Commissioner Paul Webb steps off the RTA's Brentwood Express bus at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Second in an ongoing series on transportation issues. Click here to read the first installment.

By PAUL WEBB
Special to Brentwood Home Page
Why should we support regional mass transit?

The very first reason I think of when I get this question is economic. When our economic development recruiters speak to potential new businesses coming into our area they find a very common list of questions presented to them. The usual questions involve the availability of a trained workforce, utilities, infrastructure in place, tax burden and the quality of life. We are now finding that available mass transit is also included in the questions asked.

Why is that? With the uncertainty of future energy costs, businesses want to ensure that the employees can make it to and from the workplace. I became convinced that this was a prime issue when I attended an economic development meeting at the Verizon campus in Cool Springs. The Verizon executives were asked, “What can government do for you?” I was surprised when they answered that the government service they needed was a reliable, regional mass transit system.

When our recruiters try to attract new business to Brentwood, Williamson County and Middle Tennessee, they find they are going up against cities with similar attributes as we have. Some of the cities we compete with include Charlotte, N.C.; Austin, Texas; and Denver, Colo. These cities have or are building regional mass transit systems. If we don’t develop a system for Middle Tennessee, we will be losing out on potential new employers for our region. We need jobs today and in our future.

Economics also affects individual employees. As the price of gasoline rises, many valued employees that commute into Brentwood/Cool Springs may chose to find work closer to their homes. There are many employees who drive from the surrounding counties to work here. Our businesses need some way to make sure they have employees.

Mass transit is more efficient in getting us to and from our destinations that each of us taking our personal vehicles. We spend large sums to build and maintain our roads. In some areas the roads are already right against homes and business, making bigger roadways very expensive or impossible. In my opinion, the days of “fixing” traffic congestion by building more roads is nearing an end. We cannot afford it.

If we have mass transit options, we can redirect the funds spent on building more road lanes into repairing our transit infrastructure. When we have more users of mass transit, we have fewer cars on the roads. The benefits of fewer cars are many. We use less fuel so our nation is not sending dollars overseas for oil. We have less pollution from autos, and those that must drive have less congestion.

How do we build a regional system? It takes a lot planning and a lot of money. The planning has been going on for years and has really shifted into “high” gear in the past three to four years. Our regional leaders have come together to realize that we MUST develop a system or Middle Tennessee will be losing jobs to other cities, states and countries.

The regional planning agency, the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has prepared estimates of our population growth thru 2035 and the traffic congestion that will occur if we don’t develop a regional mass transit plan, and the results are not pretty. So our MPO has started planning for a regional mass transit system.

Our Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is in place. The regional members are Davidson County, all the surrounding counties and Maury County. Other counties in our economic area are considering joining the RTA so that they may have a voice in solving the problem.

Metro-Nashville Mayor Dean invited the mayors from the area cities and counties to join together to work together on a regional issues such as mass transit and economic development. This is the Mayor’s Caucus which meets regularly to bring everyone in the region to the table. Currently Mayor Joann Graves of Gallatin serves as chair. Brentwood’s Mayor Betsy Crossley participates as do the Williamson County, Franklin and Fairview mayors.

A public-private group called the Transit Alliance also has been formed to address regional transit issues from a business point.

All of these groups are working together. It is not often that so many local leaders get together to work on projects. The importance to our region of getting something done is evident by the willingness of these officials to work together for the benefit of the region.

While the future planning is ongoing, the implementation has started. The ride-share program using commuter vans continues to grow. The Transportation Management Association (TMA) in Franklin facilitates the program in Williamson County. The RTA has numerous “Relax and Ride” buses running from the adjoining counties into downtown Nashville during the morning and evenings. Two routes currently serve Williamson County including Brentwood. As the price of gasoline rises, the ridership increases.

RTA also runs the “Music City Star” commuter train running from Lebanon into downtown Nashville with numerous stops along the way. A “bus rapid transit” (BRT) service is running along Gallatin Road in Nashville. Studies are underway to look at other areas where BRT service might work. I think this is a good next step to offer between Nashville and the Brentwood/Cool Springs/Franklin area. The BRT buses use existing streets.

Building the system will take many years. I believe finding the funding will be the hardest task. How to fund mass transit is being discussed in our nation’s capital, our state capital and in our local government offices. We all agree we need to build mass transit systems, but we cannot agree on how to pay for the huge capital investment.
Brentwood City Commissioner Paul Webb represents the city on the Regional Transit Authority board.

Here are some links to find out more about this issue:

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): nashvillempo.org

Regional Transit Authority (RTA): rta@nashville.gov

The Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee: thetransitalliance.org

The Transportation Management Association (TMA): tmagroup.org