After several La Vergne residents nearly lost the only transportation available to them, the city has teamed up with the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to open a temporary Park and Ride lot at Veterans Memorial Park.

Beginning on Monday, February 2, riders will be using a new lot located in Veterans Memorial Park at 115 Floyd Mayfield Drive. According to the RTA, time points for riders on RTA Route 86X Smyrna/La Vergne Express and Route 96X Nashville/Murfreesboro Relax & Ride will change only by a few minutes from the previous stop located in the Kroger parking lot.

"There are a lot of people in La Vergne that depend on taking buses to Nashville and Murfreesboro for work and school," said Mayor Dennis Waldron. "Because there are very few places in the city that can accommodate both the buses and parking, we felt it was important to work out a plan that would help our citizens while the RTA looks for a permanent solution."

Route 86X service between Smyrna and downtown Nashville runs Monday through Friday and includes six daily stops in La Vergne - three in the morning and three in the afternoon. Ridership on Route 86X averages about 30 passengers per trip, or more than 3,500 each month. In addition, Route 96X service between Murfreesboro and Nashville averages more than 5,600 passenger trips per month and makes a total of 19 daily stops in La Vergne.

"We appreciate that Mayor Waldron, the Board of Aldermen, and city staff worked with us to provide a new site for riders who depend on our express bus service each and every day," RTA CEO Steve Bland said. "We thank Kroger for allowing us access for the last six years, but we are now looking forward to planning for future growth."