Are Nashville's buses on time?
Measured from WeGo's own live GPS feed: every bus, every 30 seconds, compared with the published schedule at its timepoints. On time means leaving no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late.
Early results. This covers 4 service days. Percentages settle after a few weeks of collection; the 95% ranges show how much each could still move.
79% of 10,436 observed departures were on time (95% range 78%–79%). 4% left early and 17% more than 5 minutes late.
November 9, 2026 to November 12, 2026 · 3,116 of 11,074 scheduled trips observed (28%).
By route
Worst first. An early bus is as much a problem as a late one: riders who arrive on time miss it.
| On time | 95% range | Early | Late | Typical delay | Departures | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 Golden Valley | 59% | 49%–68% | 0% | 41% | +4.1 min | 102 | |
| 8 8th Avenue South | 67% | 62%–72% | 15% | 18% | +1.1 min | 289 | |
| 3 West End | 70% | 67%–73% | 2% | 28% | +2.6 min | 814 | |
| 77 Thompson - Wedgewood | 71% | 68%–75% | 3% | 26% | +2.6 min | 712 | |
| 76 Madison | 72% | 63%–78% | 14% | 15% | +0.6 min | 137 | |
| 6 Lebanon Pike | 72% | 67%–76% | 4% | 24% | +1.7 min | 450 | |
| 52 Nolensville Pike | 74% | 72%–77% | 5% | 20% | +2.1 min | 1,111 | |
| 79 Skyline | 75% | 69%–80% | 10% | 16% | +0.6 min | 221 | |
| 14 Whites Creek | 75% | 70%–80% | 6% | 19% | +1.6 min | 318 | |
| 18 Airport | 78% | 71%–83% | 3% | 19% | +2.7 min | 189 | |
| 56 Gallatin Pike | 78% | 75%–80% | 3% | 19% | +1.7 min | 1,114 | |
| 50 Charlotte Pike | 78% | 75%–81% | 3% | 19% | +2.2 min | 711 | |
| 4 Shelby | 81% | 76%–85% | 1% | 18% | +1.7 min | 282 | |
| 55 Murfreesboro Pike | 83% | 79%–87% | 2% | 15% | +1.6 min | 307 | |
| 17 12th Avenue South | 84% | 79%–88% | 1% | 14% | +1.7 min | 222 | |
| 28 Meridian | 86% | 80%–91% | 1% | 13% | +2.7 min | 166 | |
| 71 Trinity | 86% | 80%–91% | 2% | 12% | +1.2 min | 168 | |
| 34 Opry Mills | 87% | 80%–91% | 2% | 12% | +1.6 min | 156 | |
| 42 St. Cecilia - Cumberland | 87% | 81%–91% | 4% | 10% | +1.3 min | 165 | |
| 7 Hillsboro | 87% | 84%–90% | 5% | 8% | +1.3 min | 363 | |
| 23 Dickerson Pike | 88% | 85%–90% | 4% | 9% | +1.0 min | 721 | |
| 19 Herman | 88% | 84%–91% | 6% | 6% | +0.8 min | 331 | |
| 22 Bordeaux | 89% | 83%–92% | 0% | 11% | +0.8 min | 201 | |
| 75 Midtown | 89% | 85%–91% | 4% | 8% | +1.1 min | 431 | |
| 9 Metrocenter | 90% | 86%–93% | 0% | 10% | +1.6 min | 280 | |
| 29 Jefferson | 94% | 88%–97% | 0% | 6% | +0.5 min | 105 |
10 routes with fewer than 100 observed departures so far aren't shown: 64 Star Downtown Shuttle, 70 Bellevue, 84 Murfreesboro, 86 Smyrna - La Vergne, 87 Gallatin - Hendersonville, 88 Dickson, 89 Springfield, 93 Star West End Shuttle, 94 Clarksville, 95 Spring Hill - Franklin.
By time of day
| On time | 95% range | Early | Late | Typical delay | Departures | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early morning (before 7am) | 86% | 84%–87% | 4% | 10% | +1.3 min | 2,157 | |
| Morning rush (7–9am) | 78% | 77%–80% | 3% | 18% | +1.9 min | 2,752 | |
| Midday (9am–3pm) | 78% | 77%–80% | 4% | 18% | +1.7 min | 2,779 | |
| Evening rush (3–6pm) | 71% | 69%–73% | 4% | 24% | +2.2 min | 2,220 | |
| Night (after 9pm) | 81% | 78%–85% | 6% | 12% | +1.4 min | 528 |
Weekdays and weekends
| On time | 95% range | Early | Late | Typical delay | Departures | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | 79% | 78%–79% | 4% | 17% | +1.7 min | 10,436 |
Least reliable timepoints
Timepoints with at least 100 observed departures.
| On time | 95% range | Early | Late | Typical delay | Departures | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West End Ave & 31St Ave N Wb · routes 3 | 66% | 57%–74% | 3% | 32% | +3.7 min | 114 | |
| Five Points Station Inbound · routes 56 | 68% | 58%–76% | 8% | 24% | +2.2 min | 100 | |
| Thompson Station Outbound · routes 52 | 69% | 59%–77% | 1% | 30% | +3.3 min | 100 | |
| Thompson Station Inbound · routes 52 | 70% | 61%–78% | 10% | 20% | +2.2 min | 107 | |
| Madison Station Outbound · routes 56, 76, 79 | 71% | 62%–78% | 5% | 25% | +1.9 min | 133 | |
| Central 4Th Ave - Bay 13 · routes 55 | 73% | 63%–80% | 0% | 27% | +2.7 min | 106 | |
| N 1St St & Spring St Sb · routes 14, 23, 41 | 74% | 66%–81% | 9% | 17% | +0.8 min | 113 | |
| Fairgrounds Station Outbound · routes 52 | 75% | 65%–82% | 7% | 19% | +1.7 min | 106 | |
| Central 4Th Ave - Bay 19 · routes 52 | 75% | 69%–81% | 0% | 25% | +2.9 min | 175 | |
| Central 5Th Ave - Bay 11 · routes 6, 17, 29 | 77% | 68%–84% | 0% | 23% | +2.2 min | 100 | |
| 100 Oaks Mall · routes 8, 77 | 79% | 71%–85% | 10% | 10% | +0.8 min | 124 | |
| Greenfield Station Outbound · routes 4, 56 | 79% | 71%–85% | 2% | 19% | +2.0 min | 130 | |
| White Bridge Pike & Charlotte Shone · routes 3 | 80% | 71%–86% | 1% | 19% | +0.7 min | 104 | |
| Five Points Station Outbound · routes 56 | 80% | 72%–87% | 7% | 13% | +1.7 min | 106 | |
| Walmart Station Inbound · routes 52 | 81% | 74%–87% | 6% | 13% | +1.6 min | 139 |
How it's measured
- A collector reads WeGo's public GTFS-Realtime vehicle positions every 30 seconds and keeps each bus's reports for the trip it's serving.
- Only timepoints are scored: the stops with real scheduled times (other stops' times are estimates the schedule interpolates). Departure time is when the bus leaves the stop; at the end of a line, when it arrives.
- At the end of a line only lateness counts: arriving early at the last stop strands no one.
- A pass is only scored when reports are no more than 2 minutes apart around it, and a "delay" of more than an hour is treated as a mislabelled trip, not lateness.
- Coverage is the share of trips scheduled on collection days that produced at least one scored timepoint. Collection runs in shifts, so some trips around shift changes, and any outage of the feed, are missed.
- WeGo's own on-time definition wasn't found published; 1 minute early to 5 minutes late is the range a Transportation Research Board study found most US agencies use. Not affiliated with WeGo.
Updated 2026-11-12T09:04-06:00. Data and code: github.com/nathanaelhub/wego-on-time · report.json