Don't Miss The Bus!
What you can do to help?
WeGo Public Transit is in jeopardy of losing funding to provide critical service for much of the Nashville and surrounding community. If you want to keep bus service in your area, follow the steps below to send a letter to your council members.
WeGo is sending their budget request to Metro Council in mid-February, then the Metro Council begins their budget review process shortly after that.
The baseline budget request from WeGo is $54 million, which would bring service up to its pre-2019 levels.
If the baseline budget is not met, the service reductions from the 2019 cuts will look like a walk in the park
Please consider emailing your district council member to speak up for transit in our community, see how below!
Contact Mayor Cooper to Support Transit
This is the link to Mayor Cooper’s Hub Nashville Contact Form
Feel free to copy and paste our drafted letter below:
A customized letter is even better, so the following information could be useful:
My name is _____ and I live in zip code _____, district ___. I am writing to you in support of transportation options, building economic resilience, and expanding equitable access to opportunities city-wide. This is why I support fully funding public transit in the Fiscal Year 2022 budget.
With Metro Council’s overwhelming support, it was great to see the 2020 Nashville Transportation Plan become the official path forward. During the community meetings and public comment phase of the 2020 Transportation Plan, the number one priority of the vast majority was to fund transit.
Thank you for your leadership on Nashville’s transportation challenges, and I hope to see your support of WeGo Transit’s full baseline budget request.
Sincerely,
[your name]
During the community meetings and public comment phase of the 2020 Transportation Plan, the number one priority of the vast majority was to fund transit.
Transit investments have a $5 ROI for every $1 spent, according to the latest study from APTA. https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/research-reports/economic-impact-of-public-transportation-investment/
The North Nashville Transit Center has a benefit-to-cost ratio of $7.76:$1, according to USDOT methodologies.
At the height of the pandemic, 12 thousand to 14 thousand people still took transit every day, a majority of the essential workers. They kept our hospitals clean, our grocery stores stocked, and many are construction workers. They kept a slow down from being a complete stop. As Nashvillians continue to safely return to busier traffic patterns, we must improve the availability of accessible, safe transportation options.
As Nashville’s growth maintains a steady clip, more dense development downtown and the immediate areas, and we see tourism return to the core, there will be even greater mobility challenges.
In 2022 TDOT will be closing the downtown Broadway viaduct for repairs that will last months, emphasizing the need for expanded transportation options.
Nashville’s increasing cost of living can be alleviated with better transit, and with the combination of affordable housing in Transit-Oriented Developments in particular, on high-volume corridors. This would help address the fact that only 2 of the 10 census tracts in Metro Nashville are affordable when transportation costs are factored into living expenses. https://s3.amazonaws.com/thda.org/Documents/Research-Planning/Housing_Transportation_Brief.pdf
Email your District Council Members
If you know who represents your district, click on the link associated with your council member and an email will be automatically drafted; feel free to add any personal touches. If you don’t know which district you live in, scroll down to the map and directory.
Email District 1 Jonathan Hall
Email District 2 Kyonzté Toombs
Email District 3 Jennifer Gamble
Email District 4 Robert Swope
Email District 5 Sean Parker
Email District 6 Brett Withers
Email District 7 Emily Benedict
Email District 8 Nancy VanReece
Email District 9 Tonya Hancock
Email District 10 Zach Young
Email District 11 Larry Hagar
Email District 12 Erin Evans
Email District 13 Russ Bradford
Email District 14 Kevin Rhoten
Email District 15 Jeff Syracuse
Email District 16 Ginny Welsch
Email District 17 Colby Sledge
Email District 18 Tom Cash
Email District 19 Freddie O'Connell
Email District 20 Mary Carolyn Robert
Email District 21 Brandon Taylor
Email District 22 Gloria Hausser
Email District 23 Thom Druffel
Email District 24 Kathleen Murphy
Email District 25 Russ Pulley
Email District 26 Courtney Johnston
Email District 27 Robert Nash
Email District 28 Tanaka Vercher
Email District 29 Delishia Porterfield
Email District 30 Sandra Sepulveda
Email District 31 John Rutherford
Email District 32 Joy Styles
Email District 33 Antoinette Lee
Email District 34 Angie Henderson
Email District 35 Dave Rosenberg
“WeGo Transit needs to have its baseline budget funded, or there will be severe cuts to Nashville’s bus service. Many routes will be canceled completely, and others will have significant service reductions. This would hollow out our public transportation system at a time when Nashville needs to do everything it can to keep people connected to accessible, safe transportation. Please consider supporting restoring WeGo Public Transit’s budget to pre-2019 levels. Thank You.”
See the Council Member Directory
