Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority
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| Founded | 1973 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 430 Myatt Drive |
| Service area | Nashville-Davidson County |
| Service type | bus service, bus rapid transit, paratransit, park and ride |
| Routes | 55 |
| Hubs | Music City Central |
| Stations | 6 Music City Star stations |
| Fleet | 137 (bus), 40 (AccessRide) |
| Daily ridership | approx. 30000 riders |
| Fuel type | diesel, diesel-electric, electric |
| Chief executive | Stephen G. Bland |
| Website | nashvillemta.org |
The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is a public transportation agency based in Nashville, Tennessee. Consisting of city buses and paratransit, the system serves Nashville and Davidson County. Most bus routes serve the downtown transit station, Music City Central. This makes MTA the largest transit agency where most of the bus routes terminate in a Central Business District with no crosstown service. The crosstown services that do not terminate in downtown Nashville are the University Connector (route 21), the Grassmere/Edmondson Connector (route 72), and the Madison Connector (route 76).
The University Connector (route 21) began on Sunday, September 30, 2012. This route provides cross-town service connecting six universities including Tennessee State University, Meharry Medical College, Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, Belmont University and Lipscomb University. Buses travel via the new 28th/31st Avenue Bridge every 30 to 60 minutes on weekdays and hourly on weekends. The route provides transfer points to 10 other MTA bus routes.
In addition, MTA partnered with the Metro Arts Commission, which commissioned six artist-designed transit shelters are placed along the new 28th/31st Avenue Bridge.
The MTA was the only transit agency in the country to implement payment with credit card at the fare box. That proof of payment approach has since been discontinued as of March 2009.
The first public transportation in Nashville began in 1860 when the McGavock and Mt. Vernon Horse Railroad Company and the South Nashville Street Railroad Company were joined together to create a public transportation system using steam and mules to power rail cars. The first electric streetcar in Nashville came in 1889. Over the years, several different companies offered transit in Nashville. The first buses came in 1926, as a complement to the preceding rail lines. In 1930, Tennessee Electric Power Company took over the transit system and phased out streetcars 10 years later. In 1953, the company was reorganized and changed its name to Nashville Transit Company. The next 20 years saw the decline of public transportation in Nashville and the rise of the automobile. This led to higher fares and service cutbacks for the transit system. In order to keep public transportation in the city viable, Metro-Nashville government purchased the Nashville Transit Company and created the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1973.
Due to the flood in May, 2010, Nashville MTA suffered losses to their fleet and their maintenance/administration offices. The total losses amounted to 42 buses, nearly 50 paratransit vans, various other support vehicles and severe damage caused to both the maintenance/administration offices and to the Riverfront Music City Star train station. Service was interrupted for 4 days, with limited service being restored afterwards for the next four weeks. In early June, 2010, Nashville MTA obtained loaner buses and other vehicles from surrounding transit agencies, including Memphis, Cincinnati, Clarksville and others. Regular transit service was restored shortly thereafter.
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Wikipedia