The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (Nashville MTA), which does business as WeGo Public Transit, is a public transportation agency based in Nashville, Tennessee. Consisting of city buses and paratransit, the system serves Nashville and Davidson County. Most bus routes serve the downtown transit station, Music City Central. This makes the MTA the largest transit agency where most of the bus routes terminate in a Central Business District with no crosstown service. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . For 2023, the Nashville MTA expected to collect $5.2 million in fare revenue and to spend $99.3 million in operation. To make up most of the difference, MTA expected to collect subsidies from the city, state, and national governments. MTA partnered with the Metro Arts Commission, which commissioned six artist-designed transit shelters are placed along the new 28th/31st Avenue Bridge. The MTA was the only transit agency in the country to implement payment with credit card at the fare box. That proof of payment approach was discontinued in March 2009. History The first public transportation in Nashville began in 1860 when the McGavock and Mt. Vernon Horse Railroad Company and the South Nashville Street Railroad Company were joined to create a public transportation system using steam and mules to power rail cars. The first electric streetcar in Nashville came in 1889. Over the years, several different companies offered transit in Nashville. The first buses came in 1926, as a complement to the preceding rail lines. In 1930, Tennessee Electric Power Company took over the transit system and phased out streetcars by February 1941. In 1953, the company was reorganized and changed its name to Nashville Transit Company. The next 20 years saw the decline of public transportation in Nashville and the rise of the automobile. This led to higher fares and service cutbacks for the transit system. In order to keep public transportation in the city viable, Metro-Nashville government purchased the Nashville Transit Company and created the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1973. Due to a major flood in May 2010, Nashville MTA suffered losses to their fleet and their maintenance/administration offices. The total losses amounted to 39 buses and 39 paratransit vans, various other support vehicles and severe damage caused to both the maintenance/administration offices and to the Riverfront Music City Star train station. Service was interrupted for four days, with limited service