route eliminated by Memphis Area Transit Authority in 2013. The two groups represent hundreds of MATA drivers and riders who say that “the route was a lifeline” for under served neighborhoods in North and South Memphis. The campaign hopes to revive MATA’s ridership by restoring the service that current riders want. Willie Barber, Business Agent for Local 713 says that public opinion of MATA can be repaired by reinstating the 31.
Join ATU Local 713 and the Memphis Bus Riders Union as we launch our campaign to restore the 31 Crosstown, a historic bus route eliminated by Memphis Area Transit Authority in 2013. We represent thousands of MATA drivers and bus riders who say that the route was a lifeline for under served neighborhoods in North and South Memphis.
THIS SATURDAY!
September 17th
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
1036 Firestone Ave.
As neighborhoods in North and South Memphis experience worsening segregation and poverty with every lost bus route, major developers in Downtown and Midtown solicit for transit funding to improve infrastructure around their projects. Our campaign to restore bus service is part of the solution to this form of systemic racism and inequitable development in Memphis. Public transit is a civil right, and we must increase bus service for low-income and minority residents to properly address racial and economic injustice in Memphis. North and South Memphis deserve equal access to our city!
The 31 Crosstown provided frequent service, running every 15 minutes during peak hours, and served riders from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. The petition calls for fully restoring the route to ensure that its many riders will return: “We, the undersigned, call for the immediate restoration of the 31 Crosstown, connecting the residential areas of New Chicago and Riverview Kansas. We demand service that is frequent, and operates through the full duration of the MATA service day.”
The unions believe that low enrollment in neighborhood schools is also connected to MATA service cuts. Students in the affected neighborhoods are strained due to the recent closings of Northside and Carver High Schools.
The importance of transit infrastructure to the economic stability of a community cannot be denied. As neighborhoods in North and South Memphis experience worsening segregation and poverty with every lost bus route, major developers in Downtown and Midtown solicit for transit funding to improve infrastructure around their projects. The unions see their campaign as part of the solution to this form of systemic racism and inequitable development in Memphis.
