Nashville, the second least walkable city in the US. (Clarksville: employment, taxes)

[Mike in TN]

RS-1080 makes some good points.

[yank283]

Originally Posted by RS-1080

lol, transplants and out of towners just don't get it. It's great you love sitting with just anyone,and done so up north or elsewhere, but this ain't nowhere else but Nashville. Alot of us will keep buying gas if it hits 8-10 bucks, and choose who sits in our V-8 trucks beside us. My nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile up the holler,and he drives over 50 miles one way ( thats over 100 miles a day not counting driving to other places after work each day also ) to his office job driving his V-8 truck also, but in 25 years of doing so, he's never griped about it once. We drive to, and are happy with driving and choosing who we are around, and in our cars, lol,, there ain't nobody else with us unless they kin or we really like them. I don't get it, if folks wanna change this place so badly,,then why move here to begin with?

I'm glad our county don't face those issues, we sign patitions in stores to turn in what we want and don't want.The county decides based upon how the ''locals'' feel about it. Why do we drive for? Cause we keep it quiet here and drive out of town to work rather than letting the work move in on us. No need for another rat race out here to,so folks don't mind buying gas.

I would suggest that having 100 mile commute a day driving in a vehicle that gets 14 miles per gallon is the very definition of "rat race" and I'm a native East Tennessean. Money that could be going to savings/retirement or disposable income is going to gas money and time that could be spent with family is spent commuting to and from work.

[mad fiddler]

Public transportation isn't really applicable to those living in the country, but is for those living in higher density areas, where having everyone drive to and from work clogs the roads, increases pollution, and uses a whole lot more energy per passenger than buses/trains/subways do.

If we had public transportation here that was predictable and looped continually so that there'd never be more than a half-hour wait, public attitudes would change quickly. Whenever we visit Chicago, it's so nice to be able to ride wherever we want to go, without the headaches of traffic and parking. And I'm sure the natives are glad to keep a couple more tourists off the roads, too

[Mike in TN]

Originally Posted by yank283

I would suggest that having 100 mile commute a day driving in a vehicle that gets 14 miles per gallon is the very definition of "rat race" and I'm a native East Tennessean. Money that could be going to savings/retirement or disposable income is going to gas money and time that could be spent with family is spent commuting to and from work.

Quick to judge, aren't you? The guy may just want to live out in the country, away from everything.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by RS-1080

Why should a mass-transit system be forced to pay for itself?



Because to many locals don't want it. This ain't other cities, this is Nashville.


There are reasons folks rather drive cars,and not ride in a train car with just anybody.

But many locals don't want bigger, wider highways, either.

The point is, right now people don't have a choice. We're pretty much forced to buy gasoline and drive because good public transportation is almost non-existent around here (Memphis is the exception).

To be truly free, we should have a choice. But our state department of transportation (note, it's not the "department of highways") has taken away that choice by investing only in more asphalt and not in viable alternatives.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by JMT

But many locals don't want bigger, wider highways, either.

The point is, right now people don't have a choice. We're pretty much forced to buy gasoline and drive because good public transportation is almost non-existent around here (Memphis is the exception).

To be truly free, we should have a choice. But our state department of transportation (note, it's not the "department of highways") has taken away that choice by investing only in more asphalt and not in viable alternatives.

Yes, if there was a choice, those that CHOOSE to take transit would be removing their cars from the road and easing congestion just a little bit. That's why I don't understand the way the suburbanites here can't see the value of the transit system here, and if it all just shut down tomorrow, there would be the potential of 100,000 more cars on the road every day.

RS-1080, I used to live in Columbia and did the hell-drive every day to Nashville. Now I don't have a car and can get to everything I need with a bus, a train, or my two feet (walking - WOW! What an idea!!!) So, I've been in both situations.

Metro Nashville NEEDS better transit or I guarantee you that it will look like Metro Atlanta within the next 10 years - and it will be worse than Atlanta if the Nashville region doesn't start thinking ahead, considering the fact that Atlanta has heavy rail, buses and is considering some sort of light rail.

[ookla]

I had to pop in on this one. Tampa should definitely be on that list.

[Pete Horton]

...a "very walkable" rating on www.walk.score.com (broken link), still, we see only a couple persons regularly walking and carrying grocery bags. Most of the walkers we see are following a leashed dog around the block. Still, the Walk Score site is very useful for offering an inventory of nearby stores, restaurants, etc. and how far away they are in terms of miles. You can use the site to measure a neighborhood's driveability score.

[Adric]

Had to jump in here too. RS - people move to Nashville for many reasons- career, family, etc. Trust me, if people moved places based on their public transit systems then Nashville would be deserted (which I'm sure would make some people happy). I myself have lived in Nashville most of my life and I would transit if transit existed in a real form here. All sorts of people ride subways and people should have the choice.

Karl Dean is commited to building a rapid bus system in Nashville but honestly it's really going to take a regional approach with either busses or rail (NOT commuter rail) linking Brentwood, franklin, murfreesboro, Hendersonville, Clarksville, and Nashville to get people out walkin. Right now, unless you live in downtown or midtown, you're driving. It's also going to take a beautification effort with trees and gardens being planted along sidewalks, streetfront retail cadering to pedestrians, and burying power lines underground. Make people want to get out of their cars ya know? For the ammount of money the city spends on roads, we probably could have done this years ago. I don't think the burbs will be able to really get pedestrian traffic though due to their being sprawled out and everything being seperated by massive parking lots. Theres no density -something Atlanta really suffers from.

Oh and FYI, Atlanta has a light rail system and a bus system (not heavy rail) and really it's not all that great for a city of it's size. It's like getting a portable fan and sticking it underwater to power a tanker full of people. Still, it's more than Nashville has.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by Adric

Oh and FYI, Atlanta has a light rail system and a bus system (not heavy rail) and really it's not all that great for a city of it's size. It's like getting a portable fan and sticking it underwater to power a tanker full of people. Still, it's more than Nashville has.

MARTA is considered light rail? I figured the subway system would be heavy rail.

But yes, it is considerably more than what Nashville has.