I rode every single WeGo local/frequent/connector service bus route in one day, riding to at least one unique stop for that route.
Why? Why not! Also riding the bus is fun, but it can be boring during summer break and I wanna have some fun
Backstory
Last year I challenged myself to ride all 8 “frequent service” routes in at least one direction in one day, which took just under 8 hours. You can see the whole thing on my BlueSky page documented in realtime here and a summary here. Pre-planning the whole thing turned out to be an effective strategy, as with a bit of padding baked into every ride, it was easy to finish in well under the expected time for all 14 buses. But at the same. time, that’s only 8 routes, and most of the run was spent waiting on buses for a while, which isn’t really a “speedrun” in my eyes.
Preplanning/Rules
I’d had the idea ever since I completed the last run, but thought it’d be so complicated I put it of for months. But yesterday I was like “you know what, let’s just do it and see what happens”, as worst case scenario I try again next week, best case scenario I succeed today. So last night I printed out a copy of the “system timetable” (on the back side of the WeGo system map) and packed my bag with all the essentials, most of which I didn’t end up needing.
My rules were as follows:
- I must ride every WeGo bus route in one day
- I am excluding the express and Star-related buses, as they are “regional” and technically under the RTA’s authority (and would be a pain to do with 3 trips/day)
- I must visit at least one unique stop on each route (i.e. for a route to count, I must visit on the bus a stop whose sign only features that route’s number)
- Only WeGo buses and walking/running are allowed methods of transit
- Time starts when I step on the first bus and ends when I step off the last bus
- Detoured routes are allowed, provided I still visit a regularly scheduled “exclusive” stop.
Data
At the top of the page, you can see the mostly accurate map of all the buses I rode. Sadly, I didn’t have the battery life to do a full Strava-style GPS.
And because of the Miles in Transit Discord/Ben Chase Transit Challenge, I also kept a spreadsheet of everything, excluding a datapoint I somehow missed:
In order to show that I actually rode each bus, I generally took a photo when I got on the bus, while I was inside the bus, and when I got off the bus. Sometimes I didn’t use my phone’s camera properly or just forgot/was distracted, so there are a few missing ones.
The Story
Quick Beginnings
I woke up around 6:00 blah blah blah eventually I end up at the corner of Old Hickory Boulevard and Highway 70S to catch the 70 Bellevue. This route is the most difficult to catch due to it’s very infrequent scheduling and extremely far away route from downtown, hence why I am catching it now. From this point, I ride it over further away until getting off after a few miles.
At this point I cross the street and got onto the 3B West End heading inbound to downtown, and this is where I start the planning of what to do next, as I basically only had my first two routes pre-planned out at all. Eventually due to my impulsivity, I got off as soon as we intersected another route near Vanderbilt.
I then got on the 77 Thompson/Wedgewood northbound to start working my way in a clockwise “orbit” of downtown. I always love how the 77 and 75 use the minibuses for some reason, as these routes are very useful for quickly getting around places without going downtown. Regardless, my time here is short so I eventually get off.
A block over I get on a 19 Herman inbound to downtown due to a well-lucked transfer, which I stay on for about a mile to reach the general hospital near Fisk, before getting off to continue working my way north (we can’t go downtown quite yet).
Hints of Chaos
As I’m running up north to catch the 29 Jefferson, I’m only about a block away before I see it fly by, at which point I know I’m in kind of a terrible position. Do I wait for another 30 minutes to catch it or do I cut my losses and just revisit it later in the day? Luckily, I notice a rapidly approaching southbound 75 Midtown, which I quickly get on.
After a stop I get off (just so I could nab the route), and make my way back up to the main road, where I’m in a bit of a predicament, but I just decided to wait it out for a few minutes to catch the next 29, since even at this pace, I’d still finish decently early. Eventually that bus comes, so I get on it for a few stops, securing another local route.
Of course, I had about half a mile walk back (I missed the first stop I could get off on), but proceeded to make it back to where the 75 Midtown intersected Jefferson, where I go on it and made my way northbound all the way to the new North Nashville Transit Center.
NNTC Groove
At NNTC, I have ton of options to do, so after checking the departures, I get on the 42 Cumberland and basically immediately get off at the first stop (it shares no stops with other routes due to a weird map layout), and walked back to NNTC.
In the next moment, I realize that catching a 22 Bordeaux would be kind of stupid right now, since it has 10 minute frequencies all day and goes downtown with a almost entirely unique route, making it especially well-suited for towards the end of the day. Ideally I could’ve fit the 9 Metrocenter with a quick “out and back”, but sadly the scheduling didn’t work out too well for now. Instead I just get on a 14 Whites Creek for a mile or so, reaching the point where it branches off from the 77 and 71.
Luckily for me a 71 Trinity, with 30 minute headways, was on the way, so with a quick rush down the road, I got on it and proceeded to start the real orbit around the northern side of town.
Journey East
The 71 actually led me perfectly, route-wise, into the 41 Golden Valley’s territory, which is quite the route. The 60 minute frequencies during the midday meant I had to wait for a good 15 minutes or so to catch it (it could’ve been far worse without planning), and then the route itself it this extremely weird zigzag pattern. The driver said it was the most difficult route, and that they don’t even get many breaks for it, which definitely needs to be addressed.
Forgot to take one inside
I got off on this perfect corner on the map where the 23B Dickerson Pike and 41 meet up but don’t touch, and then made my way further northwest on yet another incredibly zigzagy route to the Dickerson Walmart.
Excluding the trash (which it odes feel like there’s an abnormally high amount of here), it was a fairly decently little waiting area, where I stay for a little while to catch the 79 Skyline that turns into a 76 Madison, so staying on that one bus knocked out two routes with one bus ride. Despite that, the scheduling and mapping situation for the 79/76 is incredibly frustrating, as even myself using WeGo’s website, the GTFS feed, and the Transit App could barely figure out if I was on the right path. It really should just be one number, but regardless I still made it and eventually reached just past where the 76 splits off from Gallatin Pike.
Way to Central
The most efficient way to downtown would be to take a 56 Gallatin Pike, but that’d remove my ability to get the 34 and 4 (two routes with highish headways), so I instead get on the 56 from my location down to where both the 34 and 4 intersect its route, in hopes the scheduling gods will have at least one of those routes come soonish in one direction.
Forgot to take one when I got off
From there, my schedule suggests the best plan of action is to run off onto a side street to catch an outbound 34 Opry Mills before it merged onto Gallatin, and given it’s the “rarer” of the two routes, it’s what I nab first.
After that, all I needed was the 4 Shelby, which actually has a frequent variant that goes out just ot the park, and a less frequent variant that goes all the way out to where I am. Of course I needed the uncommon variant, so I do have to wait by a quite greenery-covered bus stop sign for a decent bit before making my way all the way to Central for the first time all day.
Southeast Chaos
Central has dozens of buses to choose from, so essentially out of randomness (and to keep the clockwise orbit in a way), I chose the 6 Lebanon Pike to hop on to for a bit, which took a decent minute to hit its own stops, at which point I immediately hopped off since that road has tons of traffic otherwise.
From here I wanted to catch a 52/55/18, so I start my way over to catch a 52 Nolensville Pike outbound for some reason. I was running and got very tired quite quickly, and then realized my silly mistake before having to run back in the opposite direction just to catch a proper inbound 52 within its “dedicated stop range” to take me back into Demonbreun and 8th, which turned out to be a decent mini-hub for today due to having lots of routes at it while not having as much traffic as Central.
From there, I got on the 18 Airport (local variant), as it is the rarer of the 55/18 combo, and I ride it out for a decent way before it split off from the 55. Many of the stops after the split were unmarked, so I actually had to get off a lot later than I had intended since the driver (and myself) were a little confused. I actually met a non-driver WeGo employee there who seemed interested in my story, so hopefully they get to see this someday! Sadly it was a little distracting, and despite recording a video I somehow didn’t capture anything on this bus except a bit after I got off.
Forgot to take one when I got on
Forgot to take one inside
After having to quickly wrap up the conversation, I have to make the extremely long journey back to the 55 Murfreesboro Pike due to the later than anticipated stop, which takes a little while, and I do start to run more just to make sure I can catch it. Turned out that the stop I wanted to use also had one of the express routes on it, and while I’m not riding them, that technically means it’s a “non-exclusive” stop. Due to this, I had to walk out another quarter/half mile or so to catch the next inbound 55, which I successfully do before getting off yet again at Demonbreun and 8th.
South We Go
My main plan from here on was to cover the southern routes, then go back and cover the northern routes I missed before finishing. To start, I continue the orbital by grabbing the first 8 8th Avenue South I can before taking it south a mile or two. Turns out I actually stayed on this one a bit longer than anticipated due to a lack of traffic.
Luckily this didn’t affect my plans too much, as I still just ended up walking across where the 77 would go (versus the 75), not catching it of course due to scheduling/speed reasons. I knew the next bus I wanted, the 17 12th Avenue South, had quite a ways to go, so this was simply a nice long stroll through Nashville that was quite fun. I ended up waiting by some quite nice bicycle infrastructure by Nashville standards, especially due to the shade and wide protection curb. Of course I get on the outbound 17 and carry it all the way to Hillboro Transit Center since it’d be the easiest way to catch a 7.
After a short break off the bus, I catch the inbound 7 Hillsboro Pike, which took a surprisingly long time to reach downtown due to all of the car traffic. I don’t know if it was all the side roads spoiling me, but it did take a fair bit, yet eventually we did reach downtown and Central.
Final Touchups
At this point I just had to wrap up the northern routes I skipped earlier, starting with the 28 Meridian due to its lack of frequency in the midday. My plan was to get off as soon as it branched off the 9’s route (which they share for the first bit), but it turned out that it doesn’t have any stops until after it crosses the river for some reason, so I end up just getting off there instead.
Luckily for me after crossing the road I’m able to catch an inbound 28 quite quickly, which I take back into downtown. For some reason, some of the 28/9 area inbound stops were unmarked, so the bus wasn’t able to stop at them, forcing me to travel back into Central even if it’d be easier to just catch a 9 there.
Since we had just seen a 9 leave around the time my initial 28 left Central, the 9 Metrocenter I was going to catch just then hadn’t even left yet, allowing me to simply stroll over to it and hop on, before riding it in its entirety all the way up to the NNTC again. I probably could’ve gotten off and then walked to catch an inbound 22, but it would’ve had some issues to the the 22 and 42 sharing a bit of their “close to downtown” routes. NNTC is quite cool, and I actually had a second to peek a look inside the building this time, and I have to say it’s pretty cool.
From there it was simply a matter of cruising on the next 22 Bordeaux through Nashville and into Central, with honesty not much to say due to it’s nature as basically just a shuttle between two transit centers (yet a very nice one).
Finale
At Central I make my way around to the bay for the 50 Charlotte Pike, and the last bus I need is right there and will leave soon! At least I though that’d happen, but it took quite a while to actually get a driver, to the point of almost being a bus and a half late. The Dunkin Donuts was right there, so I probably should’ve gotten something to be honest, but eventually our bus did board, and it was simply a matter of reaching the first 50-exclusive stop for the record to count. Although for the purposes of this, I had to reach the Charlotte Walmart, so the run actually ended there once I stepped off the bus.
And with a final time of exactly 11 hours, that I exactly how long it takes you to ride every single local/MTA WeGo route in one day here in Nashville. What should you do with this information? I don’t know, I didn’t think we’d get this far. Maybe see if you can beat it sometime in the future? I’m pretty confident it could be reduced 1-2 hours with better luck and scheduling, although the nature of these runs is that they require a lot of “realtime strategy” to complete effectively with preplanning being almost useless outside niche scenarios.