Election Guide: Nashville Transit Improvement Plan

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Voters will decide Tuesday whether Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s Transit Improvement Plan gets the green light.

The Choose How You Move proposal would increase sales taxes to pay for some major changes that will help people get around Davidson County.

The bulk of the plan involves building 12 new community transportation centers, such as the North Nashville bus interchange that opened this summer. The WeGo bus network would also be expanded to a 24/7 service and use newly constructed bus lanes on main roads.

Passenger Betty McClure said she would vote in favor of the proposal because the bus system has been very helpful to her and her husband since their car broke down.

“Go where we’re going and back – grocery store and doctors,” McClure said. ‘They have to ride the bus if they don’t have a car. You just never know when your car will break down, and that is very useful.”

Emily Evans does not support the proposal because it creates a regressive tax that she believes will not benefit people across the country.

Evans helped organize the Committee to Stop Unfair Taxes and said the city should have simply paid for improvements to traffic lights and sidewalks instead of trying to build a regional transportation network.

“This is a problem in Tennessee,” Evans said. “This is not a Nashville problem. This solution will not solve the fact that people have to travel from Maury County to downtown Nashville or Midtown every day. All this is going to do is move the people who are already here on buses, assuming they use them. Less than 6% of Nashville’s population relies on public transportation to get to work.”

Evans said people already pay enough to live in Nashville because it has much higher property taxes than surrounding counties.

What it promises

The program is divided into four categories: sidewalks, signals, service and safety.

Sidewalks:

Addressing the nearly 2,000 miles of missing sidewalk segments in areas of greatest need by installing sidewalks
Safety improvements at 35 high-injury intersections identified in the Vision Zero Implementation Plan
35 miles of new or improved cycling facilities

Signals:

60 smart signals to replace the current traffic lights along pikes and transit routes
The signals use technology designed to monitor traffic, learn the flow of traffic in the area and adjust based on demand.
Updates also include ‘push-to-cross’ buttons and audible ‘walk’ and ‘don’t walk’ signals to increase safety

Employ:

New or improved bus stops
12 new transit centers, 2/3 of which are in historically underrepresented communities
17 Park and drive
Add more buses to reduce wait times and set later service times
New routes to connect more destinations
2 bus garages (one new and one renovated)

Safety:

Improvements to follow Nashville’s “Green and Complete Streets,” an executive order calling for streets to consider all users, whether walking, biking or driving.
Utilizing designs that reduce speeding and segregated uses on some of Nashville’s most dangerous streets highlighted in the city’s Vision Zero plan
Upgrades to Nashville’s Traffic Management Center to improve signal synchronization with transit vehicles and with each other

The costs

The program is estimated to cost $3.1 billion and would be paid for by federal subsidies, transportation fare revenues and a half-cent sales tax increase.

Evans said research into the proposal has shown it will ultimately cost closer to $6.9 billion when interest and inflation are taken into account.

The plan would be paid for with a 0.5% sales tax increase, which would remain in effect until the debt is fully repaid and the Metro Council determines it is no longer necessary to support the program’s operating costs.

The increased sales tax is expected to cost most people in Nashville about $70 a year.

How it affects MNPS students and schools

According to Metro Nashville Public Schools, nearly 75 percent of MNPS schools are “within a quarter mile of transit, walking or biking improvements” in the plan.

95 schools will receive an improved WeGo Transit service.
24 schools now have access to WeGo services.
16 schools will receive full street improvements to assist students who walk or cycle.

What’s next

Nashvillians will ultimately decide whether this plan will turn into “drive,” as the transportation referendum is listed on the November ballot. The plan needs a simple majority to pass.

If approved, the increase would take effect on February 1, 2025.