August 26, 2024 • 38 mins
We're talking with the Interim President of the Memphis Area Transist Authority on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bev Justin show bells.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Talking and all away.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
How you go? You go so getting ready.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
In time.
Speaker 5 (00:15):
Show. Let's go bet Justin, Well make your day by here.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Rond.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Listen to what today you know it's time for the
belt of this show, of the Mountain show.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We are rocking and rolling on this Monday, August twenty six,
twenty twenty four. Enjoyed this fabulous day today. I am
so proud and privileged to have her back in the studio.
We are talking this afternoon with the Inner Room president
(01:00):
of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, Missus Baccari Malden. Good afternoon, sister,
how are you this day?
Speaker 5 (01:09):
I am good, good afternoon, and thank you for having
me back on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You are so welcome, welcome well this time that you're on,
you're now the interim president of MADA, and Sister, I
wouldn't want to be in your shoes. I had to
say that, but I get it. I understand it. How
you doing?
Speaker 5 (01:31):
You know, I'm doing okay, I'm encouraged, I'm focused, and
I'm determined to turn this thing around.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah. So people would ask, and I'm asking Miss Malden,
what in the hell happened to Mata.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Well, let me say this as my saying that, Well,
you know last week the matter Board of Commissioners met
and they during the Finance Committee meeting, and you know,
my interim well my external CFO really put it best.
What's going on would matter today. It's not a this
year problem, it's not a last year problem. This is
(02:13):
something that has been snowballing over time, and we've gotten
to a point where we just can't kick the can
down the road any longer. We have to be fiscally responsible.
We have to have a balanced budget, and having that
balanced budget creates the foundation that will actually allow us
to grow, provide better service, and overall be more be
(02:36):
that reliable trans authority that everyone needs. You know, there
are three things that we know for sure. Over time,
the deficit that we have has grown as a result
of the escalating costs of doing business. You know, just
like that loaf of bread, just like that tank of gas,
those eggs, right, just like those costs have increased over years.
(02:56):
So it's the cost of doing business as a transit authority.
But if you're income is flat, then that creates the
budget gap. Same thing for the transit authority. That's what
has happened over time. The level of investment from our
local investments have just remained flat while the cost of
doing business has increased.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
The second thing we know is.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
That that budget gap is what has impacted our reliability.
You know, I've heard so many people talk about how
they've had to wait for two hours or more to
get a bus, or a bus doesn't come. Well, that's
because we haven't been able to make the appropriate investment
in a new fleet. We have a very very old fleet, okay,
(03:39):
and we have one of the largest service areas in
the country. Our service area is two hundred and eighty
square miles. So when you're servicing two hundred and eighty
square miles with an aging fleet and you don't have
the money to invest in it, that impacts reliability and.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On time performance.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
And then of course the third thing is that we've
just got to right size the agency in order to
be in line with our budgets so that we can
be fiscally responsible and we can grow from there. And
so that is what brings us to the point today.
You know, I know that there's been a lot in
the media about jobs.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And cuts and things like that.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yes, and know that that's not something that we want
to do. That's something that we simply have to do
in order to rain this in so that again we
can set the stage so that we can grow in
a way that is responsive as well as responsible.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So what do you say, miss Malden, since you've been there?
You haven't been there long.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I mean I have not. I came.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Actually, you have the distinction of being the first interview
that I ever did three years ago. Wow, as the
chief of staff. Yeah, three years ago. So I got
to Memphis three years ago. I served as the chief
of staff. I became the Debt Pity CEO in January
of twenty twenty three, and one year later, after the
(05:05):
retirement of my predecessor, I was asked to step into
the role of interim CEO.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
So yes, it has been quite the It's been quite
the journey over the last three years. And I mean
when I got here three.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Years ago, was matter in trouble then?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Yes, from a service perspective, Okay, you know those were
some of the first things that I heard was that
Matt has got to get better, Madden needs to be
you know, the same things that we're hearing now were
the same things honestly that I was hearing. Then I
didn't really know how deep the hole was. Financially. I
knew that money was tight, I knew that investment was
(05:44):
not at an ideal level. But I honestly didn't know
how deep the hole was until I had full visibility
of the problem. And I didn't have full visibility of
the problem until I got into the ultimate seat.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
So with and I want to go back to something
you said. So our buses, in other words, just break
it down later. They're old.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
They're old. It's real old, real old, and real well used.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I mean, we have buses that have more than five
hundred thousand miles on them.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
What yes, so useful.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Life on a diesel bus is five hundred thousand miles, okakay,
And we have buses that exceed that or they get
there really quickly. It's like five years, five hundred thousand miles.
It's the standard that the federal government gives us for buses,
and we get there faster because of the size of
our service area, and so that requires us to have
(06:44):
the funding in place to really almost replace buses at
an interval that's a lot faster than a lot of
other transit agencies across the country because of the size
of our service area. You know, the service area has
grown because over time Memphis has annexed more and more,
more and more areas into the city's footprint. And as
we have tried to morph and evolve to be responsive,
(07:07):
we actually did ourselves to disservice because again we don't
have the fleet. We didn't have the personnel to truly
serve the large footprint in the way it deserves to
be served.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so that has been one of the big problems
that the fleet is old. You didn't have the personnel,
and then as the city of Memphis expanded, you couldn't
service those areas not.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, not at all.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
That's what contributes to the service, the state of our
service today. Along with again, if the funding, if the
funding investment had increased over time, then perhaps the level
of service we could have provided would have gotten better
over time because we would have been able to properly
invest in it.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So you're saying that MATTA has not been getting the
funding that they needed to keep up with the times.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Correct, correct, and so goodness, and so basically what appears
to have been happening, it's a little bit of robbing
Peter to pay Paul. I think that organization, and I
say I think because I wasn't at the helm, but
based on looking back at the financials, it appears that
we were just kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul,
making do trying our best to provide that service. And
(08:26):
again we've gotten to a point where we just can't.
We can no longer kick the can down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Okay, So where does funding come from?
Speaker 5 (08:38):
So we have several sources of funding. Our primary funder
is the City of Memphis. Our organization was chartered and
created by the City of Memphis, even though we are
an independent agency, kind of what they call an umbrella agency,
if you will, of the City of Memphis, or a
component agency of the City of Memphis. So there are
(08:59):
primary funder, but we do also get some funding from
Shelby County. We get some funding from the State of Tennessee,
as well as some funding from the federal government. But
our primary funder is the City of Memphis.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Okay, So are you saying that, since you've been there
and looking at the books in years past, that the
City of Memphis did not give matter what they needed.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Well, what I'm saying is that what I'm saying is
that over time, the City of Memphis has not really
increased its level of giving over time. Okay, at Shelby
County has not increased its giving over time. Now, the
state and the federal allocations, they're actually given through a formula,
(09:49):
and so when you apply those formulas, and the factors
that impact the formula on the federal side is ridership,
the population of the service area, and the number of
buses that that you pull that you pull out with
during peak times, and so it's a formula that rarely changes,
and so that's how they determine how much money we
(10:10):
get versus CTA, in Chicago, versus Birmingham, versus Atlanta. It's
a formula, and so that's how it is determined how
much we get. And so if we grow in population,
we could possibly grow in our allocation that we receive
from the federal government. And so that's how those funds
are determined, at least for the formula funds that we
(10:31):
can use for operations.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So meeting would I know you've met with the city
council several times. What are they saying to you, miss.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Molded, Well, right, now everyone is trying to understand what happened.
What happened because unfortunately, just as I am new, Yes,
our mayor is new, half of the council is new,
and so everyone is trying to understand how to we
get here? Yes, and so we're giving any and everyone
(11:04):
a peek under the hood to understand. I think it
would be and you've been around.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
For a while.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
People know more about matters finances today than they probably
ever have in recent history, because we've put the information
out and we want people to know, and we think
that they deserve to know because of the amount of
public funds that go into our operation.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Because and you're right, we never heard about how matter
what was the funding if they're running what We never heard.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
That, right, Yeah, Well, it's important that the people know, yes,
And that's also so that again, you know, when we
hear these stories about the the ineffectiveness of our service,
I really want the community to understand that we're not
trying to operate that way. In fact, I don't want
(12:01):
to operate that way. We are making decisions simply because
we have to, not because we want to. And each
and every customer is important and we need them to
understand that we are not trying to leave anybody behind,
and so we are doing this as in an effort
to rein in the service, to right size the service
(12:23):
so that we can start to have that ninety plus
percentile on time performance, so that we can have we
can use the best of the buses that we have
and be more reliable on our routes. And so these
are the first steps that will allow us to have
a solid foundation from which we can grow.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Did the writership you talked You talked about that Miss Mouldin,
Has it declined?
Speaker 5 (12:49):
It has over time, it has declined. Now it is no,
it's about it's we're probably fifty percent of what we
were prepaned.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Pre pandemic.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Pre pandemic, we were up to almost five million boardings
pre pandemic. Now we just barely got to three million
for f y twenty four, which ended in June June
thirtieth of this year. Our fiscal year goes from July
one to June thirtieth, okay, and so we just barely
got to three million boardings for the last year. So
(13:25):
we have a ways to go, and we believe that
making the system more reliable is what's going to help
get us back there.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We are talking this afternoon with the Interim President of
the Memphis Area Transit Authority, Bakari Malden is here. I
am going to our phone lines to talk to some
of our listeners. Wd IA, Hi caller.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Good afternoon, my most beautiful asking about how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Today's good afternoon, David. I'm doing well. How are you?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I'm doing I'm doing well. It looked like the heat
is back on. I ain't happy with that, but other
than that, I'm glad to be here. Good afternoon, Interim CEO.
How you doing today?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
What was your name?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I'm sorry, Good afternoon, Miss Marden. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I'm good, Good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I am am a rider and I've been a rider
on and off thirty plus years, even as a child
for longer than that, lived in other city, large city,
small city. There's no question in my mind that even
compared to the smallert city that I've lived in Hampton, Virginia,
(14:39):
this is the worst mass transit system I've ever seen
in my life. That's a fact as it stands today.
I mister Hudson, who was CEO of Matter and it's
gotta be between twenty five and thirty years ago, and
which he made the statement that we need to sol
funding source. Is that the right term, ms Marting, that's.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
That's that's the right term.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
We usually say dedicated funding, but soul funding, dedicated funding.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
There they are interchangeable.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That said, thank you. I appreciate that because I want
to be correct. And he said that twenty five thirty
years ago, so we knew matter was in trouble at
that point, and black mares and white Man did nothing
about it. Ronald Reagan cut funny to the state in
regards to transportation. The state didn't replace what they should
(15:31):
have replaced, and the city sure did not either. I
ride the bus a couple of times out of the month,
you know. I'm now I'm getting stuff ordered, you know,
and delivered that kind of thing. And it pains me
because I actually like mass transits. I really do. I
try whatever city I go to, and I don't think
(15:52):
it's just for the poor for poor people. Should be
for everybody to use if they choose to use that,
especially with climate change. There's so many reasons that a
city that called itself a big city should have a
bible running mass training system. And I saw his sister
this morning bell on news that lost one job now
(16:15):
that they're going to cut another route, and she thinks
she's gonna lose that job now as well. So I
want to ask you a question, ma'am. Did you talk
to your psychiatrist before you came in from cheap.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
No, before before she came to Memphis to take this job.
But she's not from Memphis.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Let me say go ahead, I was gonna say, I'm
actually spiritually spiritually and I have I have a strong
relationship with the higher power that that that leads me
and guides me along the way. But I also have
roots in the community. While it might not be in Memphis,
(16:59):
it's the commune unity. My mother was a community activist
and organizer who didn't believe in babysitters, and from the
age of three, I can remember going to community meetings
and so when I'm here on the ground in the community,
it's because that's who I am genuinely as a person.
And the reason why I got involved in transit in Birmingham,
(17:22):
my hometown, was because I looked around that city and
transit was the weakest link there and I wanted to
do more than the job I was doing. At the time,
and that's how I got into public transit. And so
you know, in coming here as the chief of staff,
you know, my hope was to make a quiet difference
in the background, you know, and that's what I came
(17:42):
here to do. As fate would have it, here, I
am in the top seat now as the interim and
because I have now grown to absolutely love Memphis and
love this community and consider this my home, I am
fully in tested and being a part of the solution.
(18:03):
You know, is that nothing that's worth it is ever easy.
And I recognize and I absolutely accept the fact that
I definitely had my work cut out for me. But
I am definitely up to the task. And let me
say thank you for being a matter customer, and I
apologize for any inconveniences that you may have had along
(18:25):
the way. That's definitely not the goal and that's definitely
not the standard that we want to where we want
to operate. But we're working to fix that and sometimes
it has to get a little bit more challenging before
it gets better.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
And so I'm just and let me say that I'm
gonna be quick there. I'm sorry, but I've been on
the air for months. If not yet speaking about the
issues would matter. But I don't take it out on
the operators. You've got good operators that I appreciate some
move of course every tired now because of these issues.
But I hate that the passengers take it out on
(19:01):
the operades. Operators take it out on the passengers at
times when it's not really either one of those people's faults.
Let me say this, I wish you the best, I hope,
but the bell if you ever gone to the store
without any money, So if you ain't got any money,
it ain't gonna work. And we need to quit plan
with this. And people are gonna lose jobs if we
(19:24):
can't find the money from somewhere to funded properly. And
that's just it. And it pains me in an African
American city of asking American political leadership that this is
the result of what has happened, not just African American leadership,
because like I said, there's been white man too. In fact,
the last white man claimed that he was gonna do
something about Matt and didn't do one red cent about it.
(19:46):
So the city man, So I wish you well. My
last question that I hang up in case that call up,
who called before, does not call in and ask this question.
Who owns the matter? Thank you Bear for your time
and your patience today.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Thank you David who owns MATA.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
So matter was created by the City of Memphis charter,
as I guess authorized by the State of Tennessee, gives
municipalities the authority, if you will, to create transit authorities.
And so our history goes back. We'll actually be fifty
years old next year. But at the time it was
(20:24):
initially privately held because in the beginning transit authorities were
part of actually the utilities. And so from there it
went into private ownership and management. And in nineteen seventy
five the City of Memphis actually purchased the Memphis Area
Transit Authority from the Memphis Transit Authority. And so that
(20:48):
is actually how it was created by city charter.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And so again it while we are what you call.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
A component organization of the city, much like the day
Downtown Memphis Commission, much like the Airport, Convention Center and
the like. Really transit is everyone's responsibility. We serve constituents
far and wide, those that visit, everyone that lives, works,
and plays in this region. It's really the responsibility and
(21:18):
I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's a much.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Larger example, but proportionately if you think about it, the
city of Washington, d C, Wimata. You know, everybody takes
the train and everything there. They had a seven hundred
and twenty five million.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Dollar deficit this year.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Because again, the deficits, it's not just a Memphis thing,
it's a national problem. They had a seven hundred and
twenty five million dollar deficit. Well, all of the municipalities,
including Washington d C that they service, they all stepped
up to the plate and gave hundreds of million dollars
more in order to help them pass a balanced budget,
(22:00):
avoid the cuts and the layoffs and all of that.
It's gonna take that same sense of collaboration in order
to help us get through this challenging time. Now, Mary
Young has stepped up to the plate, you know, with
some steps that he is taking in terms of going
back to study the past spending at matter. He's bringing
(22:21):
in some experts to join our experts to make sure
that what we are doing, you know, we're really employing
the best practices in what we're trying to do. And
we're excited about that and we look forward to working
with the administration and doing that, but it's going to
take time. This problem did not start on February first,
(22:43):
when I took over as the interim.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And it will not be.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
There should not be an expectation that we're going to serve,
you know, solve all the world's problems in the eight
months that I've been in the seat. But we're definitely
committed to not kicking the can down the road. We
are hoping that our board will take a look at
and pass a balanced budget on tomorrow at our board meeting,
and that's gonna be the first step in us emerging
(23:10):
as a stronger organization because again, uh, you know, that's
one of the reasons why we're here, is because we're
gonna have to shrink or contract to be within the
footprint that our funding allows us to be. And we're
gonna we're and that includes tough decisions, but it's necessary
in order for us to move forward as a stronger organization.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
WU D I A hey caller, Beam Johnson, Hey, Norman,
I am Blackcaster. That I don't I don't I know
you are.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I am black Caster.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I'm doing well today. I'm doing well today, Norman.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I'm blackcastic too, sancastic Bill. Hey, I know as a
black chater, Sister, you gotta sit there with a been.
Had to meet up a couple of times. Okay, so
I know she is. Remember I called in on last week.
Got Bigger was when we were talking about this, and
I wanted to remember. I wanted to put the emphasis
where I believe in aught to be. I really commend
(24:13):
her for her work, and she's all over the place
trying to get the information out there. At several of
our meetings at the African Village, we had some people
who were very angry, and I understand their anger and frustration.
But as I said on your show last week, and
I'm glad she's here. Good morning, sister, how are you
good morning?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So good to hear your voice today.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yes, thank you, it's good to hear you. Man. What
I want us to remember, and I said this before,
and this is normal Red Wings, that we live in darkness.
We didn't create the darkness, but we live in it.
And I want people to remember this sister just walked
through the door. She just walked through the door, like
with our mayor, like we sold many others our counsels
(24:56):
and other people and we got to be very conscious
on how we treat her and others, you know, because
you know they haven't had a chance of really get
the work done. A lot of these problems were created
long before she got here, and what she's trying to
do now is trying to straighten the problem out. She
can't do that by herself. She's gonna have to have
(25:18):
our support, and we got to be very careful not
to beat up on her and others like her, but
give them an opportunity to find ways we can work
with them to resolve and solve some of these issues
and problems that we have in our cisy. Certainly it's
a major issue right now on the table, but I
really commend her for standing up over the fire and
(25:39):
having to deal with all the things that's coming at
her about this problem. But we must remember she didn't
create this darkness. This dodgness was created by others and
allowed to people to stay in the darkness up to
this point. I appreciate her and our clothes with this.
I appreciate her for bringing some light to it now,
helping us to come out of that darkness into a
(26:01):
beautiful light. And I believe we're going to get there.
I really do so. I just want to encourage her
and know that she didn't didn't. She knows she didn't
create the darkness. But I thank her so much for
helping us come out of it. And BB I always thank.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You, Thank you, Norman, I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Baba,
and WD. I a high.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
Caller, Hi bell, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You welcome, You're welcome. What do you say?
Speaker 6 (26:30):
I say this. I'm seventy five years old. I started
out riding buses. My grandmother put me on the trolley
back in the late fifties the sixties, and when I
they were given tokens. Then I sat down in their
first seat. My grand grandmother's back slapped me all the
(26:52):
way to the back because no blacks decided in the
seats up brother right, and I understood after that there
were no blacks driving buses except to clean up the
bus transit place to sweeping janis.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
As you were.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Over my seventy five years, I saw the systemic racism
that took place. White folks don't ride the bus anymore
in any great numbers. In fact, when my grandmother got
off the bus, I coming from east Memphis, caring for
those kids, white kids out there. If you were caught
(27:32):
out in East Memphis or no buses ran out no
further than the black community. For the most part, you
were not wanted anywhere else but in your community. So
therefore no buses ran nowhere. Now we're in a dilemma.
Things are modernizing. Most everybody on the bus now it's black.
(27:54):
There's no white people riding. Memphis is not yeared for
bus services. It's as if they don't wanted. So we
got the blue over that has come in millions of
dollars money to be made, But the black community is hurting.
The lady in charge now is doing a wonderful job.
I believe if you had known the history, you wouldn't
(28:16):
have taken that job. But I support you. I support
you systemically. We were not wanted outside of our perimeters
except for our grandmothers to come out there and care
for those kids and come back to I was caught
out in those areas after that by what you doing
out here, you got arrested. You were not wanted. So
(28:39):
the bus service was geared at a certain perimeter. But
all that has changed. That's just the history of our city.
That's just the history. I hope the lack of funding.
I just believe if more people of none color rode
the bus they would be they would fund it better.
Look like I noticed the post office, everything that's all
(29:03):
of these entities that are run by blacks are operated
by black Now I'm a funding has gone and I
don't want to blame it on that. That's just what
I saw because as a child, I saw it well
funded when other people were involved. So I support you.
I'll do all I can. You're gonna need some security
(29:26):
on the buses now, an officer, now it's gotten so davious.
I'm in touch with what's going on. People on the
buses are pulling knives and guns on one another, and
our drivers are not as safe as they used to be.
That we're gonna have some We're gonna have to have
some farm of security. But it just vexes me. Vexes
(29:48):
me to see the lady not lose her job because
she can't the bus route work was cut and that's
not your fault. We'll keep praying. But that's the history
of bus every year message. It was not years for
us to come out of our neighborhoods on that bus
outside of the black community. For so many years they
(30:10):
didn't want it. We weren't wanted any further than our community.
There were no jobs at that way for black.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
People to go to.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Firestone International Harvests, Kimberley Clark and certain other companies were
all pretty much close to the inner city. No blacks
worth that. The only blacks worked outside of that careveter
was my mother and grandmother to care for those kids.
So now things have opened up. Those communities don't want
(30:40):
buses coming in their community after certain hour. So it's
some estemish stuff that we got to get by. Y'all
came up and listen.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Thank you, brother love Well. The collar brought up a
very good point that security, you know, not only have
just the basic things like gas, cost of labor, things
like that have contributed to the increase or in the
cost of doing business. But yes, security is a big
(31:11):
part of our budget. It is a huge part of
our budget because of the security requirements, and honestly, I
wish we could afford to do more because there are
a lot of things that are happening out in the community.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But we are.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Taking the steps to make our service as safe as possible.
We do pay for security at all of our transit
centers and the cost of having to secure transit centers,
have ride alongs, all of those things. It's increasing, yeah,
because we're having to.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Do more of it.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I know one thing Ms Malten before we put you
to get out of here, that you are going around
the community having meetings and getting input from residents.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
Yes, we are having the Transforming Transit tours at various places.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
You can go to www.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Matter Transit dot com www dot matter transit dot com
to see the full list of all of the meetings.
But we're having them all over the city.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Our team is.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
There taking information. It's an opportunity for your information or
your thoughts to be recorded. It's not a meeting where
you're gonna come and hear me talk the whole time.
We want to hear from the community, and so it's
very important that everyone weigh in because we're actually going
to be using the feedback that we get from the
community as we make those tough decisions about what routes
(32:34):
and all of that information or how long the service
will run in all of those things, and so input
from the community matters, just.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Like your vote matters.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Your input matters, and so we're asking any and everyone
to please check us out on our website, pick a
meeting or two to come to and let your voices.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Be heard before you go. This email question from Mary
and she wanted to know Miss Maldon, will the trolleys
be back up running.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It is our hope that one day they will.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
The trolleys were shut the thing that caused the trolley
shut down because that was not a part of how
we originally plan to roll out our cost saving measures.
That stems actually from a safety issue with our breaks,
and because remember the trolleys are one hundred years old,
and so there are historic antique trolleys, and so there
(33:35):
is a secondary break that t DOT wants us to
install on all of our trolleys to the tune of
two hundred thousand dollars per trolley. And we're already in
a financial crunch, and so instead of robbing Peter to
pay Paul, you know, pulling that money from somewhere, we've
(33:56):
decided number one, it's most important that we operate safely.
We want a safe environment, we want to provide safe service.
So since we were not in a position to do that,
we had to make the difficult decision to shut those
trolleys down.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I'm so glad you explained that because people were thinking
that was one of the cut people did jobs. But
it's a safety it's a safety issue.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
But because it is tied to funding, and it's still
a cost cutting measure because probably once upon a time,
the decision would have been made to do something different,
but we are prioritizing the bus service at this time.
We know that cuts are imminent, and so to spend
money that we don't have would go against everything that
(34:44):
we're working for. And so that is still a cost
cutting measure. So we are committed. If funding is in place,
we are committed to bringing the trolleys back. We know
how special the trolleys are to this community. Eighty percent
of the literature about Memphis has a trolley on it,
and so we are committed to finding a way to
(35:04):
bring them back. But it has to be when we
can afford to have them back and operate them in
a safe manner.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
And last question for me, is there a possibility that
you can get funding from federal government?
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Well, federal funding, believe it or not, other than the
formula funds that I talked about.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Before.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Generally it's for capital improvement. Okay, it's for buying things,
you know, constructing buildings, buying buses. So yes, we could
possibly get more federal funding to buy vehicles, but you
got to operate those vehicles once you buy them.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
You got to be able to put gas in it.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
You've got to be able to hire an operator to
operate it, and so it's got to be twofold in
order to in order for it to be the true
investment that we need.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Any other last words you'd like to say to our listeners,
Bakara wed.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
Well again, let me just say again to those that
utilize our SERF, we apologize if the riding experience has
not been ideal, but please have patience with us as
we work through this challenging time to make sure that
we are truly a transform agency.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
This community deserves that.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Again, these issues did not happen today and it's going
to take a few days, if not years, to get
passed to the other side. But we are committed to
being that transit authority that everyone needs, and so we
appreciate everyone who has weighed in. I appreciate every caller
that called in and asked questions because that's what it's
(36:39):
going to take. This is not my transit authority, this
is our transit authority, and it's going to take each
and every person, entity, government, government, municipality, and the like
to make sure that we evolve from the ashes of
this moment to be that transit authority that this community
truly deserves and needs.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Thank you so much, and thank you for coming in
and wanting to speak with us and our listeners. We
appreciate you you and hold on system, hold on. Help
is on the way.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
On the way, We're holding on.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Hold on, mister Picara Moulden, who is the interim president
of the Memphis Area Transit Authority. We know as matter.
Thank you callers, Thank you listeners for joining us this
day on the Bev Johnson Show. We do, we really
do appreciate you. So until tomorrow, please be safe, keep
(37:39):
a cool head, y'all, don't let anyone steal your joy.
Until tomorrow. I'm Bev Johnson, and y'all keep the faith.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
The pews please.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Discussed on the Bev Johnson Show are that of the
hosts and callers and not those of the staff and
sponsors of w d I A
Bev Justin show bells.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Talking and all away.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
How you go? You go so getting ready.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
In time.
Speaker 5 (00:15):
Show. Let's go bet Justin, Well make your day by here.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Rond.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Listen to what today you know it's time for the
belt of this show, of the Mountain show.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We are rocking and rolling on this Monday, August twenty six,
twenty twenty four. Enjoyed this fabulous day today. I am
so proud and privileged to have her back in the studio.
We are talking this afternoon with the Inner Room president
(01:00):
of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, Missus Baccari Malden. Good afternoon, sister,
how are you this day?
Speaker 5 (01:09):
I am good, good afternoon, and thank you for having
me back on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You are so welcome, welcome well this time that you're on,
you're now the interim president of MADA, and Sister, I
wouldn't want to be in your shoes. I had to
say that, but I get it. I understand it. How
you doing?
Speaker 5 (01:31):
You know, I'm doing okay, I'm encouraged, I'm focused, and
I'm determined to turn this thing around.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah. So people would ask, and I'm asking Miss Malden,
what in the hell happened to Mata.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Well, let me say this as my saying that, Well,
you know last week the matter Board of Commissioners met
and they during the Finance Committee meeting, and you know,
my interim well my external CFO really put it best.
What's going on would matter today. It's not a this
year problem, it's not a last year problem. This is
(02:13):
something that has been snowballing over time, and we've gotten
to a point where we just can't kick the can
down the road any longer. We have to be fiscally responsible.
We have to have a balanced budget, and having that
balanced budget creates the foundation that will actually allow us
to grow, provide better service, and overall be more be
(02:36):
that reliable trans authority that everyone needs. You know, there
are three things that we know for sure. Over time,
the deficit that we have has grown as a result
of the escalating costs of doing business. You know, just
like that loaf of bread, just like that tank of gas,
those eggs, right, just like those costs have increased over years.
(02:56):
So it's the cost of doing business as a transit authority.
But if you're income is flat, then that creates the
budget gap. Same thing for the transit authority. That's what
has happened over time. The level of investment from our
local investments have just remained flat while the cost of
doing business has increased.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
The second thing we know is.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
That that budget gap is what has impacted our reliability.
You know, I've heard so many people talk about how
they've had to wait for two hours or more to
get a bus, or a bus doesn't come. Well, that's
because we haven't been able to make the appropriate investment
in a new fleet. We have a very very old fleet, okay,
(03:39):
and we have one of the largest service areas in
the country. Our service area is two hundred and eighty
square miles. So when you're servicing two hundred and eighty
square miles with an aging fleet and you don't have
the money to invest in it, that impacts reliability and.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On time performance.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
And then of course the third thing is that we've
just got to right size the agency in order to
be in line with our budgets so that we can
be fiscally responsible and we can grow from there. And
so that is what brings us to the point today.
You know, I know that there's been a lot in
the media about jobs.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And cuts and things like that.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yes, and know that that's not something that we want
to do. That's something that we simply have to do
in order to rain this in so that again we
can set the stage so that we can grow in
a way that is responsive as well as responsible.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So what do you say, miss Malden, since you've been there?
You haven't been there long.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I mean I have not. I came.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Actually, you have the distinction of being the first interview
that I ever did three years ago. Wow, as the
chief of staff. Yeah, three years ago. So I got
to Memphis three years ago. I served as the chief
of staff. I became the Debt Pity CEO in January
of twenty twenty three, and one year later, after the
(05:05):
retirement of my predecessor, I was asked to step into
the role of interim CEO.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
So yes, it has been quite the It's been quite
the journey over the last three years. And I mean
when I got here three.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Years ago, was matter in trouble then?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Yes, from a service perspective, Okay, you know those were
some of the first things that I heard was that
Matt has got to get better, Madden needs to be
you know, the same things that we're hearing now were
the same things honestly that I was hearing. Then I
didn't really know how deep the hole was. Financially. I
knew that money was tight, I knew that investment was
(05:44):
not at an ideal level. But I honestly didn't know
how deep the hole was until I had full visibility
of the problem. And I didn't have full visibility of
the problem until I got into the ultimate seat.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
So with and I want to go back to something
you said. So our buses, in other words, just break
it down later. They're old.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
They're old. It's real old, real old, and real well used.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I mean, we have buses that have more than five
hundred thousand miles on them.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
What yes, so useful.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Life on a diesel bus is five hundred thousand miles, okakay,
And we have buses that exceed that or they get
there really quickly. It's like five years, five hundred thousand miles.
It's the standard that the federal government gives us for buses,
and we get there faster because of the size of
our service area, and so that requires us to have
(06:44):
the funding in place to really almost replace buses at
an interval that's a lot faster than a lot of
other transit agencies across the country because of the size
of our service area. You know, the service area has
grown because over time Memphis has annexed more and more,
more and more areas into the city's footprint. And as
we have tried to morph and evolve to be responsive,
(07:07):
we actually did ourselves to disservice because again we don't
have the fleet. We didn't have the personnel to truly
serve the large footprint in the way it deserves to
be served.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so that has been one of the big problems
that the fleet is old. You didn't have the personnel,
and then as the city of Memphis expanded, you couldn't
service those areas not.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, not at all.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
That's what contributes to the service, the state of our
service today. Along with again, if the funding, if the
funding investment had increased over time, then perhaps the level
of service we could have provided would have gotten better
over time because we would have been able to properly
invest in it.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So you're saying that MATTA has not been getting the
funding that they needed to keep up with the times.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Correct, correct, and so goodness, and so basically what appears
to have been happening, it's a little bit of robbing
Peter to pay Paul. I think that organization, and I
say I think because I wasn't at the helm, but
based on looking back at the financials, it appears that
we were just kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul,
making do trying our best to provide that service. And
(08:26):
again we've gotten to a point where we just can't.
We can no longer kick the can down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Okay, So where does funding come from?
Speaker 5 (08:38):
So we have several sources of funding. Our primary funder
is the City of Memphis. Our organization was chartered and
created by the City of Memphis, even though we are
an independent agency, kind of what they call an umbrella agency,
if you will, of the City of Memphis, or a
component agency of the City of Memphis. So there are
(08:59):
primary funder, but we do also get some funding from
Shelby County. We get some funding from the State of Tennessee,
as well as some funding from the federal government. But
our primary funder is the City of Memphis.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Okay, So are you saying that, since you've been there
and looking at the books in years past, that the
City of Memphis did not give matter what they needed.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Well, what I'm saying is that what I'm saying is
that over time, the City of Memphis has not really
increased its level of giving over time. Okay, at Shelby
County has not increased its giving over time. Now, the
state and the federal allocations, they're actually given through a formula,
(09:49):
and so when you apply those formulas, and the factors
that impact the formula on the federal side is ridership,
the population of the service area, and the number of
buses that that you pull that you pull out with
during peak times, and so it's a formula that rarely changes,
and so that's how they determine how much money we
(10:10):
get versus CTA, in Chicago, versus Birmingham, versus Atlanta. It's
a formula, and so that's how it is determined how
much we get. And so if we grow in population,
we could possibly grow in our allocation that we receive
from the federal government. And so that's how those funds
are determined, at least for the formula funds that we
(10:31):
can use for operations.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So meeting would I know you've met with the city
council several times. What are they saying to you, miss.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Molded, Well, right, now everyone is trying to understand what happened.
What happened because unfortunately, just as I am new, Yes,
our mayor is new, half of the council is new,
and so everyone is trying to understand how to we
get here? Yes, and so we're giving any and everyone
(11:04):
a peek under the hood to understand. I think it
would be and you've been around.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
For a while.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
People know more about matters finances today than they probably
ever have in recent history, because we've put the information
out and we want people to know, and we think
that they deserve to know because of the amount of
public funds that go into our operation.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Because and you're right, we never heard about how matter
what was the funding if they're running what We never heard.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
That, right, Yeah, Well, it's important that the people know, yes,
And that's also so that again, you know, when we
hear these stories about the the ineffectiveness of our service,
I really want the community to understand that we're not
trying to operate that way. In fact, I don't want
(12:01):
to operate that way. We are making decisions simply because
we have to, not because we want to. And each
and every customer is important and we need them to
understand that we are not trying to leave anybody behind,
and so we are doing this as in an effort
to rein in the service, to right size the service
(12:23):
so that we can start to have that ninety plus
percentile on time performance, so that we can have we
can use the best of the buses that we have
and be more reliable on our routes. And so these
are the first steps that will allow us to have
a solid foundation from which we can grow.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Did the writership you talked You talked about that Miss Mouldin,
Has it declined?
Speaker 5 (12:49):
It has over time, it has declined. Now it is no,
it's about it's we're probably fifty percent of what we
were prepaned.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Pre pandemic.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Pre pandemic, we were up to almost five million boardings
pre pandemic. Now we just barely got to three million
for f y twenty four, which ended in June June
thirtieth of this year. Our fiscal year goes from July
one to June thirtieth, okay, and so we just barely
got to three million boardings for the last year. So
(13:25):
we have a ways to go, and we believe that
making the system more reliable is what's going to help
get us back there.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We are talking this afternoon with the Interim President of
the Memphis Area Transit Authority, Bakari Malden is here. I
am going to our phone lines to talk to some
of our listeners. Wd IA, Hi caller.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Good afternoon, my most beautiful asking about how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Today's good afternoon, David. I'm doing well. How are you?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I'm doing I'm doing well. It looked like the heat
is back on. I ain't happy with that, but other
than that, I'm glad to be here. Good afternoon, Interim CEO.
How you doing today?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
What was your name?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I'm sorry, Good afternoon, Miss Marden. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I'm good, Good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I am am a rider and I've been a rider
on and off thirty plus years, even as a child
for longer than that, lived in other city, large city,
small city. There's no question in my mind that even
compared to the smallert city that I've lived in Hampton, Virginia,
(14:39):
this is the worst mass transit system I've ever seen
in my life. That's a fact as it stands today.
I mister Hudson, who was CEO of Matter and it's
gotta be between twenty five and thirty years ago, and
which he made the statement that we need to sol
funding source. Is that the right term, ms Marting, that's.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
That's that's the right term.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
We usually say dedicated funding, but soul funding, dedicated funding.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
There they are interchangeable.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That said, thank you. I appreciate that because I want
to be correct. And he said that twenty five thirty
years ago, so we knew matter was in trouble at
that point, and black mares and white Man did nothing
about it. Ronald Reagan cut funny to the state in
regards to transportation. The state didn't replace what they should
(15:31):
have replaced, and the city sure did not either. I
ride the bus a couple of times out of the month,
you know. I'm now I'm getting stuff ordered, you know,
and delivered that kind of thing. And it pains me
because I actually like mass transits. I really do. I
try whatever city I go to, and I don't think
(15:52):
it's just for the poor for poor people. Should be
for everybody to use if they choose to use that,
especially with climate change. There's so many reasons that a
city that called itself a big city should have a
bible running mass training system. And I saw his sister
this morning bell on news that lost one job now
(16:15):
that they're going to cut another route, and she thinks
she's gonna lose that job now as well. So I
want to ask you a question, ma'am. Did you talk
to your psychiatrist before you came in from cheap.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
No, before before she came to Memphis to take this job.
But she's not from Memphis.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Let me say go ahead, I was gonna say, I'm
actually spiritually spiritually and I have I have a strong
relationship with the higher power that that that leads me
and guides me along the way. But I also have
roots in the community. While it might not be in Memphis,
(16:59):
it's the commune unity. My mother was a community activist
and organizer who didn't believe in babysitters, and from the
age of three, I can remember going to community meetings
and so when I'm here on the ground in the community,
it's because that's who I am genuinely as a person.
And the reason why I got involved in transit in Birmingham,
(17:22):
my hometown, was because I looked around that city and
transit was the weakest link there and I wanted to
do more than the job I was doing. At the time,
and that's how I got into public transit. And so
you know, in coming here as the chief of staff,
you know, my hope was to make a quiet difference
in the background, you know, and that's what I came
(17:42):
here to do. As fate would have it, here, I
am in the top seat now as the interim and
because I have now grown to absolutely love Memphis and
love this community and consider this my home, I am
fully in tested and being a part of the solution.
(18:03):
You know, is that nothing that's worth it is ever easy.
And I recognize and I absolutely accept the fact that
I definitely had my work cut out for me. But
I am definitely up to the task. And let me
say thank you for being a matter customer, and I
apologize for any inconveniences that you may have had along
(18:25):
the way. That's definitely not the goal and that's definitely
not the standard that we want to where we want
to operate. But we're working to fix that and sometimes
it has to get a little bit more challenging before
it gets better.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
And so I'm just and let me say that I'm
gonna be quick there. I'm sorry, but I've been on
the air for months. If not yet speaking about the
issues would matter. But I don't take it out on
the operators. You've got good operators that I appreciate some
move of course every tired now because of these issues.
But I hate that the passengers take it out on
(19:01):
the operades. Operators take it out on the passengers at
times when it's not really either one of those people's faults.
Let me say this, I wish you the best, I hope,
but the bell if you ever gone to the store
without any money, So if you ain't got any money,
it ain't gonna work. And we need to quit plan
with this. And people are gonna lose jobs if we
(19:24):
can't find the money from somewhere to funded properly. And
that's just it. And it pains me in an African
American city of asking American political leadership that this is
the result of what has happened, not just African American leadership,
because like I said, there's been white man too. In fact,
the last white man claimed that he was gonna do
something about Matt and didn't do one red cent about it.
(19:46):
So the city man, So I wish you well. My
last question that I hang up in case that call up,
who called before, does not call in and ask this question.
Who owns the matter? Thank you Bear for your time
and your patience today.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Thank you David who owns MATA.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
So matter was created by the City of Memphis charter,
as I guess authorized by the State of Tennessee, gives
municipalities the authority, if you will, to create transit authorities.
And so our history goes back. We'll actually be fifty
years old next year. But at the time it was
(20:24):
initially privately held because in the beginning transit authorities were
part of actually the utilities. And so from there it
went into private ownership and management. And in nineteen seventy
five the City of Memphis actually purchased the Memphis Area
Transit Authority from the Memphis Transit Authority. And so that
(20:48):
is actually how it was created by city charter.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And so again it while we are what you call.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
A component organization of the city, much like the day
Downtown Memphis Commission, much like the Airport, Convention Center and
the like. Really transit is everyone's responsibility. We serve constituents
far and wide, those that visit, everyone that lives, works,
and plays in this region. It's really the responsibility and
(21:18):
I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's a much.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Larger example, but proportionately if you think about it, the
city of Washington, d C, Wimata. You know, everybody takes
the train and everything there. They had a seven hundred
and twenty five million.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Dollar deficit this year.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Because again, the deficits, it's not just a Memphis thing,
it's a national problem. They had a seven hundred and
twenty five million dollar deficit. Well, all of the municipalities,
including Washington d C that they service, they all stepped
up to the plate and gave hundreds of million dollars
more in order to help them pass a balanced budget,
(22:00):
avoid the cuts and the layoffs and all of that.
It's gonna take that same sense of collaboration in order
to help us get through this challenging time. Now, Mary
Young has stepped up to the plate, you know, with
some steps that he is taking in terms of going
back to study the past spending at matter. He's bringing
(22:21):
in some experts to join our experts to make sure
that what we are doing, you know, we're really employing
the best practices in what we're trying to do. And
we're excited about that and we look forward to working
with the administration and doing that, but it's going to
take time. This problem did not start on February first,
(22:43):
when I took over as the interim.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And it will not be.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
There should not be an expectation that we're going to serve,
you know, solve all the world's problems in the eight
months that I've been in the seat. But we're definitely
committed to not kicking the can down the road. We
are hoping that our board will take a look at
and pass a balanced budget on tomorrow at our board meeting,
and that's gonna be the first step in us emerging
(23:10):
as a stronger organization because again, uh, you know, that's
one of the reasons why we're here, is because we're
gonna have to shrink or contract to be within the
footprint that our funding allows us to be. And we're
gonna we're and that includes tough decisions, but it's necessary
in order for us to move forward as a stronger organization.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
WU D I A hey caller, Beam Johnson, Hey, Norman,
I am Blackcaster. That I don't I don't I know
you are.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I am black Caster.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I'm doing well today. I'm doing well today, Norman.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I'm blackcastic too, sancastic Bill. Hey, I know as a
black chater, Sister, you gotta sit there with a been.
Had to meet up a couple of times. Okay, so
I know she is. Remember I called in on last week.
Got Bigger was when we were talking about this, and
I wanted to remember. I wanted to put the emphasis
where I believe in aught to be. I really commend
(24:13):
her for her work, and she's all over the place
trying to get the information out there. At several of
our meetings at the African Village, we had some people
who were very angry, and I understand their anger and frustration.
But as I said on your show last week, and
I'm glad she's here. Good morning, sister, how are you
good morning?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So good to hear your voice today.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yes, thank you, it's good to hear you. Man. What
I want us to remember, and I said this before,
and this is normal Red Wings, that we live in darkness.
We didn't create the darkness, but we live in it.
And I want people to remember this sister just walked
through the door. She just walked through the door, like
with our mayor, like we sold many others our counsels
(24:56):
and other people and we got to be very conscious
on how we treat her and others, you know, because
you know they haven't had a chance of really get
the work done. A lot of these problems were created
long before she got here, and what she's trying to
do now is trying to straighten the problem out. She
can't do that by herself. She's gonna have to have
(25:18):
our support, and we got to be very careful not
to beat up on her and others like her, but
give them an opportunity to find ways we can work
with them to resolve and solve some of these issues
and problems that we have in our cisy. Certainly it's
a major issue right now on the table, but I
really commend her for standing up over the fire and
(25:39):
having to deal with all the things that's coming at
her about this problem. But we must remember she didn't
create this darkness. This dodgness was created by others and
allowed to people to stay in the darkness up to
this point. I appreciate her and our clothes with this.
I appreciate her for bringing some light to it now,
helping us to come out of that darkness into a
(26:01):
beautiful light. And I believe we're going to get there.
I really do so. I just want to encourage her
and know that she didn't didn't. She knows she didn't
create the darkness. But I thank her so much for
helping us come out of it. And BB I always thank.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You, Thank you, Norman, I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Baba,
and WD. I a high.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
Caller, Hi bell, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You welcome, You're welcome. What do you say?
Speaker 6 (26:30):
I say this. I'm seventy five years old. I started
out riding buses. My grandmother put me on the trolley
back in the late fifties the sixties, and when I
they were given tokens. Then I sat down in their
first seat. My grand grandmother's back slapped me all the
(26:52):
way to the back because no blacks decided in the
seats up brother right, and I understood after that there
were no blacks driving buses except to clean up the
bus transit place to sweeping janis.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
As you were.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Over my seventy five years, I saw the systemic racism
that took place. White folks don't ride the bus anymore
in any great numbers. In fact, when my grandmother got
off the bus, I coming from east Memphis, caring for
those kids, white kids out there. If you were caught
(27:32):
out in East Memphis or no buses ran out no
further than the black community. For the most part, you
were not wanted anywhere else but in your community. So
therefore no buses ran nowhere. Now we're in a dilemma.
Things are modernizing. Most everybody on the bus now it's black.
(27:54):
There's no white people riding. Memphis is not yeared for
bus services. It's as if they don't wanted. So we
got the blue over that has come in millions of
dollars money to be made, But the black community is hurting.
The lady in charge now is doing a wonderful job.
I believe if you had known the history, you wouldn't
(28:16):
have taken that job. But I support you. I support
you systemically. We were not wanted outside of our perimeters
except for our grandmothers to come out there and care
for those kids and come back to I was caught
out in those areas after that by what you doing
out here, you got arrested. You were not wanted. So
(28:39):
the bus service was geared at a certain perimeter. But
all that has changed. That's just the history of our city.
That's just the history. I hope the lack of funding.
I just believe if more people of none color rode
the bus they would be they would fund it better.
Look like I noticed the post office, everything that's all
(29:03):
of these entities that are run by blacks are operated
by black Now I'm a funding has gone and I
don't want to blame it on that. That's just what
I saw because as a child, I saw it well
funded when other people were involved. So I support you.
I'll do all I can. You're gonna need some security
(29:26):
on the buses now, an officer, now it's gotten so davious.
I'm in touch with what's going on. People on the
buses are pulling knives and guns on one another, and
our drivers are not as safe as they used to be.
That we're gonna have some We're gonna have to have
some farm of security. But it just vexes me. Vexes
(29:48):
me to see the lady not lose her job because
she can't the bus route work was cut and that's
not your fault. We'll keep praying. But that's the history
of bus every year message. It was not years for
us to come out of our neighborhoods on that bus
outside of the black community. For so many years they
(30:10):
didn't want it. We weren't wanted any further than our community.
There were no jobs at that way for black.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
People to go to.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Firestone International Harvests, Kimberley Clark and certain other companies were
all pretty much close to the inner city. No blacks
worth that. The only blacks worked outside of that careveter
was my mother and grandmother to care for those kids.
So now things have opened up. Those communities don't want
(30:40):
buses coming in their community after certain hour. So it's
some estemish stuff that we got to get by. Y'all
came up and listen.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Thank you, brother love Well. The collar brought up a
very good point that security, you know, not only have
just the basic things like gas, cost of labor, things
like that have contributed to the increase or in the
cost of doing business. But yes, security is a big
(31:11):
part of our budget. It is a huge part of
our budget because of the security requirements, and honestly, I
wish we could afford to do more because there are
a lot of things that are happening out in the community.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But we are.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Taking the steps to make our service as safe as possible.
We do pay for security at all of our transit
centers and the cost of having to secure transit centers,
have ride alongs, all of those things. It's increasing, yeah,
because we're having to.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Do more of it.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I know one thing Ms Malten before we put you
to get out of here, that you are going around
the community having meetings and getting input from residents.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
Yes, we are having the Transforming Transit tours at various places.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
You can go to www.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Matter Transit dot com www dot matter transit dot com
to see the full list of all of the meetings.
But we're having them all over the city.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Our team is.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
There taking information. It's an opportunity for your information or
your thoughts to be recorded. It's not a meeting where
you're gonna come and hear me talk the whole time.
We want to hear from the community, and so it's
very important that everyone weigh in because we're actually going
to be using the feedback that we get from the
community as we make those tough decisions about what routes
(32:34):
and all of that information or how long the service
will run in all of those things, and so input
from the community matters, just.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Like your vote matters.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Your input matters, and so we're asking any and everyone
to please check us out on our website, pick a
meeting or two to come to and let your voices.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Be heard before you go. This email question from Mary
and she wanted to know Miss Maldon, will the trolleys
be back up running.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It is our hope that one day they will.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
The trolleys were shut the thing that caused the trolley
shut down because that was not a part of how
we originally plan to roll out our cost saving measures.
That stems actually from a safety issue with our breaks,
and because remember the trolleys are one hundred years old,
and so there are historic antique trolleys, and so there
(33:35):
is a secondary break that t DOT wants us to
install on all of our trolleys to the tune of
two hundred thousand dollars per trolley. And we're already in
a financial crunch, and so instead of robbing Peter to
pay Paul, you know, pulling that money from somewhere, we've
(33:56):
decided number one, it's most important that we operate safely.
We want a safe environment, we want to provide safe service.
So since we were not in a position to do that,
we had to make the difficult decision to shut those
trolleys down.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I'm so glad you explained that because people were thinking
that was one of the cut people did jobs. But
it's a safety it's a safety issue.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
But because it is tied to funding, and it's still
a cost cutting measure because probably once upon a time,
the decision would have been made to do something different,
but we are prioritizing the bus service at this time.
We know that cuts are imminent, and so to spend
money that we don't have would go against everything that
(34:44):
we're working for. And so that is still a cost
cutting measure. So we are committed. If funding is in place,
we are committed to bringing the trolleys back. We know
how special the trolleys are to this community. Eighty percent
of the literature about Memphis has a trolley on it,
and so we are committed to finding a way to
(35:04):
bring them back. But it has to be when we
can afford to have them back and operate them in
a safe manner.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
And last question for me, is there a possibility that
you can get funding from federal government?
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Well, federal funding, believe it or not, other than the
formula funds that I talked about.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Before.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Generally it's for capital improvement. Okay, it's for buying things,
you know, constructing buildings, buying buses. So yes, we could
possibly get more federal funding to buy vehicles, but you
got to operate those vehicles once you buy them.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
You got to be able to put gas in it.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
You've got to be able to hire an operator to
operate it, and so it's got to be twofold in
order to in order for it to be the true
investment that we need.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Any other last words you'd like to say to our listeners,
Bakara wed.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
Well again, let me just say again to those that
utilize our SERF, we apologize if the riding experience has
not been ideal, but please have patience with us as
we work through this challenging time to make sure that
we are truly a transform agency.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
This community deserves that.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Again, these issues did not happen today and it's going
to take a few days, if not years, to get
passed to the other side. But we are committed to
being that transit authority that everyone needs, and so we
appreciate everyone who has weighed in. I appreciate every caller
that called in and asked questions because that's what it's
(36:39):
going to take. This is not my transit authority, this
is our transit authority, and it's going to take each
and every person, entity, government, government, municipality, and the like
to make sure that we evolve from the ashes of
this moment to be that transit authority that this community
truly deserves and needs.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Thank you so much, and thank you for coming in
and wanting to speak with us and our listeners. We
appreciate you you and hold on system, hold on. Help
is on the way.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
On the way, We're holding on.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Hold on, mister Picara Moulden, who is the interim president
of the Memphis Area Transit Authority. We know as matter.
Thank you callers, Thank you listeners for joining us this
day on the Bev Johnson Show. We do, we really
do appreciate you. So until tomorrow, please be safe, keep
(37:39):
a cool head, y'all, don't let anyone steal your joy.
Until tomorrow. I'm Bev Johnson, and y'all keep the faith.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
The pews please.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Discussed on the Bev Johnson Show are that of the
hosts and callers and not those of the staff and
sponsors of w d I A
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