Oklahoma may be jealous of Nashville’s status as the home of country music. With stars like Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, and Zach Bryan becoming transplants to Music City, it can be tempting to want to replicate some of the things Nashville has done to create the music culture it has today. Tennessee’s no-income-tax status certainly helps (and Oklahoma has begun its journey of eliminating our state income tax), but one thing Oklahoma should stay away from is the expensive rail system that Nashville taxpayers have been subsidizing for years.

Nashville opened the Music City Star commuter line in 2006. The line was projected to carry 1,500 riders a day in its first year; it managed 640. 

By the summer of 2008, the line was operating at a shortfall, requiring a $1.7 million bailout from taxpayers. Again in 2009, a $1.2 million bailout was required to keep it running. Today, after almost 20 years, weekday ridership sits around 570. This is despite the Nashville metro area adding more than 700,000 residents.

Nashville was already a car-dependent city, but after COVID, the job market became even more dispersed throughout the city, making a centralized transit hub less needed.

ONE Transit is now pushing a similar vision for Oklahoma: a $1.8 billion commuter rail system linking Edmond, Oklahoma City, and Norman.

ONE Transit's proposal is a bigger bet than Nashville’s ever was. A $1.8 billion price tag for a three-city line dwarfs the Music City Star's $41 million starter line. If ridership runs true to form for a car-dependent metro like Oklahoma City, the completed project could easily become another subsidized train that fails to attract the riders used to justify it in the first place.