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7/23/99, 7:32 pmcdt
WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEMPHIS PARATRANSIT?
By Tim Wheat
Despite more money and vehicles, the Memphis paratransit system is failing to provide a reasonable service for Memphians with mental and physical disabilities. MATAplus, or paratransit, is a public transportation service intended to overcome the barriers that limit some citizens use of the main transportation system or "fixed- route" bus service.
The role of the paratransit system is to "go alongside" [para] and complement the fixed-route buses, consequently providing public transportation to all citizens. Paratransit and fixed-route bus service are to be comparable, although there are significant differences in how transportation is offered. The main system operates on a set schedule with set stops while paratransit is a reservation system, that provides service from a street address to a destination address, sometimes called "curb to curb" service.
The paratransit system must serve a similar geographic area at the same time as the fixed-route. Everything within three-quarters of a mile from the path of the fixed- route is considered the service area of MATAplus. The city bus routes therefore, draw "corridors" of potential paratransit service all through the city. On Saturdays, Sundays, nights, and holidays, when the main bus service is reduced, MATAplus correspondingly diminishes the paratransit service area and times.
Waiting at a bus stop is basically how service is established for the fixed-route. Paratransit customers, however, must go through an eligibility determination and are required to schedule service the day before, up to three days in advance. There is no same day service like the fixed-route, yet the federal law considers these two models similar.
PROBLEMS
MATAplus has had consistent dissatisfaction of the paratransit ridership. There have been public protests, including an attempt to spoil the opening ceremony of the new trolley loop in October of 1996, and several riders have filed federal complaints. Often the complaints point to discrimination because of missed trips, denied rides, and misinformation. These problems endeavor to show that the paratransit system does not provide "comparable" service and therefore restricting the civil rights of MATAplus riders.
Advocates claim that the regularly resurfacing complaints of poor administration are more than customer distaste. The deficiency "from the top down," is apparently because there is a financial benefit to MATA for inadequate management of the system. Compared to the fixed-route system, a single paratransit trip has less return even though MATAplus charges more per ride. Therefore, lower demand of paratransit results in a saving of operating costs.
An increase in ridership on the fixed-route results in more income to MATA because those buses are on a predetermined path, whether empty or full. An increase in paratransit ridership, on the other hand, is more costly to MATA because per trip costs are generally more than the $1.35 MATAplus charges. Rather than attempting to make the paratransit system run smoother and more cost- effectively, MATA has restricted service and deterred the disability community in Memphis from pursuing public transportation.
MATA has been successful in suppressing service. Ridership has fallen drastically. In the 1997 MATA ADA Paratransit Update, MATA estimated that the ridership base would increase from 3800 to 4200 people. Currently, MATA reports that less than 1500 people seek paratransit service. Although the paratransit bus fleet has grown by 6 buses (22%), and MATA contracts with a local taxi company to provide about 10% of trips, day to day ridership has not changed since 1992. The 1993 MATA ADA Paratransit Update reported that MATAplus weekday service was between 500 and 550 trips. The weekday average for March of this year was 537.
Customer complaints and protests through 1997 inspired MATA to hire an independent paratransit consultant to examine the Memphis system. He reported to William Hudson, the president and general manager:
"The single greatest shortcoming at MATAplus is the lack of a commitment to quality [emphasis in original]. The absence of leadership, a failure to participate, and an inability to determine where it is and where it is going limits MATAplus' ability to provide the disabled community in Memphis with a service that is safe, reliable, customer-oriented, and cost effective."
Because MATAplus is considered as a nuance to the operation of the main bus system, there is high employee turnover, low moral and weak training. Operators and dispatchers make less money. From the executive staff to the dispatch office and road crew, there is a very evident trickle down of the second class status of the paratransit system.
SOLUTIONS
MATAplus desperately needs a consumer guide to explain paratransit procedures, a travel-training program to teach paratransit riders to use the fixed-route when possible, a marketing plan to reach out to MATAplus customers for half-fare fixed- route trips, and the MATA Board of Commissioners needs to include a paratransit rider.
MATAplus should not be isolated. Get rid of the segregated paratransit system! Because MATAplus is a separate division, there is an institutional and bureaucratic barrier to improving the system. Paratransit cannot call on the pool of capable employees from the other divisions, and paratransit employees cannot advance into more lucrative positions.
The separate paratransit division is merely a paper distinction. MATAplus makes up a smaller percentage of the MATA's budget and operation costs of the paratransit system are kept at rock bottom. Paratransit employees can be paid at a lower rate and not given the same advancement opportunities as the fixed-route division. But the "division" has no director. Lawson Albritton says he is the ultimate authority, but he is also the director of the fixed-route.
Clearly, Memphis paratransit needs a strong capable manager that can provide the leadership to steer the system toward quality, efficiency, and compliance with the ADA. With no responsible executive staff to take ownership of MATAplus, the "division" lumbers aimlessly out of control and out of compliance with the federal law.
Tim Wheat
is the ADA Coordinator for the Memphis Center for Independent Living.
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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