Nashville nMotion is a collaborative project with many opportunities for the public to provide suggestions and feedback but please note that the Nashville MTA/RTA is no longer accepting comments on these materials through these pages. If you’d like to share your opinion please contact us.
Click the titles to read the materials and review the comments Nashville MTA/RTA received.
Middle Tennessee Transit Plan
This report summarizes nMotion recommendations to improve transit service in the region. It includes an overview of public engagement, strategic recommendations that summarize key actions for improving transit in Middle Tennessee, benefits and costs associated with the recommended plan, and a discussion of immediate and long-term next steps. Click here to review the plan.
Access to Transit – Providing safe, convenient and comfortable access to transit stops and stations is fundamental to serving existing transit customers and attracting new riders. Sidewalks, roadways with safe pedestrian crossings, bicycle infrastructure, and park-and-ride facilities can improve residents’ ability to access transit.
Better Downtown Transit Service – A systematic reconfiguration of downtown transit is one important way to improve transit service—to increase individual transit options, to improve connections, and to focus service in ways that can make service faster and enable the provision of better passenger facilities.
Better Facilities and Amenities – Investing in high-quality bus stops is often a low-cost, high-reward strategy, because waiting for your vehicle to arrive is a significant part of nearly every transit trip. Well-designed bus stops enhance the transit experience, decrease perceived wait times for services and can contribute to increased ridership.
Better Information – For people to be able to use transit, they must first know it is there and be able to understand how to use it. Most large transit agencies provide a wide array of information to the public through several different means of communication in order to reach as many people as possible.
Branding and Marketing – Transit marketing provides customers the information they need to make informed choices. Successful branding also creates a dynamic narrative and public image that helps agencies retain and attract riders.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – Compared to light rail transit (LRT), BRT typically has much lower capital and operating costs than LRT. And compared to regular buses, BRT is faster, more reliable, and more easily identifiable.
Bus Service to Airports – Air travelers have unique transit needs in terms of when they travel, how they value time versus price, and their familiarity, or lack thereof of, with local transit services. The most effective airport services provide fast and frequent service seven days a week from early until late.
Community Engagement Progress Report – This report covers our public outreach from April to December 2015. Over those nine months, Nashville MTA/RTA rigorously engaged the public in thoughtful discussion about regional transit. Read our progress report for more information about what we’ve heard from the community to date.
Commuter Rail – is passenger rail service that is designed to transport large volumes of passengers over long distances in a fast and comfortable manner.
Complete Streets – Every trip includes multiple modes of transit. “Complete Streets” are designed and operated to safely accommodate all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, passengers and drivers of motor vehicles and people of all ages and abilities of walking, bicycling or riding public transit.
Express Bus – Express bus service provides fast service over long distances, and is typically designed to transport suburban workers to downtown jobs. Transit systems in major urban areas provide express bus service as a complement to their local services.
Family of Services – A family of services approach can help transit agencies more explicitly consider the types of services that should be provided in different markets, and the tools to provide those services. Families of services can be developed in different ways and tailored to the services provided by individual transit systems and the areas that they serve.
Fare Payment and Collection Technologies – There are a growing number of options for transit fare collections, including mobile phone technology. Allowing more choices for purchasing and paying fares can help attract and maintain riders.
First- and Last-Mile Connections – The first and last mile before and after the transit ride can be influential enough to encourage or discourage a person to ride transit again. For this reason, transit agencies and cities across the nation are developing and implementing strategies to improve first- and last-mile connections to transit services, stops and stations.
Freeway Transit/Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – Freeway bus services operate along freeways, either in regular traffic lanes, in high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, or along the shoulders. Freeway bus services also have stations within the freeway right-of-way to minimize travel times by eliminating all or most of the local circulation that is required to serve stops or stations off the freeway.
Frequent Transit Networks – Frequent Transit Networks are designed to provide convenient service between an area’s most important destinations and consist of a number of inter-related elements designed to make service more convenient, connected, and memorable.
Light Rail Transit – LRT is electric urban rail service that typically operates in exclusive rights of way. It is designed to serve high-volume corridors at higher speeds than a local bus or streetcar service.
More Frequent Service for Longer Hours – Operating transit more frequently and for a longer period provides a higher level of service that encourages more people to use transit for more trips.
MTA/RTA Service Improvement Strategies Overview – The opportunities presented in this document are not intended to represent an all-inclusive list of possible improvements; instead, they are an initial look at those that could provide the highest value for Nashville MTA and RTA of Middle Tennessee.
Outlying Transit Hubs – Outlying hubs are transit centers located outside of a city’s urban core. They are an important way to develop a more interconnected network that serves more locations.
Rapid Bus – includes elements of BRT that can be implemented on existing roadways at a lower cost and in a much shorter timeframe than BRT. Rapid Bus can also be a first step toward full-featured BRT.
Route Simplification – Evidence suggests that a simpler route structure attracts more riders than a complex route structure. By simplifying service, transit riders more easily understand and utilize transit.
Service to New Areas – Many factors necessitate that transit service expand to new areas, including growing population and employment, changing demographics, and new development patterns. However, in order to be successful, transit must run quickly and frequently and must provide access to all.
State of the MTA System – The State of the MTA System Report provides an overview of existing Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) transit services and an evaluation of how well these services match transit demand in Davidson County, both today and 25 years in the future. Based on those findings, this report presents the key issues facing MTA and serves as a starting point for the strategies and recommendations that will inform the final strategic plan.
State of the RTA System – The State of the RTA System Report provides an overview of existing Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee (RTA) transit services and an evaluation of how well these services match transit demand in the region, both today and 25 years in the future.
Stop Consolidation – Many transit systems, including the Nashville MTA, have too many stops. To make MTA service more attractive to more people, it will be essential to achieve a better balance between walk distances to stops and overall travel times.
Streetcars – provide a smoother ride and more capacity than buses, and can be built more quickly and cheaply than light rail. Streetcars typically operate on embedded rails in mixed-traffic lanes.
Transit Improvement Opportunities for Middle Tennessee – This report summarizes the state of transit in Middle Tennessee and identifies opportunities to improve transit service in the region.
Transit-Oriented Development – is land development located near transit stations or stops that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood.
Transit Priority – Transit is more attractive when it is faster than, or travel times are comparable to, driving. Transit priority contributes to faster, more reliable and more attractive service by giving mass transit priority over regular traffic.
