WeGo Opens Dr. Ernest Rip Patton, Jr. Transit Center

Nashville, TN, 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 recently with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The 4,000-square-foot center offers more service and connections and improved 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 will include level bus boarding platforms and bicycle storage. The site has an open plaza and other outdoor areas with seating. Safety features include 24-hour security staffing, digital cameras, and a close partnership with the Metro Nashville Police Department North Precinct.

“Since April, there has been a 36 percent increase in ridership on the seven routes served here at the North Nashville Transit Center, and that was before the building officially opened,” said WeGo CEO Steve Bland. “This increased service and the new connections will greatly improve access to job opportunities, workforce skills training, healthcare, 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, MS, and one of the students expelled from Tennessee State University for participating. 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.

“When we make transit more accessible, more people ride,” said Mayor O’Connell. “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, Tennessee DOT, and FTA. Additional crosswalk and sidewalk improvements came through a Greater Nashville Regional Council grant with the Federal Highway Administration.