NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For Phil Ko, Nashville's public bus system provides a reliable way to connect with his son while saving valuable time in his day. "For me, having him take the bus from his school to my office because of the traffic will save me about an hour," Ko said.
Ko shows his son Jagger how to catch a ride from school to Vanderbilt University, where his father works. "My dad's office is at Vanderbilt, and my school is really close, but it's not walking distance," Jagger said.
Through Vanderbilt's incentive program called Move VU, Ko rides for free, even for non-work trips. "If I have some activity at his school and I need to come back to the office, I don't have to worry about the cost, it's right there on my phone," Ko said.
Lindsey Ganson, Vanderbilt's assistant director of transportation and mobility, says that offering free rides for all students and employees, even outside of work commutes, helps everyone.
"Relieving congestion, preventing people from circulating from parking, offering more choices to our employees, faculty, staff and students," Ganson said.
Ganson says about 6,000 people in the Vanderbilt community use the Move VU program, but only about a third of those people ride the bus monthly. For context, she says a much larger number of students and staff, about 15,000, could use it, but instead, many drivers choose to pay for parking.
"Vanderbilt University has the most rides on WeGo public transit of any private employer in the region," Ganson said.
WeGo offers the service to other employers besides Vanderbilt. "Any employer can get in touch with WeGo and figure out a system to be able to sponsor rides for their employees," Ganson said.
As Nashville's Choose How You Move initiative evolves, folks at WeGo hope perspectives on transportation will evolve, too.
"They are all just people getting from point A to point B, and when you ride the bus, you get familiar with the Nashville area and the area around campus, so I think that is very humanizing," Ko said.
Does your employer offer transportation benefits? Would you consider taking public transit if it were free? Share your thoughts on Nashville's transportation options with our reporter at kim.rafferty@newschannel5.com and learn how your company could implement similar programs.
This story was reported by Kim Rafferty and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Kim and our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Happy Birthday to the YMCA of Middle TN. They just celebrated their 150th anniversary! A lot has changed with the Y over the years. I have personally seen some of that firsthand when I was a long-time board member at the Northwest Family Y and part of their Black Achievers Program. Forrest Sanders has a look back.
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