Green Hills News
Tiffany L. Dale
As Election Day approaches, transit is still a top concern in voters’ minds and has been a frequent campaign topic for the seven people hoping to become Nashville’s next leader.
The chosen candidate will take the reins of a city that continues to experience unprecedented growth with new businesses, which attract people. The Metropolitan Planning Organization estimates that nearly one million more people will move to the Nashville region over the next two decades.
On citizens’ minds: what should transportation look like in Nashville’s future?
Oliver Knowles of Her- mitage commutes by car to his West End job. He said he wishes public transportation were a more viable option for him, but that it simply didn’t seem feasible.
“I could get to a bus stop pretty easily. I could probably even walk to several,” Knowles said. “It’s the timing of the buses and the disjointed transfers that prevent me from really pursuing it. I think it would take me hours to get there. So, I just drive.”
Knowles said that it might not be as hard as he thinks to navigate the city’s bus system, but that something should be done to make it more rider-friendly.
Allison Warren is a frequent bus rider who takes the number seven bus from Green Hills to her Madison-area job. She said the trip, which requires a transfer and some walking, takes about an hour and a half in rush hour traffic. Her options are limited, however, as she doesn’t currently own a car.
“The traffic is definitely an issue for people who commute by car,” she said. “I wish the bus system was more comprehensive and faster for those of us without one.”
Warren and Knowles are not alone in their frustrations with Nashville’s bus system, according to a new report released by the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) and Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee (RTA).
Convenient, dependable, frequent and safe. Those are the most important transit values identified by more than 3,500 responses from Nashville-area residents who participated in the first phase of the yearlong strategic planning process known as nMotion 2015.
During two community meetings last April, MTA/RTA asked people to identify values that should guide decision-making as MTA/RTA develops its strategic plan.
Since those public meetings, two surveys on identifying and defining values have been conducted online, in meetings with local organizations, at community events and through outreach to MTA bus riders.
A total of 26 values were identified by respondents, both riders and non-riders.
Forty-five percent of the survey respondents said they never use public transportation, and 30 percent use the system less than once per week. These groups chose convenience as their top value, with 39 percent naming it their first priority. Among this group, “safety” received the second-most votes for top value, with 12 percent.
Of the 25 percent of respondents who said they ride public transit regularly, 33 percent named “dependable” as their top value, followed by “convenient” with 22 percent.
“Our goal is to synthesize the input from the public and what we know about our system today to create a broad vision for our region,” said Steve Bland, CEO of MTA/RTA“Once we have a vision, we can begin to examine and collect feedback on specific strategies and future scenarios to improve our transit system.”
