What one Nashville teen learned from riding every city bus route before graduation

One day before commencement, the Nashville high schooler who set out to ride every city bus route before graduation completed his quest.

When Reagan Harkins was a sophomore, he crafted what he called his “bus-ket list.” It’s a checklist with all WeGo bus routes, and a goal to try every one of them.

Read: An audacious quest: Nashville teen tries to ride every city bus route before graduation

“It’s been a fun project to explore the city just beyond my world view,” Harkins said. “I’ve really seen the way that the city is laid out and oriented, that all the moving pieces kind of are in conjunction with one another. It’s really been interesting to see new developments that are different from when I was little, and, like, watching the city change around me.”

For his final ride — the 9 MetroCenter route, departing from the central downtown bus station — Harkins was joined by another bus enthusiast: Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell. O’Connell has made overhauling the city’s transit system a hallmark of his administration. Last year, he proposed a successful transit referendum that raised the sales tax by a half-cent to create a dedicated tax for transit. The sales tax went into effect in February.

But even O’Connell hasn’t taken every WeGo route — though he wagers he’s ridden more than half.

“This is an act of intention on [Harkins’] part,” O’Connell said. “I think we have similar outlooks in that [riding the bus] was primarily functional for such a long time. I think he just took it a little further than I did, in the sense of, ‘I’m going to make this a challenge now.’ ”

The challenge is ongoing. While this ride marks Harkins’ completion of every ride in Davidson County, he still has a few regional routes left. Harkins says he’s likely to take them on this summer, before he heads off to Cornell University in the fall.

“I do recognize that some of these streets that the bus is going to take me down is the last time that I’ll drive them for a while,” Harkins said. “It’s a cool way to bid my farewells to the city that’s raised me.”