Now that it’s decided that Nashville won’t expand its transit system, the head of the MTA says his team must continue looking for other ways to improve.
Steve Bland expects to analyze the election results and come back to voters again. Bland says he’s “absolutely certain” that traffic congestion is getting worse, so whatever proposal comes next will likely have the attention of even more Nashvillians.
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I mean, a lot of the underlying issues don’t change. You know, our population growth projections aren’t changing. Our development trends aren’t changing.”
And Bland is standing by the idea that the city needs a “game-changing” solution, one that allows light rail or rapid buses to have their own lanes and to move faster than cars.
So he’s tipping his hand and suggesting that merely increasing bus frequency — when buses can still get stuck in traffic — won’t be enough.
In the near-term, the MTA is due to renovate its downtown bus station and launch a new payment system with reusable cards.
Blake Farmer contributed to this report.
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