If you want to understand a city's values, look at how it moves people.
Transportation is not just infrastructure. It is a daily equity test. Who can get to work without a car? Who breathes the air next to a congested highway? Whose neighborhood gets a bus stop and whose doesn't? These are not abstract policy questions. For millions of people, this is just a regular Tuesday.
In Nashville, something is shifting. The Choose How You Move (CHYM) program, funded by Nashville's half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2023, is one year into implementation. All 11 of its foundational projects are either operational or underway. That matters, not just for commute times, but for climate outcomes and community health.
The Emissions Problem Hiding in Plain Sight
Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for roughly 28 percent of total U.S. GHG output, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Most of that comes from personal vehicles: in Nashville, over 90% of residents rely on a car to get around. Every car trip taken alone on a congested road is a small climate event, multiplied by millions of Nashvillians daily.
Public transit is one of the most direct ways to cut those emissions. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transit use in the U.S. saves approximately 37 million metric tons of CO2 annually. On a per-mile basis, a bus carrying a full load produces a fraction of the emissions of the same number of passengers driving solo.
Nashville's CHYM program added 12 new buses to the WeGo fleet and expanded weekend service on 17 routes, improved frequency on 9 others, and added service to two high schools. The Journey Pass low-income fare subsidy program has already generated more than 760,000 free transit trips for income-eligible riders since its fall 2025 launch. Those are trips that would likely have been car trips, or no trips at all.
The Equity Piece People Often Miss
Here is something that rarely makes it into the environmental conversation: low-income households spend a disproportionately high share of their income on transportation. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics notes that transportation is the second largest household expense for most American families, and that burden falls hardest on those with the fewest options.
When someone does not have reliable access to transit, they face a choice between an unreliable car, a long walk, or simply not going. Not going to the job interview. Not going to the doctor. Not getting to school.
Journey Pass directly addresses this. With more than 9,000 participants taking free trips across Nashville's bus network, the program is creating access for people who were previously priced out of mobility. Three new WeGo Link zones extend coverage further into neighborhoods that traditional fixed-route service has historically underserved.
Transportation equity is also a health equity issue. Research from Health Affairs and others documents that communities of color and low-income communities are significantly more likely to live near high-traffic corridors, where air pollution from vehicle emissions contributes to higher rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness. Better transit, fewer cars, and safer streets are not just nice to have. They are public health interventions.
Complete Streets and the Safety Question
CHYM is funding 39 miles of Complete Street projects across Davidson County, with construction underway on Chestnut/Edgehill and design work in progress for Church Street, East Thompson Lane, and Jefferson Street, among others. Complete Streets are designed to be safe and usable for everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and drivers alike.
The West End Curbside Bus Lane Pilot, currently in the design and engagement phase, will improve both pedestrian safety and bus reliability along one of Nashville's most traveled corridors. Signal upgrades at 592 intersections will help all modes move more efficiently.
On Murfreesboro Pike, a new Transit Signal Priority and queue-jump lane at Edge O Lake Drive is already saving riders on the 55-Murfreesboro route 2 to 4 minutes per trip, adding up to 10,000 hours of travel time returned to riders annually.
What This Means for Nashville's Climate Future
Urban Green Lab's priorities focus on sustainability, transportation, and equity and access because these issues are inseparable. You cannot address Nashville's climate footprint without changing how people move. You cannot build an equitable city without ensuring that transit works for people who depend on it, not just people who choose it as a convenience.
CHYM is one of the more promising examples of local climate and equity policy moving in the same direction at the same time. It is not perfect, and implementation will have its rough patches. But the framework is right: reduce barriers, expand access, invest in alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles, and make streets safer for everyone.
To learn more about the Choose How You Move program and track project progress by neighborhood, visit Nashville.gov/transit. Urban Green Lab is not affiliated with Choose How You Move.