NashTransit

When the Metro budget shortfall hit MTA back in the summer of 2008, the Vine Hill route was nearly dead last in ridership and revenue. It would have taken the complete restoration of funds cut by the Metro budget, plus $2.5 million, to save it along with all the other cut routes. Obviously, that didn't happen.

So why is the route back*? Vanderbilt Health 100 Oaks. Or more succinctly, I believe, Vanderbilt. While all the new business growth coinciding with the new 100 Oaks Health is great, it's not enough to support a bus all by itself. The new #1 100 Oaks bus is primarily a commuter route for employees - that much is clear from the bus' schedule. I have no proof to back it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vanderbilt used some of their considerable pull to make it happen. I wouldn't be surprised if someday they do it again elsewhere! The university certainly has an interest in regional mass transit.

But there are still plenty of people in the Vine Hill area and other parts of south Nashville who also welcome the restoration of service through their neighborhood. If you want this bus to succeed, enough that its schedule could expand to include the midday and weekends, the solution is simple and obvious: ride!

If you're not a regular rider, a good time to start is during Transit Now Nashville's Transit Week, April 12-18. Try out the new Music City Circuit, also starting today.

This downtown circulator is an important step for mass transit in our city. It’s one thing to get to downtown by bus. It's another thing to get around downtown without a vehicle. (Anyone who's ever tried to walk to and from the Farmer's Market knows what I'm talking about. My feet are sore just thinking about it.) Will downtown workers feel comfortable leaving their cars at home all day? How about tourists, or those folks who live downtown? Will they take advantage of Music City Circuit? Will it in turn help build ridership of the Music City Star? Time will tell, but again the best way to make it all happen: ride!

As for me, I'll be trying them all out today!

* Before some pedant catches me: I have to be careful when I say the old route is back - it's a slightly different route, with a new name. But it serves most of the same destinations that the old Vine Hill bus did.)

# posted by dotsandlines @ 12:15 AM