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Monday, November 14, 2011

Did Memphis Make the TOP TEN LIST for Being Car-Free Friendly?










Memphis, Tennessee, did not make the top ten list for being a car-free friendly city.

The key to having a more walk-able and bike-able city that is car-lite or car-free is to have a well organized mass transit system in place.

The City of Memphis, Shelby County, and the state of Tennessee has already had the funding in place to have planned for and implemented such a transit system long ago. 

Yet the powers-that-be have not leaned in the right direction.

And here are the results:
  • Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is one of the slowest moving public transit systems in the United States of America, often causing passenger ride times and wait times to stretch out long past two hours each way, especially if one is making a transfer.
  • MATA is raising rates for passengers in December 4, 2011 to help pay for their new facility and to give administrative pay raises. 
  • MATA is cutting back on how many times they make stops across all outlying areas and where nearly all the jobs are located.
Yes, MATA's officials have figured out how to provide less service for its poorest passengers, while giving themselves a big fat administrative pay raise. 


It is no wonder that MATA and their cronies all have big smiles on their faces when they show up at community meetings to pat themselves on the back. 

Of course, this has been ongoing on for several decades; and now, this is yet another ploy to make sure that the "have not's" stay in their places: in run down inner-city urban communities, in low-wage temporary jobs that fire them at the drop of a hat for being late to work when the MATA bus is late, to remain under contentious ongoing stress due to various poverty disparities, and to remain broke and poor forever more.   

Yes, MATA's administration has built for themselves a lofty multi-million dollar complex from which to control their empire; and whereby, few, if any of them, will ever use the bus system themselves; and thus, the ongoing social injustice done towards the poor will still exist.

If that were not true, then simply put, MATA would have spent all of that money towards serving the masses of poor people by reducing passenger wait times at all bus stops to ten minutes or less; and, they would have reduced ride times to one hour or less no matter where passengers live within Shelby County or the City of Memphis.

Not to mention MATA would have provided adequate air controlled shelters and dedicated facilities like restrooms at key bus stops throughout the city; and, passengers would have gotten a GPS tracking system that told them where the bus is right now in relation to when it would arrive at any given bus stop.

To get a clear picture about how MATA can bring its transit system into alignment with those in other cities, click the following link:

THE BEST CITIES TO LIVE CAR FREE