Mayoral hopefuls push regional transit after Amp demise

Don't wait for any grand mass transit proposals in this year's Nashville mayoral race. You're unlikely to get one.

Candidates aren't identifying a precise route where any future project should go — nor are most identifying the exact mode of public transit that Metro should undertake.

All agree on one thing, though: Vehicular traffic is a problem in Nashville and it is getting worse. And the answer, they say, isn't simply finding a new alternative to get around Nashville neighborhoods.

Some are pushing low-hanging fruit to improve the city's bus system and streets for immediate action. All also contend that a plan involving the entire Middle Tennessee region should be the bigger goal.

This is the transit conversation among the seven viable mayoral hopefuls in a post-Amp Nashville. They've hit the reset button after watching term-limited Mayor Karl Dean retreat this year from his plan for a new bus rapid transit line along West End, Broadway and across the Cumberland River to East Nashville.

Mayoral contenders have sought to learn from mistakes Dean made with his proposal for the $174 million Amp, which ultimately went down as one of the mayor's biggest political defeats. So instead of declaring what should happen next, the say they're looking for direction from Nashvillians.

The Metro Transit Authority is doing much the same as part of its strategic master planning process. The agency, guided by Dean, is prepared to use some funds previously earmarked for the Amp to kick off a series of community meetings that will explore the preference and appetite of residents for high-capacity transit on other corridors besides West End-Broadway. The first meetings are set for April 7.

And yet it would likely come down to the next mayor, who will take the reins from Dean in September, to decide what to pursue.

The candidates on transit

Mayoral candidate Linda Eskind Rebrovick, a former business executive, has discussed practical measures like the installation of real-time adaptive sensors on traffic lights that respond to sensors on roadways to trigger them to green or red. She suggested the city could also offer new cell phone apps to direct drivers to available parking downtown and elsewhere.

Long-term, she believes that Nashville must respond to the projected 1 million new residents set to move to the area by 2035 by thinking about how to improve access from the booming suburbs — Williamson, Rutherford and Montgomery counties, for example — to Nashville.

"Whatever we do, we need to get involvement from the community," Rebrovick said. "We need the input because we need to know who's going to use what. Which transportation do people want to take? Then once we know that, then we go figure out how to fund it versus the other way around."

Funding, of course, looms large for securing a transit system on a regional scale. Early in his term, Dean helped create a Middle Tennessee Mayors Caucus, which today consists of 40 mayors in the region. That group, however, has not identified a way to pay for transit options collectively.

David Fox, a former hedge-fund operator, said ideally a regional plan would be pursued first, noting that sprawl-induced traffic has hampered cities like Atlanta and Houston. But he said he was "struck" by the lack of progress from the mayors caucus in coming to a consensus on funding and which municipalities would participate.

Fox said he doesn't want to "hold hostage our own Nashville-Davidson County transit solution" by waiting for other counties to get on board. He has discussed what he calls an alternative: public-private partnerships, which could include giving CSX, for example, a financial incentive to participate with Metro for use of its rail lines.

"Just think how awesome it would be to have a light-rail system where you could come in from Williamson County or Rutherford County and go to downtown on existing right-of-ways that are already there?" Fox said. "You don't have to fight these legal battles to get the property.

"That's some of the thinking I want to bring to the table," he said of that private-sector model, "not just on infrastructure but on anything that the government needs to do."

Howard Gentry, like others, said he would first look at Metro's current transit option and seek to maximize those. While cost of rail and other transit modes is going to be expensive, he said it must be addressed.

"It's going to be a number that nobody's going to want to deal with, but the truth is, if we don't start it now, it won't happen 10 years from now, it won't happen 20 years from now," Gentry said.

"I'm not going to sit here just because I'm running for mayor and tell you that I have the answer. I don't. But the answer is within our government. It's within our city. It's within our community. And we're going to come together, and we're going to create a real plan and we're going to begin that plan."

Long commutes

There's reason to believe residents will greet the next mayor eager for action. Three out of every five Nashville residents have a work commute that exceeds 20 minutes, according to the 2014 Vital Signs report, created by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. More than half of Vitals Signs respondents said they would be willing to dedicate more in taxes to expand options.

Megan Barry, who as an at-large councilwoman voted for preliminary work on the Amp, said Nashville needs to consider a "multi-modal" approach that involves sidewalks, bike lanes and city buses. She said MTA could offer more frequent bus routes and additional connectors while more effectively utilizing real-time information to let commuters know when their bus is to arrive.

For the bigger vision, she said, the next mayor must have urgency and conversations must include other cities and counties.

"We have to be able to make sure that we have transit that gets you in from Murfreesboro, that gets you in from Ashland City, and it does it efficiently, effectively, cheaply and easily," Barry said.

That can only work, she said, if out-of-county transit commuters can then navigate Nashville without a car. "If I can't get around Davidson County, then I'm not leaving my car in Ashland City in the first place," she said.

Attorney Charles Robert Bone said that as mayor he would build off MTA's strategic plan to pursue a "long-term transit vision" that has been vetted by the thousands of Nashvillians who take part in that process. He also called it critical that the city have a "concrete first step that goes corridor by corridor" that recognizes needs of each community.

"We need both an 18-month plan as well an 18-year plan," Bone said. "This must be based on a high-capacity, high-performance regional transportation system.

"I believe we must have an infrastructure plan, which includes transit, that says every community matters, and that we have to get started as soon as possible."

Bill Freeman, a real estate executive, had made clear that he wasn't a fan of the Amp because it was a "solution looking for a problem." The real traffic woes, he said, aren't on West End Avenue but instead on interstates to suburbs like Franklin, Lebanon and Murfreesboro.

As a result, he's also eyeing a regional system — even as he's routinely said he'll be a "jealous advocate" when it comes to business recruitment to Nashville. He contends this wouldn't interfere with reaching an accord with surrounding counties on transit.

"I think you can have both positions," Freeman said. "I think you'll find people in, for example, Wilson County would embrace some kind of a mass transit solution that would get them off that hour and fifteen minute ride during rush hour."

Jeremy Kane, who voiced a preference for Charlotte Avenue over West End for the Amp, said the city needs to enable passengers to use their cell phones to pay bus fares and explore creative ways to boost bus ridership.

As for a regional plan, Kane has pointed to the old Hickory Hollow Mall, the Nashville International Airport and other areas as potential "park and ride" spots en route to Nashville. "We already have the infrastructure in place, in my opinion, to make a regional connection."

Meanwhile, Kane has objected to Freeman's take on regional cooperation for transit, arguing the mayor can't declare competition in one area and cooperation in another.

"We can't stand up on one issue and say it's all about Nashville and with another issue turn around and say, 'No Murfreesboro, I need your help.'"

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.

About this series

Each Monday over the next several weeks, The Tennessean will report on an issue confronting the next mayor of Nashville. Other issues in the series will include:

• Economic incentives and economic development.

• Growth versus historic preservation.