The Nashville Scene archives are full of musings about the city’s underutilized and underfunded public transportation service, at times mentioning its importance for Nashvillians who don’t own (or can’t afford) cars, as well as the role mass transit plays in reducing emissions and fighting climate change. The Scene’s list of 30 things Nashville needed in 1990 included an “experimental bus-rail” to connect West Nashville to downtown, arguing it would ease traffic and reduce pollution. We’re still hearing calls for public transportation overhauls, and the city has of course seen failed attempts to make it happen. Here’s a quick look at Nashville’s public transit history, from streetcar boycotts to the unsuccessful transportation plans of the 2010s.
1889: The McGavock and Mt. Vernon Horse Railroad Company operates the first electric streetcar in Nashville.
1905: Following the passage of a state law segregating streetcars, African Americans in Nashville and other major Tennessee cities launch a boycott. By September, the alternate black-owned streetcar service Union Transportation emerges and establishes four transit lines, but lasts only one year.
1907: The boycott ends, but segregation continues. The generation of boycotters remains active, establishing One Cent Savings Bank, now known as Citizens Savings Bank, and The Nashville Globe, a newspaper serving the African American community, which was founded during the boycotts and lasted until 1960.
1926: Motor buses arrive in Nashville and begin replacing streetcars. But with the construction of highways over the next few decades, more commuters start driving their own cars rather than taking public transit.
1973: The Metro government purchases the Nashville Transit Company, transferring it from private to public ownership, and creating the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
1988: The Regional Transit Authority is established to oversee bus lines in various counties.
2006: The RTA launches the Music City Star, a commuter rail system that runs between Nashville and Lebanon.
2010: The Music City Circuit, two free bus lines, launches.
2011: Mayor Karl Dean announces plans for a bus rapid transit system connecting East and West Nashville, soon to be known as The Amp.
2014: After years of heated debates, things are grim for The Amp, with state politics intensifying an already heated fight. The legislature gives itself the power to kill the project. Amp supporters point to pressure applied by car magnate Lee Beaman and the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity. But Dean’s political miscalculations may have hurt his plan the most.
2015: The Amp officially dies.
2017: Mayor Megan Barry proposes a $5.4 billion public transit plan that includes light rail and rapid bus proposals.
2018: Barry leaves office amid scandal, and shortly thereafter voters reject the transit proposal by a margin of nearly 30 points. In a post-mortem, the Scene points to factors like Barry’s resignation, iffy leadership from supporters like Ralph Schulz (also an Amp proponent), and weak messaging from then-interim (now sitting) Mayor David Briley. Later, the MTA rebrands itself as WeGo. (Get it?)
2019: There’s a shortfall of cash due to state Department of Transportation budget cuts, so Nashville’s transit agency proposes cuts to bus lines and higher fares. After weeks of public hearings, WeGo spares a few of the routes slated for the chopping block, but the fare hike is steeper. Music City Circuit is cut.
