To Force Action On Mass Transit, Nashville Councilman Suggests Setting A Deadline

Nashville officials have talked for decades about creating more mass transit, with limited progress. Now a veteran elected official wants to set a deadline to take action.

Here’s how Councilman Jim Shulman states the urgency of the situation:

… WHEREAS, well-intentioned organizations and concerned citizens have been discussing such a plan for the past twenty years or more with not one significant physical development having been made during that same time; and

WHEREAS, every day that Nashville waits to begin implementing a plan means more traffic, a less livable community, and a more expensive price tag to ultimately address the problem …

Shulman told WPLN that he knows the Metropolitan Transit Authority has been working for months on its new strategic plan, known as nMotion. In fact, the MTA has hosted dozens of meetings and surveyed thousands of people about what they’d want from buses or trains.

And MTA leaders say they’ll have a final recommendation this summer.

But Shulman wants to be sure.

So his bill, to be taken up Tuesday night, asks the council to issue a hard deadline: to see the plan by the end of the year.

“It’s not meant to be hostile,” Shulman said. “It’s meant to say, ‘Let’s go … it’s time to get started.’ “

In a written response, MTA CEO Steve Bland said the ongoing nMotion process will create a 25-year plan with significant impact on Davidson and surrounding counties.

“People are asking for bold, long-term solutions that will offer competitive alternatives to driving and short-term improvements to make the system more direct, convenient and safe,” Bland wrote.

Shulman said he wants specifics so leaders can seek funding — and he believes the public will be willing to pay.

“This is one of those things where I think pretty much everybody understands that we need mass transit. How we get there may be a little different from different groups,” Shulman said. “But this is a major metropolitan area that really doesn’t have a mass transit plan.”

He said traffic was a top concern in last year’s election — and he and his fellow council members only have a few years to carry out the wishes of voters.