The current ridership for public transportation in Memphis is about six million per year, says Memphis Area Transit Authority’s CEO Gary Rosenfeld. About half of those riders, he says, come from families that have either no car or one that is shared within the family. With those figures, Rosenfeld's concern is efficiency and frequency in improving MATA service.
This week on WKNO's Behind the Headlines, Rosenfeld joins Daily Memphian reporter Bill Dries and host Eric Barnes to discuss the Transit Vision, which aims at improving MATA services with a projected cost of $30 million.
Rosenfeld also talks about shared network services Uber and Lyft, including issues that these companies create for cities and individuals, like congestion and high costs.
In addition, guests discuss the restoration of Memphis’ Downtown trolleys, as well as a new program that grants free bus passes for 3,000 high school students and their parents or legal guardians.
A previous version of this post misstated the figure for MATA's ridership. It's six million riders per year, not 60 million. We regret the error.
