Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and WeGo Public Transit officials along with lawmakers and invited guests officially opened the Dr. Ernest Rip Patton, Jr. North Nashville Transit Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The center provides riders with more connections, additional service, and better amenities, including real-time bus arrival information, QuickTicket vending machines, a waiting room, restrooms, Wi-Fi, and multiple bus bays to connect several routes across town.
Future features include level bus boarding platforms on Clarksville Pike and bicycle storage for riders. The project is the next step in the overall effort to provide better bus service to neighborhoods across Nashville and decrease dependence on downtown connections.
“When we make transit more accessible, more people ride,” Nashville Mayor O’Connell said. “This new transit center will connect Nashvillians in the area to countless job opportunities, and it will provide the convenience of new crosstown routes and more frequent service. That builds on Rip Patton’s indelible legacy that is engrained in our history thanks to his work as an organizer of sit-ins and as a Freedom Rider.”
The center represents a total investment of $17 million and is in alignment with ‘nMotion,’ the Middle Tennessee Region’s adopted 25-year integrated and multimodal transportation strategy. Funding partners include Metro Nashville, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration of the United States Department of Transportation. Additional crosswalk and sidewalk improvements came through a Greater Nashville Regional Council grant with the Federal Highway Administration.
“Since April, there has been a 36% increase in ridership on the seven routes served here at the North Nashville Transit Center, and that was before the building officially opened,” WeGo CEO Steve Bland said. “This increased service and the new connections will greatly improve access to job opportunities, workforce skills training, health care and many other services that connect people to their lives and community.”
The center naming and design reflects the past, present, and future of North Nashville and the lives of the people who have made a difference in the community. Dr. Patton was an early member of Nashville’s 1960s civil rights movement who participated in lunch counter sit-ins and other nonviolent protests. In 1961, he was a Freedom Rider who was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, and one of the students expelled from Tennessee State University for participating. He and other students were awarded honorary doctorate degrees many years later. The names of the students are featured in a historical display embedded in the sidewalk.
Nashville artist Lee-Xander Bryant created the digital art display in the waiting room. He documents conversations with residents to show their connection to their neighborhood. The plaza area features a mural by the Nashville artist Woke 3. It illustrates the words of youth speaking about their community and the world around them.
“Transit centers are wonderful for the service improvements they provide for riders, but we also want to make sure each one reflects the spirit of the Nashville neighborhood it serves,” Nashville MTA Chair Gail Carr Williams said. “We started meeting with members of the North Nashville community several years ago and they have been integral in the planning process.”
The site has an open plaza and other outdoor areas with seating. Safety and security features include 24-hour security staffing, digital cameras, and a close partnership with the Metro Nashville Police Department North Precinct.
Design and construction efforts were led by ICF and Megen Construction, Smith Gee Studios, Vivid1 architecture, and the Don Hardin Group and supervised by WeGo project manager Kia Lewis.
