@MayorMemphis @mayorlee @mikefromemphis
I've included the Mayor Nutbush in the hopes that maybe he can something about @RideMATA. So far, no one else has. Y'all are presiding over an unprecedented collapse of the city's transit system.
If you don't know someone who rides the bus you know me. Unfortunately I rely on MATA. It is in the midst of a total collapse. This is not hyperbole. Despite being short on drivers, MATA plowed ahead with an overhaul of the route system. In the middle of a pandemic. Disaster.
I get 6 to 10 messages a day about busses being "disabled" or out of service. These are on just the routes I use frequently, not the entire system. It's astonishing. There's only a 50-50 chance you can catch the bus you're waiting on.
Here's one example. FedEx hub workers are required to work Sundays. But MATA eliminated service to the hub on Sundays. How does that happen to the city's largest private employer? And why wasn't it fixed immediately? @MayorMemphis @MayorLeeHarris
Additionally FedEx employees who work Sundays can only work a handful of hours because bus service ends so early that day. (For example, the last 50 Poplar leaves Downtown at 3:15 on Sundays. That's on one of the city's busiest streets!)
It is not unusual for people - hard working people, if they've been luck enough to not lose their job because of MATA - to wait hours for a bus. Hours. MATA makes other changes, like where a bus may stop on a route, without informing riders.
People who rely on MATA are crying out for help but no one seems to hear our please. Please, I'm begging you - thousands who ride the busses everyday are begging you - to take some kind of action. The status quo is unacceptable.
@MayorMemphis @MayorLeeHarris @mikefromemphis
How can people escape poverty if they rely on @RideMATA? Suppose someone gets off work and needs to go to a local college? Impossible with MATA. Or suppose she gets off work & must go to library to use computer. Not gonna happen.
Yesterday (Saturday) I was waiting Downtown to catch the 50 Poplar. I arrived at 245 to catch the 315. It never showed. Waited for the 415. It never showed. Below is image from mata app and it shows no busses on Poplar. Poplar! It's arguably the city's most important street.
A guy waiting with me works at Germantown Commissary. They were busy and needed him. He missed the same two busses. He called his manager, who I could hear yelling through the phone. The guy, Michael, is now worried he'll lose his job.
You can follow @amosSmaki.
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