There was a time when Gay Vekovious wasn’t sure what it was like to ride the bus in Nashville.

But the 80-year-old Green Hills resident took the steps to learn. She attended a training through the Transit Alliance, and reached out to learn from one of the trainers that WeGo offers to new riders.

She soon began encouraging her community — family, friends, people from her church — to try out a ride.

“They’ve all started riding the bus when they have to go downtown,” Vekovious says. “It’s the way to go downtown, believe me.”

Vekovious now rides often. She frequently parks at her sister’s house or a grocery store to catch the ride she wants on a direct route.

“I’m probably a little bit of an unusual rider because I have the capability of choosing where I’m going to go from,” Vekovious says. “So I don’t have to ride downtown to catch a transfer.”

Because of this flexibility, Vekovious says the transit referendum — which asks voters to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to fund $3.1 billion worth of transit upgrades — likely wouldn’t have a major impact on her rides, beyond the promise of increased frequency. Still, she has developed strong thoughts about the system and its future. She’s in favor of the referendum because of what she believes it will do for others.

“It’s important for us to use the transit system because the people who need it, it won’t be available for them if we don’t all use it,” she says.

As early voting begins on Wednesday, WPLN News is sharing sound-rich stories of the many ways people use the current transit system. Listen to the story above to experience Gay’s ride. For more explanatory stories about the referendum, visit WPLN.org/transit.

Cynthia Abrams WPLN News

Gay Vekovious, second from right, gathered a group of her friends and family to ride the bus one evening to an event in Midtown.