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3/14/00, 12:44 pmc

Mysteriously between October and March MATA operators were forcing MATAplus riders to exit the bus backwards. No information was given to riders except that it was MATA's "safety policy."

Deborah Cunningham, the Executive Director of The Memphis Center for Independent Living, was suspended from using MATAplus because she refused to exit the bus facing backward. Actually, Federal Law requires that the bus be safe to exit both forward and backward, and it is much safer for some individuals to face forward getting off the bus.

When questioned about this so-called "safety policy," MATA executive management admitted that no safety investigation was made. In fact, the only examples of accidents MATA executives could recall were from riders exiting backward. MATA furthermore confessed that no professional was consulted and they had made no attempt to find out what effect the "backwards policy" would have.

Ms. Cunningham's MATAplus service was quickly restored. But MCIL got a chance to take a closer look at the situation and found that "safety" was of no concern to MATA.

• Many of the MATAplus bus ramps are too short. When a short ramp is deployed, it makes it dangerously steep for a wheelchair user.

• Most of the MATAplus vehicles do not have required RAMP BARRIERS. A Ramp Barrier is the 2-inch obstacle that prevents the wheels of a wheelchair from falling off the side of the ramp.

• Made aware of the safety problems MATA EXECUTIVE STAFF HAS DONE NOTHING! Such negligent and ignorant attitudes make public transportation dangerous and undesirable. MATA officials have conspired to conceal the unsafe and illegal ramps with a preposterous "backward policy."

MATA executives are further ducking responsibility by having no one in charge of MATAplus. MATA claims that MATAplus is a separate and independent division at MATA, yet there is no "director." The MATA executive staff lists two General Managers, eight Directors, and a Deputy Director; no one listed is responsible for MATAplus. Oddly, the title of Director of MATAplus vanished around the same time MATA learned that the Federal Transit Administration was investigating the system.

- Tim Wheat

The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org 

MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency

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