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 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 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.
BRT Lite expansion projects On September 27, 2009, the MTA implemented the first phase of its new
bus rapid transit (BRT) light service on the Gallatin Road corridor, designated route 56 Gallatin Road BRT Lite. Covering , this BRT service began operating from Music City Central to the edge of Sumner County just north of
Rivergate Mall. The route has fewer stops and more frequently using new
articulated buses with
hybrid engines. During the second phase of BRT in spring 2010, more customer amenities and
bus priority signals were added. Due to a major flood in May 2010, the MTA suffered losses to their fleet and their maintenance/administration offices. The total losses amounted to 39 buses and 39 paratransit vans, various other support vehicles and severe damage caused to both their offices and
Riverfront station on the
Music City Star. The MTA had borrowed buses and other vehicles from surrounding transit agencies, including Memphis and Cincinnati to help restore transit service. Murfreesboro Pike was identified as the second corridor for BRT Lite implementation, with service beginning on April 1, 2013. The Murfreesboro Pike BRT Lite stretches from downtown to the
Antioch area near the
Global Mall at the Crossings. Originally, Mayor
Karl Dean had his eyes set on a full-fledged BRT route taking passengers from West End Avenue down Broadway, across the river to
East Nashville's Five Points district with dedicated
bus lanes instead of mixed traffic like the BRT Lite. On January 22, 2015, the MTA announced that it would "cease work on the Amp," to focus on planning for other projects. Charlotte Pike became the third major corridor in Nashville to have BRT Lite service on March 30, 2015, with buses traveling between downtown and the Charlotte Walmart located off River Road. In March 2015, preliminary planning also started for a BRT Lite route on Nolensville Pike. Route 52, which began service on March 27, 2016, operates on Nolensville Pike and offers more frequent service and fewer stops. While the other previous BRT Lite corridors (Gallatin Pike, Murfreesboro Pike, and Charlotte Pike) all feature both a local service to supplement their respective BRT lite lines, the Nolensville Pike corridor only features route 52 which replaced route 12. In October 2017, Mayor
Megan Barry unveiled her $5.2 billion plans for expanding Nashville's transportation infrastructure including the addition of
light rail service. The final mass transit system plan named "
Let's Move Nashville", included 26 miles (42 km) of light rail and 25 miles (40 km) of bus rapid transit, was later rejected 64% to 36% in a
local referendum in May 2018.
Rebranding and recent history On July 12, 2018, the MTA announced that it was re-branding itself as WeGo Public Transit to reflect the changing landscape of public transit in the region and to also coincide with various recommendations from the 2016 nMotion plan. Despite the failure of the 2018 transit referendum, plans to re-brand the agency were already in place prior to the referendum being held, and the decision to re-brand was made independently of the referendum effort and its outcome. ==Bus service==