Memphis public bus service a lifeline for those without a car just as MATA cuts back routes



Cortez Walker rides the Route 20 Bellvue bus in Memphis.

For Cortez Walker, riding the bus is not just a way to get around, it is the key to his future.

The 29-year-old Memphian just started going to school at Rhodes College. With no car to get around, he needs the public bus.

“I ride the bus everywhere. I live in Hickory Hill, and I come downtown and go to school,” Walker said. “I’m trying to get a degree right now so I can get a job.”

On a Monday morning in late August, Walker was on his way to the Whitehaven Branch Library on the Route 20 Bellvue/Winchester line.

The Route 20 bus, however, is one of the lines where service was recently reduced by the Memphis Area Transit Authority, which means the route will continue, but it come less frequently. During peak times in the mornings and afternoons it is coming only every 30 to 40 minutes and in the off-peak times it is coming every 75 minutes.

People like Walker will continue to be able to ride, but it means a lot more down time to get around. He estimates that it takes upwards of an hour to get from his house to school because of the time it takes to catch a bus in Hickory Hill, transfer at the downtown North End Terminal on North Main Street and then take another bus to the Rhodes campus on North Parkway near Overton Park.

Walker is seeking a business degree, and Rhodes started classes the last week in August.

But on this day, things are a bit more relaxed for Walker because it is prior to the start of school, and all he’s had to do was meet with people and get his class schedule set during the orientation week. The Route 20 bus left the downtown terminal on Main Street just before 10 a.m. with Walker and 11 other people filling up the more than 35 seats.

As the Route 20 bus rumbled through downtown, people got on at several street corners as the seats filled up. The busiest stop was on Union Avenue right in front of the University of Tennessee Medical Center when eight people got on including two children clinging to their parents.

By the time the bus rolled onto Elvis Presley Boulevard, the bus was more than half full. Walker spent his time reading the Bible and listening to music.

“I’m trying to stay on the right path with everything in my life,” Walker said.

Like many riders, Walker had heard about the reductions in service. Two public hearings were conducted in late July where riders could voice their displeasure with the cutbacks. Walker said he was not in favor of the reductions.

“That would make it pretty hard for me to get back and forth. A lot of people need the bus if they have no car to get around,” Walker said. “It’s the only way for people to get around including me.”

Walker got off at the intersection of Winchester and Mill Branch, but the Route 20 bus kept rolling right through to the intersection of Shelby Drive and Tchulahoma Road, dropping off people until getting the end of the line where only five people were left.

As it headed back north to downtown, people got on and off, and the bus again was more than half full while on Elvis Presley Boulevard. After more than two hours, the Route 20 bus had made a complete circle and arrived back at the North End terminal with, coincidentally, 11 people on the bus.

One of those people waiting to get on was Earnest Gwinn, 43, who said he was homeless. He said he spends his time riding around Memphis on the public bus looking for work. To get money for the fare, he asks people for loose change. He gives out his sister’s cell phone number to anyone who might know of a job opportunity for him, and he crashes at her house when she lets him.

Gwinn said he heard about the bus service reductions via an announcement made on the bus, and he said it will be hardship on a lot of people in his position.

“I ride around to stores to get something to eat. I hang out at Walgreens,” Gwinn said. “Basically, I need someone who can help me find a job. I don’t have a car, and for me the bus is the only way I know to get around.”