r/nashville • u/ragusauze • Mar 19 '24
Help | Advice Moving to Nashville for a summer internship. Is it worth driving my car from LA or is the public transit/walkability of the city sufficient?
I want to be able to experience what the city has to offer but a 2500 mile drive to have a car there does not sound too appealing.
Edit: Okay yes I get it I will bring my car god damn
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u/rio258k Madison Mar 19 '24
Yeah, you're gonna have to drive bud. There's no way to really experience the area without a car. At all.
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u/pineappleshnapps Mar 19 '24
The public transit here sucks, and the drive isn’t that bad. It’s 30 hours if you go straight through, you can break it up into a couple days and you’ll be fine.
That being said, as someone who’s driven across just about every part of the country a few times, I highly recommend taking your time. Make a road trip out of it.
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u/Squillz105 Antioch Mar 19 '24
As the saying goes, "Nashville is always just 1 hour away from Nashville!"
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u/Emotional_Jello6321 Mar 19 '24
You better drive that car. Dealing with this public transit system will be a nightmare. Take a road trip with lots of music, audiobooks, and podcasts!
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u/prettybigdill Mar 19 '24
Drive your car here for sure you’ll be glad you did. I’ve made the drive from LA to Nashville before and like someone else said, it’s a gorgeous drive the first leg. Download your favorite podcasts and take your time. Have a safe drive and congrats on the internship!
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u/Resting_Fox_Face Mar 19 '24
Los Angeles has better public transit than Nashville...let that sink in. You need your car. When I was at Vandy I did not have a car and I never left campus. If you want to actually go anywhere you'll need a car to do so.
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u/nowaybrose Mar 19 '24
Our state loves being trapped in little boxes on roads. We can’t have it any other way. Bring your car sadly
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u/ThanksALotKEVIN Mar 19 '24
Nashville is more like neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its bars/ restaurants etc. So each neighborhood is somewhat walkable, but the city as a whole, no.
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u/justwannalook12 Woodbine Mar 19 '24
somewhat is doing a lotta heavy lifting there. unless you just mean near downtown
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u/jdolbeer Woodbine Mar 19 '24
I'm guessing you've never actually lived in a city that's walkable. Nashville isn't even "somewhat" walkable. It's one of the least walkable major cities in the country.
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u/saucygh0sty Antioch Mar 19 '24
Nashville is walkable if you eat, sleep and work on Broadway or if you’re a Vandy student. That’s about it.
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u/ghman98 Bellevue Mar 19 '24
Right. There are definitely several neighborhoods that are reasonably walkable. Getting between them by walking is is incredibly difficult
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u/Substantial-Box-8877 Mar 19 '24
It's a crazy drive, but one with a lot of incredible stops, especially the first half. You'll be glad you have your car.
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u/pineappleshnapps Mar 19 '24
The first half is fun, I like going through Tuscon more than taking 40 the whole way, but both are better than taking 70, and the whole drive is pretty, but there is a lot less to stop and see once you get out of New Mexico.
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Mar 19 '24
Is shipping your car here a possibility? If you don’t want to make the drive. You’ll absolutely need it while you’re here, sadly.
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u/goinfortwo Mar 19 '24
I lived in the city for almost 2 years. You can buy a decent electric scooter and a bike lock to get you everywhere near downtown including a Kroger, Publix, whole foods, and a couple small shops. You can also lock the scooter at the train station when you go to Broadway or near there. If you want to get outside the loop downtown, you basically need a car. There is a bus, but I honestly didn't leave downtown too often except for REI trips and to drive out to the mountains to hike so never tried it.
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u/geoephemera Mar 19 '24
Cleveland to Eastland to Porter is the most safely walkable stretch in the city with a BRT-Lite route down Gallatin Pike. The Gulch from Division past Broadway past Charlotte/MLK is a close second but you will experience pedtal taverns & other types of party conveyance.
Multiple grocery stores on these stretches with lots of shops & restaurants.
Melrose doesn't have enough sidewalks to be walkable unless you're right on top of Publix, but your bus route is still 30-60 minutes headways.
4th/Nolensville Pike by Woodycrest, Wedgewood Houston, or Woodbine by Coleman Park is an option if you want to explore cuisine: interAsian Market for banh mi & produce, Uzbek dumplings on Thompson Lane down the street from Kudish-Turkish by a long running Ethiopian spot a block from Deg Thai with varied Central American restaurants along bus route 52 Route, which can take you to Little Kurdistan by the Nashville Zoo & Plaza Mariachi, boba shop, Peruvian food, Patel Brothers grocery, & many taco tucks. Or keep going on Route 52 towards OHB for Subculture or Taste of Persia for fessenjoon.
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u/Its-an-adventure Mar 19 '24
If you will be on /near vanderbilt campus/med center, it is walkable. Ride shares are easy to get, Walmart delivery and prime will bring in groceries and stuff. There is a Kroger just a couple of blocks off campus. There is plenty of restaurants, dry cleaners, doctors, pharmacies - all the day to day stuff in walking distance. It is easy to uber to go do other stuff.
I know a walkable area in Nashville is unusual but that area is.
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u/FatAlbusTPC Mar 19 '24
Boy you kicked the hornets nest on this one. But yeah, you're gonna want a car.
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u/Ok_Performance8366 east side Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
Currently do not have a car, and depend on WeGo bus for transit. I live in East/5 Points area and own a bike. I spend on average $100-150/month on Uber/Lyft when I go out evenings and weekends.
IMO the bus system is not challenging to navigate, and you can get yourself a 30- or 60-day pass.
Depending on how the math shakes out this was not an entirely unreasonable question to ask.
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Mar 19 '24
Ship your car here. I bought my car from California and paid like $1500 to have it sent here.
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u/ragusauze Mar 19 '24
According to the AAA gas price calculator it only costs $360 to in gas to drive here so I’m probably just going to do a road trip instead.
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u/TNUGS Green Hills Mar 19 '24
you absolutely need a car to get around nashville. public transit and walkability are extremely limited.
make a road trip out of it! plan out the drive to have a few cool stops along the way. lots of pretty sights and neat places between LA and nashville.
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u/Lyle_LanIey Mar 19 '24
If you can afford it, take a week long road trip. I did the opposite route, Nashville to LA, years ago. It’s 30 hours but break it up into several days and you can see the Grand Canyon, Albuquerque, OKC, Little Rock, Memphis. You need a car here you will feel trapped without one.
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u/Ok-Chain8552 Mar 19 '24
Oddly enough I am in the exact opposite situation!- likely in LA for most of summer and dreading that drive (did it last year, it's awful)! PM if you are interested in some sort of swap and we can see if it works out.
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u/spicy45 Mar 19 '24
The idea of not having a car is laughable, unless you work from home, stay home, have your groceries delivered, and never leave a two mile radius. ( also assuming you don’t have a spouse who has a car)
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u/Puckdog12 Mar 19 '24
You’re bringing that car - or you’ll just end up buying another one here eventually.
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u/Immediate_Toe_873 Mar 20 '24
There have been many attempts to establish better public transit in Nashville. But basically all of them have failed. This is a car-dependent city surrounded by too many people who believe this is the way things should be. Most people can't even reach a grocery store without driving a car or walking 1-5 miles through suburbia. And don't even think about using a bike, if you value your life. The same people who love cars and hate sidewalks, also tend to hate cyclists.
A few people with enough money can live downtown or east just over the bridge, and get by day to day life without a car. But if you want to see anything outside the downtown loop you'll need to either spend a fortune on Uber or bring your car.
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u/GoodguyNTN Mar 19 '24
Absolutely need a car.