  Let $\mathbb{K}$ denote an algebraically closed field and let $V$ denote a
vector space over $\mathbb{K}$ with finite positive dimension. Let $A,A^*$
denote a tridiagonal pair on $V$. We assume that $A,A^*$ belongs to a family of
tridiagonal pairs said to have $q$-Racah type. Let $\{U_i\}_{i=0}^d$ and
$\{U_i^\Downarrow\}_{i=0}^{d}$ denote the first and second split decompositions
of $V$. In an earlier paper we introduced a double lowering operator $\psi:V\to
V$ with the notable feature that both $\psi U_i\subseteq U_{i-1}$ and $\psi
U_i^\Downarrow\subseteq U_{i-1}^\Downarrow$ for $0\leq i\leq d$, where
$U_{-1}=0$ and $U_{-1}^\Downarrow=0$. In the same paper, we showed that there
exists a unique linear transformation $\Delta:V\to V$ such that
$\Delta(U_i)\subseteq U_i^{\Downarrow}$ and $(\Delta -I)U_i\subseteq
U_0+U_1+\cdots +U_{i-1}$ for $0\leq i \leq d$. In the present paper, we show
that $\Delta$ can be expressed as a product of two linear transformations; one
is a $q$-exponential in $\psi$ and the other is a $q^{-1}$-exponential in
$\psi$. We view $\Delta$ as a transition matrix from the first split
decomposition of $V$ to the second. Consequently, we view the
$q^{-1}$-exponential in $\psi$ as a transition matrix from the first split
decomposition to a decomposition of $V$ which we interpret as a kind of halfway
point. This halfway point turns out to be the eigenspace decomposition of a
certain linear transformation $\mathcal{M}$. We discuss the eigenspace
decomposition of $\mathcal{M}$ and give the actions of various operators on
this decomposition.
