Written by: Joe B Kent

Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has been a sustained public botch for years now. The botch leaves challenged, often poor populations stranded without desperately needed transportation.

So where is our “Barney Fife” State of TN public open records money cop Comptroller? After submitting multiple citizen Comptroller complaints over the years, I have heard little from the Comptroller’s office. To that extent, I have reason to believe the Comptroller can’t read or figure. After all, there are only 2 of 600 Comptroller staffers stationed in the State’s largest Shelby County. And strangely, the 2 local Comptroller staffers are located in the same building as MATA!

Anyway, MATA’s operational capacity dramatically declined from 2019 to 2023. The former assertion is based on a Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) periodic local transit agency examination known as “Triennial Review.” MATA’s 2023 review contains numerous deficiencies.

At the same time, MATA refuses to answer FOIA open records requests. Not locally answering FOIAs seems a mystery because the deficient findings did not occur under Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin’s administration. Seems like Mauldin would want to get public information not having to do with her administration out to the public to accommodate a fresh start for her MATA administration.

To fully understand the review, one must be a transit regulatory subject matter expert. But we will take a shot at understanding, as taxpayers want to know what is really going on with their $80M Memphis public transit agency.

At this point, poor state and local public oversight is why the public does not know what is going on with MATA. For example, during the most recent City Council budget season, Councilors were unwilling to ask MATA for their most recent FTA Triennial Review, leaving taxpayers in the dark about MATA while passing massive tax increases.

But as of March 29, 2024, the review resides locally and in the hands of MATA’s Board Chair, Michael Fulton, and the following MATA employees: Bacarra Mauldin, John Lancaster, Tiffany Casey, and Patrina Chambers. Yet, the Historic Council does not want the information and the Comptroller does not seem to care that MATA won’t answer FOIA requests. But the FTA did answer a FOIA requesting MATA’s Triennial Review. Let’s see what it says.

The actual Triennial Reviews can be accessed below in “Check the Facts.” The previous and most recent reviews were requested to benchmark progress or lack thereof from the last 2019 review.

Unfortunately, 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, 3) Procurement, 4) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, 5) Title VI, 6) American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and 7) General, Equal Employment Opportunity. 6 of 27 deficiencies were repeat deficiencies from the 2019 review with 5 of the 6 residing in Procurement.

Given the magnitude of the overall Procurement deficiencies (7), with 5 recurring from the previous 2019 review, an “enhanced review focus” of Procurement was launched by FTA reviewers. The enhanced review determined that the MATA procurement department staff size, experience, and training was insufficient to manage the procurement requirements for a significant increase in FTA funded projects.

Due to the perennial elitist botching of the local educational and workforce development system, beyond Wanda, public training issues are systemic throughout Memphis and Shelby County. Additionally, it now appears that the launch of the 2018 Transit Vision was the beginning of the elitist public botching of MATA (Transit Vision). The Memphis elitists either rip off public agencies or botch them, to then privatize a target public agency without putting at risk private cash.

An example of potential elitist botching can be found in Bacarra Mauldin’s first meeting as Interim MATA CEO on February 27, 2024. Mauldin recommended, while MATA was unable to produce current financial statements, a $3.4M increased service contract award for AllWorld and a $5.8M ticket vending contract for a French company named Flowbird. Without financial visibility, there is no way that Mauldin would have made these massive purchase recommendations, unless she had assurances from local elitists. No Way!

The ticket vending contract was exclusively for the $136M bus rapid transit project, now 6 years behind schedule, where no ridership projections are publicly known. The $5.8M purchase would have likely consumed the entire fare box and then some. Thankfully, the MATA Board later rescinded the Flowbird award after a blog was published on this platform.

The historical focus in Memphis seems limited to 50 years ago, with MLK and beyond, while excluding the last 5 or 20 years when Memphis Tomorrow began. That local historical exclusion is mistaken, bringing us to 5 years ago and MATA’s previous 2019 review.

Again, coinciding with the advent of the 2018 local “Transit Vision” project, there were 6 repeat deficiencies from 2019 in the 2023 review, with 27 total deficiencies, up from 15 in 2019. Just mindboggling after the launch of a local 2018 Transit Vision initiative but perhaps explained with other public priorities like $200M for the riverfront, $37M for tennis, $1B for stadiums and on and on.

But with their Transit Vision in hand and away from the 2023 deficiencies let’s see what MATA said of the future in their 2019 review. See below:

“MATA is working with the City of Memphis on an Innovation Corridor bus rapid transit project that will connect downtown Memphis with the University of Memphis” Construction hasn’t started, and completion delayed 6 years until 2030.

“MATA plans to award contracts for two projects. One is for a new fare collection system and the other project is for an Enhanced Asset Management/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.” Today, the ERP system is a botch which has contributed to increased administrative workloads and deficient financial reporting.

“MATA has programmed funds over the next five years for building new Operations and Maintenance Facility” The former was stated in 2019, tentatively scheduled to be complete by now. Has the build even started?

“MATA is planning to bring the Riverfront and Madison Avenue Rail Lines back into revenue service during the next few years.” That would point to 2021 completion. Has that project even started?

Get ready for the “COVID caused the delays” excuse. Sure some delay, but have these 2019 MATA projects even started from 5 years ago, as mentioned in the 2019 FTA Triennial Review?

So, at this point, are there any questions why Memphis does not move forward? Again, keep in mind MATA is an $80M public transit agency that effectively gets no public oversight. And, keep in mind, MATA has been stranding, without public transportation, its most challenged impoverished populations.

All for what? Privatization? Riverfront development, tennis courts, stadiums? I guess we will find out soon with “Reimagination”. That is “Reimagination” as prosecuted by a MATA organization that is neither transparent or collaborative with the public.

Federal Transit Administration. FTA MATA Triennial Reviews obtained by FTA FOIA.

Transit Vision. November 2018.